Study: The Idea That Universities Fight Inequality Turns Out To Be A Myth

"In a fascinating new paper published this summer, five economists, Raj Chetty, John Friedman, Emmanuel Saez, Nicholas Turner, and Danny Yagan, call into question higher education’s role in promoting upward mobility. The centerpiece of the paper is “mobility report cards” for each college in America. The researchers considered 30 million students between 1999 and 2014 and compared their parents’ incomes to their own post-college earnings, by school. With this data, they could see exactly which colleges helped the most students rise from the bottom of the earnings ladder to the top."

Article source here:Arts Journal

Lessons For The US? - How New Delhi Dealt With Its Colonial Monuments

"Britain withdrew from the subcontinent seventy years ago this month, creating, amid the bloodshed of Partition, the independent states of India and Pakistan. (They came into being at the famous stroke of midnight, the moment when Britain withdrew its sovereignty.) The imperial statues in New Delhi presented a dilemma; compared with the challenges of poverty, industrialization, and the desire to consolidate a constitutional democracy, they were a minor irritant, but a highly visible one."

Article source here:Arts Journal

Art In Support Of Homeless: 9000 to Sleep In A Park In Edinburgh

"It is hoped 9,000 people will take part in the sleepout, which will see Liam Gallagher, Deacon Blue, Amy Macdonald and Frightened Rabbit play unplugged. No tickets will be sold, with members of the public and businesses joining the event by reaching fundraising targets and accepting the sleep-out challenge."

Article source here:Arts Journal

It's Two Years Before The Final Season Of "Game Of Thrones." So An Engineer Enlisted Artificial Intelligence To Get There First

Software engineer Zack Thoutt has trained a recurrent neural network (RNN) to predict the events of The Winds of Winter. This machine-learning algorithm is modeled after the human brain—it can quickly analyze text and remember thousands of plot points.

Article source here:Arts Journal

Artist To Swarm Philly's Ben Franklin Parkway With Lantern-Covered Pedicabs

In a new project titled Fireflies, Cai Guo-Qiang, the artist known for (literal) fireworks such as Fallen Blossoms on the front steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, will send a fleet of pedicabs swathed in colorful lamps to perform synchronized maneuvers on the city's grand avenue and then pick up passengers for an evening ride.

Article source here:Arts Journal

11 Ways to Make Sure Your Self Tapes Don't Suck

Hey, it's Matt.

I've been speaking with a lot of people at the studio lately, as well as agents and managers, about self tapes, and how not a lot of actors do them right, and how that really affects their chances of booking the job.  Now I know not everyone has the time and money to get their tapes done professionally, but there's no excuse not to deliver a kickass self tape from your own home.  

I'm here to fix that.  Here are the rules in making your self tape stand out, along with the right equipment to get.  Print it out.  You will thank me later.

1. BACKDROP.  Use a gray or blue wall (not white).  If you don't have one, buy a cheap muslin sheet from Amazon.  And iron it.  Something like this.   This helps keep the focus on the actor.
2. LIGHTING.  No overhead lights,  no weird orange lamp lighting, no huge shadows.   Place two soft box lights on equal sides of the camera, a bit above the actor.  Use white bulbs.   These are awesome.   
3. SOUND.  Use a shotgun mic or lavalier mic so the off camera voice doesn't overshadow the actor.   They won't cost much.  A lavalier mic can plug right into your phone. Try this one.   
4. CAMERA.  Use your iPhone or a DSLR.   If you use your iPhone, put it on a tripod (cheap), buy an adaptor, and clip it HORIZONTALLY (for the love of god).  That is the industry standard.   
5. SIGHTLINE.  Never look right into camera, except for the SLATE.  Place the reader directly next to the camera, and read to that person.
6. FRAMING.  Medium shot.   Mid-chest to top of head.  Simple, easy, helps the viewer focus on the subtlety of the actor. 
7. PERFORMANCE.  You need to be better than the 200 other people taping.   You need to be amazing, different, authentic, unique, memorized, and make strong choices.   There are so many ways to say these lines.  Choose one that is original.  Point of view is everything.  Show them your unique take on the character, not just how well you memorize.
8. HAIR/MAKEUP/WARDROBE.  You should look like you are stepping onto set.  Fix your hair, iron your shirt, take down the shine, cover up the puffy eyes, and look like a movie star.   Don't obsess about the color of the shirt, just make sure it's hip, looks good on you ,and is flattering.
9. UPLOADING/EDITING.  Import the footage into iMovie (or Final Cut if you're fancy).   Share the project to DROPBOX (industry standard), and make sure it's saved to a file LESS THAN 50MB (otherwise you will crash your agent's email, and they will drop you).   
10. EMAIL TO YOUR AGENTS.   The title of the file, and the subject of the email should be:  Name_Project_Role.  That is how they like it.  Unless the directions say otherwise.
11. Finally, PLEASE DON'T SUCK.  Treat your self tape like a network test., even if it's 10pm, you are tired, just got in a fight with your mom (or roommate), and had to memorize 15 pages.  Let it go.  Give it your all, and make the first 15 seconds kick ass, which is about how long it takes for them to decide if they will keep watching or not.   Make a strong connection to the reader, and show them something they haven't seen before.   No excuses.

Article source here:Matt Newton Acting Studio

The Onion And Satire In The Age Of Fake News

“If someone doesn’t recognise the joke we’re making, then that’s a whole lot of labour lost. We aim never to trick people but rather to train them to see the world as we see it. In a world infested by ‘fake news’, the intention [and subsequent execution] is everything.”

Article source here:Arts Journal

Drama Critic Gets Bad Review, Takes It Personally, Discovers That It Hurts

In which Time Out London's theatre editor books a room in Edinburgh via Airbnb, has a minor disagreement with his host, and finds himself on the receiving end of a 500-word "screed". "As I proceeded to moan about it on Twitter, I heard the faint sound of a very distant penny dropping ..."

Article source here:Arts Journal

No, Asking The Community Who Doesn't Attend Your Theatre What You Should Do Isn't The End Of Expertise

Of course dig deeper behind the headline and the York initiative is not quite the latest nail in the coffin for expertise that it might first appear. Rather it’s a smart move to broaden audiences and repertoire and involve the local community from a theatre that has already pioneered involving young people in every aspect of theatre production from programming through to producing and marketing with the annual excellent Takeover Festival.

Article source here:Arts Journal

Bringing Western Opera (Back) To India

Patricia Rozario, a Mumbai-born soprano who made her name singing the music of the late John Tavener and now teaches at London's Royal College of Music, has been making regular visits to her home country to give young singers advanced training in opera technique - and then creating opportunities for them to perform. Last month, Rozario and her colleagues produced the first opera seen at Mumbai's old Royal Opera House in some eight decades.

Article source here:Arts Journal

How Tiny Eau Claire Wisconsin Became The Mid-West's Hot New Town

The tipping point came in 2012: Arts advocates, the city, the state, and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (UWEC) joined forces on the $85 million Confluence Arts Center. Previous big projects proposed for downtown had failed to gain approval, but Confluence’s critical mass of partners overcame some mild opposition. When it’s completed next year, across from Phoenix Park, it’ll have two theaters, apartments, retail space, and a pedestrian plaza, along with artist and technical training facilities.

Article source here:Arts Journal