Sara Aridi

The project is being backed by Mediapro, a Barcelona-based conglomerate that has financed several films by Allen, including the romantic dramas “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” and “Midnight in Paris.” A spokeswoman for the company confirmed Allen was already working on the film but said she could not confirm any other details such as local media reports that he had already scouted locations.

Allen has been under scrutiny over long-standing abuse allegations that he molested his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow in 1992.

In August 2017, Amazon reached a $68 million deal with Allen’s production company to fund and distribute at least four movies, including “A Rainy Day in New York.” Later that year, Farrow wrote an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times, arguing that the #MeToo movement has “spared” the once-revered director.

According to a lawsuit, Amazon executivesmet with members of Allen’s team to discuss postponing the release of “A Rainy Day in New York,” which Allen had completed, to 2019. The studio said it had already been facing “negative publicity and reputational harm” for its past association with Harvey Weinstein.

Last June, Amazon Studios sent an email to Allen’s representatives, saying that the deal was terminated, citing the renewed allegations, the director’s “own comments, and the increasing refusal of top talent to work with or be associated with him in any way, all of which have frustrated the purpose of the agreement.”

“A Rainy Day in New York” has yet to be released; the last of Allen’s films to hit theaters in the United States was the 2017 drama “Wonder Wheel,” which was distributed by Amazon Studios.

Amazon has partnered with Mediapro in the past, but it is not involved with Allen’s new project. And Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios, said in a New York Times report this week that the company does not have plans to release any movies by the director.

When asked why it was working with Allen given that Amazon had stopped doing so, Mediapro said in a statement, “We have a 10-year relationship with Mr. Allen and, like all projects we produce, we judge the creator by its work.”

“All of our projects have a unique personality, and we support all types of artistic voices and ideas and remain committed to producing well-defined and creative projects for audiences worldwide,” the statement continued.

Allen’s work has long found more success abroad, particularly in Europe. In an interview with The Times in 1998, Allen said his movies rarely break even in the United States. He added: “I’ve always depended on Europe to supplement my grosses.”

“Wonder Wheel” brought in only $1.4 million in North America. It collected nearly $14.5 million overseas, with its highest revenues in France, Italy and Spain, according to Box Office Mojo, which tracks ticket sales.

Allen’s reputation may have cost him the Amazon deal and alienated a number of A-list actors, but some have come to his defense. In October, Javier Bardem, who starred in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona,” called the upheaval surrounding the abuse allegations a “public lynching” and said he would work with Allen again. In an interview in The Times published in November, Jude Law, who worked with Allen on “A Rainy Day in New York,” said the shelving of the film by Amazon was a “terrible shame.”

“I’d love to see it,” Law said. “People worked really hard and put a lot in, obviously himself included.”

Even as the filmmaker was wrapping up production on “A Rainy Day in New York” last year, he had already secured financing for a script he was working on outside the Amazon agreement, Letty Aronson, Allen’s sister and longtime producer, told The Times.

“I have no doubt,” she said, “that he’ll be able to find new talent.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/21/movies/woody-allen-movie-spain.html" id="abe7854c-8ca8-3a31-ac59-a9bf88a7a203">The New York Times</a>.

Just weeks after suing Amazon for canceling a four-movie deal, Woody Allen is working on a new film in Spain.

Woody Allen Is Shooting a New Movie in Spain

The Crow Museum’s permanent collection consists of more than 1,000 works from Asia that the Crows had amassed since the 1960s. Since the death of Trammell Crow in 2009 and Margaret Crow in 2014, the museum’s staff members had been planning how to better sustain their legacy.

“Part of our secret is that 85 percent of our collection is in storage,” Amy Hofland, the executive director of the Crow Museum, said. “There are works that have never been shown.”

Those works will find a new home in the campus museum, where the majority of the collection will live. The current, smaller museum will remain in Dallas’ arts district.

The funding will help build a larger university complex that will include not only the Asian art museum, but also a museum of Swiss art, a library, and shared spaces for events and exhibitions.

Many details are still in the works. The university will focus first on securing gifts and long-term loans before considering the design of the space, which will stand near the entrance of the campus so it can be accessible to students, faculty members and the public.

Rick Brettell, founding director of the university’s Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History, says the donation could give the campus “a major presence in the arts” that would help set it apart from other science and technology universities in the country.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/24/arts/design/university-of-texas-at-dallas-crow-museum-of-asian-art.html" id="f7aa6ede-4a96-304a-a40e-67cdeb68f88b">The New York Times</a>.

The family of Trammell and Margaret Crow has donated the entire collection of the Crow Museum of Asian Art to the University of Texas at Dallas, along with $23 million in support funding to help build a structure on the university campus to show more of the artworks.

Large Asian Art Collection Donated to University of Texas at Dallas

The actress, 71, earned her seventh nomination Tuesday for her turn in the title role of “The Wife”: Joan is a writer who lives in the shadows of her Nobel Prize-winning husband even though she has had a big hand in his work.

Close has never won an Oscar, but she may break that streak after racking up several accolades for her performance, including a Golden Globe. Speaking from her home in Montana after enjoying a celebratory pancake, Close talked about her “problematic character” and why getting an Oscar nomination is “even more exciting” the seventh time around.

Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.

How does it feel to be nominated for the seventh time?

It feels incredible to be recognized at this point in my career for a movie that could easily have just disappeared. I’ve done many independent films, but there’s something about this story and this woman in particular, even though she doesn’t say much, that has had great resonance with audiences. To know that my work has connected with people — that’s the most thrilling thing of all.

What is your most memorable Oscar nomination?

The last one I had, (in 2012) for “Albert Nobbs.” The fact that Janet McTeer and I and the incredible hair and makeup team got nominated was very, very, very gratifying. But this is (nearly) 10 years later, for a role that I found problematic. It was tricky, and it was an incredible collaboration. As a process, it was one of the best of my career.

Why did you find Joan’s character problematic?

You look at the story and on the surface, your first reaction is — as a woman — “Oh, just leave him!” But it was much more complicated than that. Finding the complexities of the character was the challenge, and when I settled into her skin and felt freed by the assurance that whatever I did would end up on film, that was thrilling to me. As artists, you never know what’s going to happen afterward, when it gets handed over to publicity and distribution. So I felt that the process that we all went through to create this movie and this character — it’s what we all long for, that kind of fulfillment.

Your daughter, Annie Starke, played the younger Joan. What was it like working with her?

We worked around the table, talking a lot. But I got out of town when Annie was working because I didn’t want her to have any pressure from her mama. When I saw the footage of what she’d done, I was so moved by it. She has the ability to really hold a close-up, and you feel that there are things going on in her mind, and it’s fascinating to watch. And this character would not have resonated at all, to the extent that she does in this movie, without the close-up. So it was fun. To have a scene where you don’t have any words, that’s my idea of heaven. (Laughs.)

You mentioned your mother in your Golden Globe acceptance speech. How did her life relate to your character’s?

My dad was highly, highly educated. He was a brilliant physician. My mom didn’t graduate from high school. They got married when they were 18, and my dad went off to the war. She had been brought up in the tradition that women basically were wives and mothers and dinner party organizers and all that. So it wasn’t in her DNA to feel that she should fulfill her personal talents, even though she had many. She really was there for my dad, but ultimately it didn’t fulfill her soul. Women are used to defining themselves through someone else, through their children and through their husbands. If you find that personally fulfilling and that’s all you need, that’s great. That’s part of what women do. But there’s something different. There’s another dimension that I think we need, which has to do with personal fulfillment, where you define yourself through yourself and not through anyone else.

What do you think Joan’s role as a woman who takes a back seat to her husband means in the #MeToo era?

I think what has resonated is that the film brought it down to a very personal, very specific level. The film is about a very complex relationship, and I found that you can’t play generality. You have to play something specific, and the more true and the more human you could make that specific character, the more people can bring their own lives and their own baggage to it. I think you can intellectualize and say, “I agree with the movement,” but you have to make it personal. You have to find a place in yourself that makes you re-evaluate where your life is, and what you feel your personal contribution to society is.

You’ve won many awards in your 45 years as an actor. Does an Oscar even matter at this point, or are you happy just to be recognized for your part in “The Wife”?

It’s thrilling to be recognized. If I, in my heart and soul, feel that I’ve fulfilled the challenges of a certain character, that’s where I find my personal fulfillment. I don’t feel like I need to be validated by some award, even though in the nature of our business, it does mean something. It’s not just for this role — I think I’m being recognized for the body of my work, and that is deeply gratifying. So at this point in my career, that means a lot to me: That my work still matters.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/22/movies/glenn-close-oscar-nomination-the-wife.html" id="63695a5f-f55c-38cd-a81c-09daf8a3de99">The New York Times</a>.

Glenn Close Reacts to Her 7th Nomination: It Says 'My Work Still Matters'

Glenn Close is hardly new to the Oscars race.

Now she is spreading poetry through the air waves.

Starting Jan. 14, her podcast, “The Slowdown,” will be broadcast on public radio stations in seven cities, including San Francisco, Honolulu and Charleston, West Virginia.

Produced by American Public Media with funding by the Poetry Foundation andsupport from the Library of Congress, “The Slowdown” debuted as a five-minute weekday podcast in late November. It’s available to stream on iTunes, Google Podcasts and other platforms. In each episode, Smith introduces, and then reads, a poem of her choosing.

The idea for the podcast arose in 2018 while she was visiting towns as part of a reading series called “American Conversations: Celebrating Poems in Rural Communities.”

She started to feel guilty, she said, that the experience of striking up a dialogue about poetry with complete strangers was hers alone.

“Broadcast seemed like a way of sharing that more widely,” Smith said.

“The Slowdown” is “a conversation between the listener and whatever poem is up for the day,” she added.

Smith was inspired, she said, by her “21st Century worry” of living in an age of technology that favors impatience and indulgence over vulnerability and curiosity.

“I thought ‘The Slowdown’ can be a tiny little daily antidote to that,” she said. “It can say, ‘Can we just get quiet for a minute? Can we just listen to actual words that are employed with a great deal of focus and urgency?'”

Smith highlights works by American poets that she believes can stand on their own and that can be accessible aurally. Having a variety of voices has come naturally.

Some poets she has long admired. Others are newer to her. “It just seems like the most exciting poetry that’s being written right now is coming from every direction,” she said.

Most of the poets she features on her podcast are contemporary — upcoming episodes feature Victoria Chang, Kamilah Aisha Moon and Jacob Saenz, to name a few — but listeners also might hear classics like Shakespeare or George Herbert.

Robert Casper, the head of the Poetry and Literary Center at the Library of Congress, said he looks forward to seeing not only what Smith “will bring to the broadcast of each of those poems, but how different people across the country will interpret those poems differently.”

Smith’s final event as poet laureate will be a gathering moderated by Jennifer Benka, executive director of the Academy of American Poets, where five state and regional poets laureate will reflect on their positions. Once her term comes to an end in April, Smith said, she will most likely want to write about what she has learned in the past two years.

“There’s a lot that I haven’t brought into language yet,” she said.

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/11/arts/tracy-k-smith-poet-laureate-podcast-public-radio.html" id="7c598442-b510-3693-ae7d-7aa96cdec5f6">The New York Times</a>.

Tracy K. Smith, Poet Laureate, Brings Her Podcast to Public Radio

Ever since Tracy K. Smith became the U.S. poet laureate in 2017, she has been hosting readings big and small in all corners of the country.

That’s because it’s a thankless job. As a recent “Saturday Night Live” skit put it: “Who will risk everything for the chance to gain nothing?” No wonder many celebrities would rather not put their reputations on the line when the gig draws so much criticism.

While there’s a chance the academy will go on with no one at all, the world hasn’t given up just yet. Many stars have suggested names. Some have even nominated themselves. If the academy had to choose a host, here are the brave people who would be happy to take up the challenge.

Nick Kroll and John Mulaney

After Hart said he was out, Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, the stars of “The Oh, Hello Show” jokingly announced on Twitter that they, or rather, their aging Upper West Side alter egos George and Gil, had been chosen to replace him. And they’re taking the job very seriously.

Let’s be clear: The academy has not offered the role to Kroll and Mulaney. (At least, not yet.) One Twitter commentator bristled at the prank, to which the comedians responded, “Baseless attacks like this from the media are the reason people are afraid to pretend to host the Oscars.”

Whoopi Goldberg

In an episode of “The View,” the four-time Oscar host Whoopi Goldberg said she thought forgoing a host altogether is a “dumb idea.” She then suggested that the academy consider her for the fifth time, despite the fact that she thinks she is also “problematic.” She explained: “Half of the country sometimes is really mad at me. The other half is OK until tomorrow, and then they’re pissed at me!”

Ken Jeong

Goldberg revisited the host question later that week during a segment on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” when she nominated actor Ken Jeong. “He would be brilliant,” she said. “And it would also constitute the first Asian-American to host the Oscars.”

That same night, Jeong was a guest on “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” and he unabashedly declared: “If I do not become the host of the Oscars, I will consider not only my career but my life a failure.”

Jeong later told TMZ he would be happy to be considered for any role during the ceremony: “It would be an honor to cater the Oscars! It’d be an honor to be a medic on set! I’d do that for $3.” (After all, he’s more or less qualified: Jeong was a doctor before going into show business.)

Busy Philipps

On Dec. 6, actress and late-night host Busy Philipps succinctly offered to take Hart’s place, writing on Twitter, “I AM AVAILABLE.” On Dec. 7, she reiterated: “I will say this again. I AM TECH AVAIL.” Later that day, Philipps nominated herself for the third time and suggested six other women for the job.

A few days later, Philipps made yet another plea: “I host a late-night show four nights a week now. This has all been a ruse to practice for the big night. I should be the host!”

Rob Lowe

One of the most embarrassing moments in Oscar history was when the academy went without a host in 1989. Viewers still remember the “nightmare” opening number by Rob Lowe and Eileen Bowman, who played a giggly Snow White. Despite that debacle, Lowe has offered to host again — this time as his laughable plastic surgeon character from the Liberace biography “Behind the Candelabra.”

Patton Oswalt

If anyone has taken the Oscar host question to heart, it’s Patton Oswalt. It all started when Stephen King endorsed the comedian for the job. “He’s funny, sharp-tongued, and he knows film,” the author wrote on Twitter. (Steve Carell seconded that choice.)

When TMZ approached Oswalt with the idea, he said “of course” he would host if offered — just not right now. “I would hire Tiffany Haddish or Billy Eichner; use me in the future,” he said.

It didn’t stop there. Shortly after, Oswalt, who has emceed an awards show for the Writers Guild of America, wrote a very lengthy Facebook post in which he listed his candidates for the job and explained why he thought he wasn’t a good choice.

“When I hosted the WGA Awards last year, I pleaded during my opening monologue that NEXT year’s WGA Awards needed to be a woman or POC or LGBTQ or all three or ANYTHING but another straight white male,” Oswalt wrote. “Us straight white males, despite what certain Twitter accounts say, are doing fine.”

Bruce Campbell

The “Evil Dead” star has fought countless monsters in B-movie thrillers. But can he handle the academy?

Rhea Butcher

Even before Hart stepped down, stand-up comic Rhea Butcher raised her hand and showed off her Oscar-worthy wardrobe.

When Hart actually dropped out the next day, Butcher took to Twitter again: “HOW ABOUT A LGBTQIA+ ONE I LOOK GREAT IN A TUX.”

Megan Amram

Comedy writer Megan Amram (“The Good Place”) has made it her life’s mission to win an Emmy. In her web series, “An Emmy for Megan,” Amram meets the minimum requirements to qualify for a nomination in the short form comedy or drama series category. But as per recent rule changes, her series no longer makes the cut. So she’s looking to the Oscars.

Scott Patterson

The “Gilmore Girls” actor is advocating a populist vote.

Tom Green

Remember Tom Green, of “The Tom Green Show”? The Canadian comic has been fairly quiet in recent years. But last week he saw an opportunity to resurface his name in the cultural conversation.

Given Green’s track record as an outrageous prankster, it’s safe to say the academy will probably pass on his offer. After all, who needs a wild card onstage after the 2017 envelope mix-up?

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/movies/oscars-host-celebrities.html" id="4c759ef8-97b4-358c-a7a2-c7263cfc46cf">The New York Times</a>.

It’s been more than a week since Kevin Hart was announced as host of the 91st Oscars ceremony and then stepped down in response to criticism over homophobic Twitter posts. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences still hasn’t found a replacement.

These Celebrities Actually Want to Host the Oscars

The change, modeled on Jazz at Lincoln Center, has been in the works for years. Lesli Klainberg, the group’s executive director, described the move as primarily an effort to broaden the institution’s appeal and reach a wider audience.

“‘Society’ has a sort of old-fashioned sense of elitism — it feels more closed,” she said. “We want to be, and we consider ourselves, a more open place.”

Dennis Lim, the group’s programming director, added that the word “society” evoked a particular period of filmgoing culture, when exclusive clubs first formed in the 1920s and ’30s and held periodic screenings.

Lim emphasized that his organization does much more than that. Perhaps best known for the New York Film Festival and the New Directors/New Films series, it is also a year-round home for “mini-festivals” like the documentary-focused Art of the Real, as well as a magazine (Film Comment) and talks with cinematic luminaries.

Last year, the organization recorded the highest attendance in its history for both the New York Film Festival and its year-round screens. So the need to present itself as a more welcoming venue raises questions about its audience. What type of moviegoers does the society attract and who is it trying to reach?

Richard Peña, a film studies professor at Columbia University who was the organization’s programming director from 1988 to 2012, said many suggested he drop the word “society” during his term. But he didn’t have any trouble with it.

“To me, the phrase ‘film society’ has a very long and honored tradition in the history of alternative film practice,” he said. If the organization has seemed forbidding to some, he said, it has more to do with the fact that it’s tied to Lincoln Center, one of the city’s most prestigious cultural hubs.

When he was in charge, he recalled, a teacher contacted him because she wanted to bring her students to a Latin American series he had organized. After going over ticket prices, she asked, “Do the boys have to wear ties?”

“That wasn’t a completely off-the-wall comment,” Peña said. “She thought that if you go to the movies at Lincoln Center, it must be like you’re going to the opera.”

The organization has tried to do away with that image and make itself more accessible over the years, Peña added.

It reaches diverse crowds through internationally themed series presented with partner organizations, like the New York African Film Festival and Rendez-Vous With French Cinema. But he said it still mainly attracts Upper West Side moviegoers because of its location on 65th Street near Broadway and because New Yorkers rarely venture outside their neighborhoods.

Ted Hope, now the co-head of movies at Amazon Studios and the former executive director of the San Francisco Film Society, said that may be true. But he said that core audience could also be described as “affluent, educated, city-based folk.”

“There is lots of diversity within that, but it does represent a very specific taste sector,” Hope said. A film that might play well on the Upper West Side has nuance, beauty, emotion and a theme that is graspable but not deliberate. And, he added, it would generally be in the running for the Oscars. (Unlike Peña, Hope did not know about the name change when asked for comment.)

Klainberg said that her group drew different audiences seeking out specific offerings. But on a fundamental level, the organization appeals to cinephiles, a demographic that has changed since the society’s beginnings.

When the inaugural New York Film Festival unspooled in 1963 (the film society was born from it six years later), 80% of the audience was under 25, Klainberg said. The organization still draws crowds of all ages. But, like many film exhibitors, it has been trying to appeal to younger people who grew up in the age of Netflix.

The name change is just one tactic. The organization also wants to make its academy programs for aspiring critics, artists and industry professionals — which are largely behind-the-scenes affairs — better known. And it’s been developing its online presence through social media and two podcasts: a weekly one that will be renamed Film at Lincoln Center Podcast and another run by Film Comment.

Vying for young viewers — or anyone with a streaming subscription — isn’t the only challenge.

“The competition for Big Apple filmgoers comes from other theatrical venues,” Annette Insdorf, a film professor at Columbia University and moderator of the Reel Pieces series at 92nd Street Y, wrote in an email. She said that in the past, it was revival houses that beckoned to cinephiles.

Now there are different offerings to consider, like the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Alamo Drafthouse in downtown Brooklyn or the Metrograph on the Lower East Side. On the one hand, that means film culture is still very much alive. On the other, it means venues have to provide more than robust programming to compete, like serving patrons food and cocktails at their seats.

Klainberg said her organization’s free talks are particularly successful. People recently lined up for hours for a discussion between “High Life” director Claire Denis and its star, Robert Pattinson. The amphitheater where the talk was held can seat only 75, but a YouTube video of the talk now has more than 12,000 views. That’s the type of accessibility the group is aiming for.

“We don’t want to be confined to just the folks that find us here on 65th Street,” Klainberg said. “It’s about the reach we have beyond those doors.”

This article originally appeared in <a id="dc08d4f9-43d6-33ee-ac45-190a59c1ffb7" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/28/movies/film-society-lincoln-center.html">The New York Times</a>.

After 50 years, film society of Lincoln Center is a 'society' no more

NEW YORK — The Film Society of Lincoln Center turns 50 this year. To celebrate, the organization is holding an anniversary gala Monday and planning free summer movies. But most important may be what won’t be around for the festivities: The organization is dropping “society” from its name. Beginning Monday, it will be known as Film at Lincoln Center.

The show had its world premiere at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival last month. Gadsby will kick off an American tour in San Francisco on April 29 and will close it with a four-week run off-Broadway at the Daryl Roth Theater beginning July 23.

In “Douglas,” named after Gadsby’s dog, the comic discusses her autism diagnosis, which she received before working on her breakout show, “Nanette.” Now she feels ready to unpack it in front of an audience.

“Nanette” played in Australia and Britain for 18 months, scooped up prizes in Melbourne and Edinburgh, had a run at SoHo Playhouse in New York and then became a Netflix special that introduced Gadsby to the rest of the world.

The show turned stand-up comedy onto its head — many argued it wasn’t comedy at all. In it, Gadsby dissected stand-up as an art form, shared what it was like growing up gay in Tasmania and tore into the culture that has historically kept men on top, no matter their flaws. She even announced she was giving up comedy.

“Quitting was always a theatrical device, and I’m delighted everyone took it so seriously,” Gadsby said in a recent interview with The New York Times. “But that theatrical device, as I relived trauma night after night, felt really good to say it and mean it. I think I meant it and still mean it in the sense of the strictest definition of what comedy is — yeah, I’ve quit that.”

Gadsby has written about her post-“Nanette” success and diagnosis in a new memoir, “Ten Steps to Nanette.” It will hit bookstores later this year.

This article originally appeared in <a id="a474ea13-a665-3787-a709-5fe965b22cfa" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/08/arts/television/hannah-gadsby-douglas-american-tour.html">The New York Times</a>.

Hannah Gadsby to return to New York with 'Douglas'

Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby is bringing her eye-opening humor back to New York this summer with her new solo show, “Douglas.”

<h1>After two years of cataloging and preparing, the Lou Reed Archive at the New York Public Library’s performing arts branch at Lincoln Centeropens to the public on Friday. And to celebrate, the library is issuing 6,000 limited-edition library cards featuring an image of Reed taken by Mick Rock in 1972.</h1>

The library acquired the archive — a collection of notes, photographs and more than 600 hours of recordings — after the rocker’s wife, Laurie Anderson, decided to share it with an institution that could preserve and showcase it.

Before Reed died in 2013, he had never discussed what to do with his belongings, Anderson said in a phone interview.

A part of her wanted to hold onto them, but another part of her thought those traces of Reed should be accessible to young musicians and anyone interested in the history of the man behind the sunglasses. Plus, there were so many books and profiles out there that had tried to define the musician.

“It’s very important to be able to present raw material and let people make up their own minds,” Anderson said.

Fans may rush to concert posters or his personal collection of LPs, but Anderson said his drawings about tai chi are particularly interesting. “A lot of people don’t actually realize the importance of that in his life,” she added.

New York always found its way into the musician’s songs. And with this archive, Anderson said, “He’s become a part of the city, in a way.”

This article originally appeared in <a id="2a240bdd-2ba6-4cca-8a85-14de814d40d6" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/15/arts/music/lou-reed-archive-new-york-public-library.html">The New York Times</a>.

Lou Reed archive opens at New York Public Library

Before Reed died in 2013, he had never discussed what to do with his belongings, Anderson said in a phone interview.

<h1>NEW YORK — El Museo del Barrio has appointed Rodrigo Moura, formerly the adjunct curator of Brazilian art at the São Paulo Museum of Art, as its chief curator.</h1>

Patrick Charpenel, the executive director of the museum, said Moura’s community-driven, socially-oriented vision “totally aligns” with El Museo’s values and mission.

An institution like El Museo “obviously is very sensitive about diversity, very sensitive about immigration, very sensitive about marginality,” Charpenel said. He added that those issues are at the heart of Moura’s work.

Before his time at the São Paulo Museum of Art, Moura spent 12 years at the Inhotim Institute, an outdoor contemporary art museum in central Brazil, where he served as curator and artistic director. He joins El Museo as it works to restructure and expand its curatorial staff after facing several setbacks.

Years ago, the department consisted of nearly 10 employees, Charpenel said. But after financial problems forced staff cuts and reduced operating hours, that number dwindled to one.

When Charpenel was hired in late 2017, he had become El Museo’s fourth leader in seven years. And he was tasked with maintaining the museum’s relevance during a 10-month renovation that wrapped up last September.

In addition to multiple personnel changes, El Museo has faced somewhat of an identity crisis. The museum was founded in 1969 by a group of Puerto Rican educators, artists and activists in East Harlem. After relocating to its current space on Fifth Avenue at 104th Street in 1977, the question arose: Should El Museo remain a community-based institution for the Barrio or should it broaden its reach to represent Latino and Latin American art?

“I think it has to reflect, in a very large and diverse way, the connections with the different Latinx communities, the connection with the Puerto Rican community and the connection also with Latin America,” Charpenel said. (Latinx is a gender-neutral alternative to Latino or Latina.)

That’s why, he added, “we’re in the process of restructuring and growing.”

This article originally appeared in <a id="d14827f0-732f-4fd9-85e9-4d225d950e9c" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/arts/design/el-museo-del-barrio-chief-curator.html">The New York Times</a>.

El Museo del Barrio appoints chief curator

An institution like El Museo “obviously is very sensitive about diversity, very sensitive about immigration, very sensitive about marginality,” Charpenel said. He added that those issues are at the heart of Moura’s work.

<h1>The winner of the 46th Pritzker Architecture Prize was announced Tuesday: Arata Isozaki, an architect, urban designer and theorist. So what is this award? And why is it so important?</h1>

The Pritzker Prize is frequently called the Nobel of architecture.

This annual international award recognizes a living architect or architects whose work “has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity through the art of architecture.” The prominent Pritzker family of Chicago established the award through the Hyatt Foundation in 1979, when American architect Philip Johnson became the first winner, for a body of work that includes the Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. The prize consists of $100,000 and a bronze medallion.

Many in the field see the Pritzker not only as a validation of an individual’s work but also as a validation of the profession.

“People rarely think about architecture as an art or architecture as creative expression,” said Deborah Berke, dean of the Yale School of Architecture.

With its scope, the prize implies that innovation and quality work are “not coming out of one place,” said Thom Mayne, who won in 2005. Mayne, founder of the Los Angeles-based firm Morphosis, said the diversity of the laureatesemphasized that the field was not just about formal design. “It connects the quality of architecture to broader social, political, cultural attributes,” he added.

How are the laureates chosen?

The executive director of the Pritzker Prize solicits nominations from past laureates, academics, architects, critics and others in the field. Any licensed architect can also submit a nomination for consideration.

The laureate is selected by an independent jury of five to nine professionals, who serve for several years so that each panel includes past and new members.

Who are some past laureates?

The Pritzker has been given to a number of Western “starchitects,” like Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas and Zaha Hadid. It has also been presented to significant figures such as Balkrishna Doshi, the Indian architect, who won at 90, and to the Spanish trio Rafael Aranda, Carme Pigem and Ramon Vilalta — the first time the award was bestowed on three people at one time.

Of the 46 laureates, nearly half were from Europe.

Have there been controversies?

Only three women have won the award, with Hadid, in 2004, the only solo female architect to win. In 2010, Kazuyo Sejima, a co-founder of Sanaa, the Japanese architectural team, shared the prize with her colleague Ryue Nishizawa; Pigem of RCR Arquitectes was honored in 2017, along with her male partners.

In 2013, Denise Scott Brown asked to be retroactively acknowledged for the award that had excluded her in 1991, when her design partner and husband, Robert Venturi, won. Thousands of professionals signed a petition requesting the same, but the Pritzker committee declined to revisit the decision, saying, “A later jury cannot reopen or second guess the work of an earlier jury, and none has ever done so.” At the time of the prize, Scott Brown had been a partner at the couple’s practice, Venturi Scott Brown and Associates, for 22 years and had co-authored with her husband the seminal postmodern text “Learning From Las Vegas.”

On Sunday, Berke said that the global nature of the prize should be applauded but that the gender disparity “needs to be addressed.”

How much does the award affect a laureate’s career?

That depends. Mayne said there was no way of knowing how much it affected his work, while Pigem said that since receiving the prize two years ago, her team senses that there are more eyes on them. And with heightened awareness, she added, “it helps you to have more responsibility.”

When Norman Foster won in 1999, he used the prize money to start a fund to grant traveling scholarships to students through the Norman Foster Foundation. “Many have already benefited — so will many others still to come,” Foster said by email.

This article originally appeared in <a id="d2be7699-2dc8-4f68-a0a5-8fe615731ee1" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/05/arts/design/what-is-pritzker-prize.html">The New York Times</a>.

Many in the field see the Pritzker not only as a validation of an individual’s work but also as a validation of the profession.

What to know about the Pritzker Prize

<h1>NEW YORK — The Lunar New Year is officially upon us, and the city is ringing it in with festivals, concerts and, of course, a parade. The celebrations begin with the Firecracker Ceremony and Cultural Festival on Tuesday in Sara D. Roosevelt Park, and lead up to the annual New York City parade, on Feb. 17 in Chinatown.</h1>

Below are other cultural events that welcome the Year of the Pig before the holiday ends Feb. 19.

SOUP SCREENINGS: A CHINESE NEW YEAR CELEBRATION at Chinatown Soup. (Wednesday, 7 p.m.) Chinatown Soup, a gallery on the Lower East Side, hosts a screening of “Green Snake,” a classic fantasy by Chinese director Tsui Hark. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Lillian Lee, which itself is loosely based on a Chinese folk tale, the movie follows two snake-demon sisters (Maggie Cheung and Joey Wang) — one green, one white — who, after training for hundreds of years, take human form to experience life as mortals. The screening is accompanied by a color-coordinated menu by Danny Bowien of the Lower East Side bistro Mission Chinese Food. eventbrite.com

HISTORY OF THE LION DANCE WITH STEPHEN GONG at the Museum of Chinese in America. (Thursday, 6:30 p.m.) The traditional lion dance is central to Lunar New Year celebrations. Entertainers in flashy, colorful lion suits perform to the energetic beating of drums, cymbals and gongs to bring good luck for the coming lunar year and dispel evil spirits. Stephen Gong, executive director of the Center for Asian American Media, hosts a discussion on the dance’s rich history. 855-955-6622, mocanyc.org

LUNAR NEW YEAR FESTIVAL: YEAR OF THE PIG at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Saturday, 11 a.m.) This daylong celebration starts with a parade, followed by an informative performance by “Sesame Street” puppeteers on the traditions of the Lunar New Year. Other activities include talks on Asian art; workshops where visitors can design their own piggy banks and create Korean paper dolls; and a demonstration on how to prepare hand-pulled noodles. 212-535-7710, metmuseum.org/events

LUNAR NEW YEAR 2019 at Brookfield Place. (Saturday, 2 p.m.) This family-friendly performance features traditional Chinese dance and music and a martial arts demonstration. Arrive at Westfield World Trade Center at 1:40 p.m. to catch a lion dance that will move through Brookfield Place and into the Winter Garden Atrium. 212-978-1673, bfplny.com/events

AN AFTERNOON OF CHINESE THEATER at the New York Chinatown Community Center Theater. (Sunday, 2 p.m.) The Chinese American Arts Council hosts this free program that includes excerpts from 14 eminent Chinese plays. caacarts.org

CHINESE NEW YEAR SPECTACULAR V at Carnegie Hall. (Feb. 15., 7:30 p.m.). Celebrated Chinese pianist Jie Chen performs alongside soprano Quan Chen, tenor William Weimin Cai and versatile American violinist Deni Bonet in this fifth annual concert. 212-247-7800, carnegiehall.org/events

YEAR OF ABUNDANCE: A LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATION at Abrons Arts Center. (Feb. 16, 4 p.m.). The Abrons Arts Center partners with two community-based collectives to liven up the Lower East Side with a day of art activities, karaoke, dragon and lion dances, and DJ sets. 212-598-0400, abronsartscenter.org/programs

This article originally appeared in <a id="ae4f85b3-c7ac-4771-ab63-d4ac6c29ece8" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/04/arts/lunar-new-year-cultural-events-new-york.html">The New York Times</a>.

7 cultural events celebrating the Lunar New Year

Below are other cultural events that welcome the Year of the Pig before the holiday ends Feb. 19.

<h1>The 91st Academy Awards are less than a month away, which means it’s about time to get caught up on the nominated movies. Many contenders made their theatrical debut in December and are still available on the big screen (“Mary Poppins Returns,” “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “Mary Queen of Scots,” to name a few).</h1>

Others, like “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “A Star Is Born,” debuted earlier but expanded to more screens after snagging promising awards and nominations. And then you have the films that are getting revival runs with a look ahead to the Oscars: “Black Panther” will screen for free in early February and “BlacKkKlansman” returned to 33 states this month. Below is more information on where to watch those and other nominees.

These movies are getting new life on the big screen.

‘BlacKkKlansman’

Quick plot summary: A black Colorado Springs police detective (John David Washington) goes undercover in the Ku Klux Klan with help from a white colleague (Adam Driver). Based on a true story.

Where it’s playing: Select cities. For specific theaters, go to focusfeatures.com.

What it’s nominated for: Six Oscars, including best picture and best director (Spike Lee).

What our critic said: “'BlacKkKlansman’ is a furious, funny, blunt and brilliant confrontation with the truth.”

‘Black Panther’

Quick plot summary: The title superhero (Chadwick Boseman) and his rival, Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), battle for the throne of Wakanda.

Sara Aridi

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