"We had different programming for the house plants, from psychics to poets to musicians. And that tagline was 'House Plant Vacation.'"—Mark Allen, Director and founder of educational arts non-profit organization Machine Project … [Read more...]
Finishing School: Fun Disarms the Audience
November 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment
"Give the audience ownership of what they do—that makes the audience more engaged and want to work with you more."—Arts collective Finishing School … [Read more...]
Mimi Ito: Meeting the Kids Where They Are
November 10, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Mimi Ito is a Los Angeles-based cultural anthropologist and MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” recipient whose research is focused on new media use by children and youth. You’ve done a lot of research on how young people use technology and social media. How could that research help achieve the goals of education and journalism, in particular arts journalism? Ito: That’s really the million-dollar question right now. New technologies are giving kids an unprecedented opportunity to … [Read more...]
Issa Rae: Venture Arts Capitalist
November 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The ironic thing about Issa Rae, the writer, director, producer and star of the Web-based comedy series “The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl,” is that she isn’t awkward at all. In fact she’s a self-possessed veteran of indie video now on her third comedy project for the Web. (The others were “Dorm Diaries,” based on her college years at Stanford, and “Fly Guys Present the F Word,” a largely improvised mockumentary about a young L.A. rap group trying to make it in the music … [Read more...]
Chon Noriega: Questioning the Questions
November 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
"I've been talking to the press and it's usually quite clear that they already have the questions figured out and they already know what the answers are. And I am going to fill one of two positions. The position that's for what the answer is or that's against it. And it's very clear." —Chon Noriega directs UCLA's Chicano Studies Research Center. He also co-curated five shows for Pacific Standard Time. Listen to him make his main points here: "There are no centers anymore. There are … [Read more...]
Fernando Pullum: Twenty Push-Ups
November 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Watch a video of Fernando Pullum's students: "When you make mistakes, you do push-ups. We call it 'celebrating'... because, if you can recognize your mistake, then you can fix it. So we do five push-ups, because we recognize that mistake. And then, if you do twenty one day, the next day you try to do fifteen. You're trying to get some type of internal push, because if I'm away from you, you need to, baby, survive on your own. It just works better, because everyone has their own … [Read more...]
Pat Wyatt: A Mystery on Purpose
November 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
"I think the greatest service journalism can offer is try to get behind the curtain and try to understand what's motivating these media companies because it's a closed loop system. And so it protects itself. And it would be great if more journalists could really understand the inner working of the media business. It's sort of a mystery on purpose." An interview with Pat Wyatt, former president of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment: Pat Wyatt today, working with Navajo and Apache … [Read more...]
The Tiziano Project: Take a Step Back
November 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
YouTube has 800 million unique users, and the content is often used in other websites and blogs, so that views of popular videos can reach into the billions. The Tiziano Project tries to connect those viewers with the people in conflict zones and under-reported areas who may never see TV crews in their communities or have an opportunity to speak with reporters. "The communication revolution has brought people, young and old, closer together to share in a universal conversation. It is morally … [Read more...]
Gronk: Pluck the Lowbrow
November 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
“I pull things from many sources in my work, creating a kind of visual collage,” Gronk says. “I’m always mixing different time periods, different references, different media. There could be a line from a film, such “Awake, Martha, awake.” To me, that’s beautiful. That came from a scene in ‘Attack of the Crab Monsters’ [a Roger Corman sci-fi movie from 1957], which I pulled from YouTube." "It just shows how easily accessible everything is now," he says, "and how you can use … [Read more...]
Scott Grieger: What We Get Is Dinner With You
November 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Artist Scott Grieger discusses how art critics used to be a lot more fun, and the overwhelming need for an Elke Sommer wing in a major art museum. … [Read more...]
