Criticism on Fridays: Empowering Each Other
The World of Institutionalism Proves its Inadequacy (Again)
OperaWire writer Polina Lyapustina reflects on UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance professor Peter Sellars's speech at the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University 'New Normal' conference and how his perspective evokes a conversation about how the opera industry operates.
"When I heard Peter Sellars’ words at the ‘Next Normal,’ Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University conference this Wednesday, I wanted to write them down immediately. They resonated so powerfully with the industry state at any scale.
And the more I reviewed different topics for this week’s column the more I saw (and got depressed) about how the institutions, majors organizations, and even committees ruin the industry. All the stories lead to the same upshot — loud reasonable voices of real people are buried under conventions and rules of the game. Rules, I might add, that we have never accepted.What was the most horrible moment of this week? One and a half hours of the UK Parlament debates on a powerful petition set by a single person — Tim Brennan, empowered by another 284K musicians.
The new ‘Carry on Touring’ campaign was launched ahead of the Parliamentary debate with the only goal to make government go back to the negotiation table and secure reciprocal arrangements between the EU and the UK. The campaigners think that a system similar to ETIAS could be established. They also call for Government to ensure that complicated and costly Carnets will not be required for portable musical instruments." - Polina Lyapustina, Feb. 12, 2021
This post is an excerpt. Read the full article on the OperaWire website.
Read more about Peter Sellars.
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