An interesting article in this weekend’s Los Angeles Times (Should whites direct black plays, and vice versa? — latimes.com).  It begins by looking at a play in rehearsal at the Pasadena Playhouse.  “Key characters in this play are a white woman and her family. The director happens to be black, as does the playwright. Should it matter?”

In fact, since spring, when a revival of August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” opened on Broadway, the American theater has been engaged in a racially charged discussion of who should direct what. Should white artists direct plays that are black in authorship and subject? And by extension, should black — and Latino, Asian, mixed-race and other — directors be hired to stage plays written by white authors? Such are the questions being posed.

Give the article a read.

Kal Penn Lands in D.C., Begins White House Job

Kal Penn speaks during an inaugural event at the Lincoln Memorial on Jan. 18. (Reuters/Jason Reed)

After months of faux-sightings, bloggery skepticism and anticipatory Twittering, Kal Penn has finally arrived, reports our colleague Monica Hesse.

A White House spokesman said that the actor — who startled viewers with his abrupt departure from hit series “House” this spring in order to take a White House job — is this morning beginning his first day as an associate director in the White House’s Office of Public Engagement.

Penn, 31, was busy and highly visible campaigner for President Obama last year. He told us in April he’s committing to at least a year or two in Washington, during which time he won’t accept any acting gigs. In the new job, he’ll work primarily with the youth, arts and Asian American communities.

(a posting from the Washington Post blog - http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/07/06/kal_penn_lands_in_dc_begins_wh.html?wprss=44)

This is a great posting from John Killacky in San Francisco - well worth reading!  RR

Survival Strategies for the Arts | Blue Avocado

Survival Strategies for the Arts
Feature Articles • By John Killacky • May 15, 2009 • 

John Killacky photoJohn Killacky, artist and arts funder, not only knows that we need the arts now more than ever, but gives us ten survival strategies for arts organizations and one for audience members — and reminds us that all of us are audience members.

The arts are where hope lives. And right now, as the very tenets of civil society are being re-written, and as health and human service needs rise, there is legitimate concern about whether the arts will survive, how the arts can thrive.

The arts, like every other nonprofit sub-sector, are being challenged by significant contribution losses from government, corporations, foundations, and private donors. Box office and gallery admissions are also eroding as discretionary dollars evaporate. Almost everyone agrees funding problems will become more acute in the upcoming three to five years. Adaptability is replacing growth as a barometer of success.

(more…)

This from the RISD blog is worth repeating:

The American Craft Council has just announced that Toots Zynsky ‘73 SC/GL is one of seven inductees into the organization’s prestigious College of Fellows, having demonstrated outstanding artistic achievement, leadership and service in the craft field for at least 25 years. Toots and her fellow Fellows will be featured in the October/November 2009 issue of American Craft magazine. Congratulations, Toots!

And congratulations from us as well, Toots!