Gideon Lester

1000%!!

Frank Gehry, 2003

Frank Gehry being interviewed at the Fisher Center, 2003

We are deeply saddened by the passing of Frank Gehry (1929 – 2025), architect of the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College. We owe him an incalculable debt of gratitude, and will honor his memory for as long as live performance flourishes at the Fisher Center.

“still more when you superadd the tendency or the certainty of corruption by authority. There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.” — Lord Acton to Archbishop Creighton, 1887

(3/3)

“Historic responsibility has to make up for the want of legal responsibility. Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men, even when they exercise influence and not authority:”
(2/3)

“My dear Bishop,

I cannot accept your canon that we are to judge Pope and King unlike other men, with a favourable presumption that they did no wrong. If there is any presumption it is the other way, against holders of power, increasing as the power increases.”
(1/3)

Cosmos are the greatest…

Fisher Center LAB Choreographer in Residence Pam Tanowitz introduces Pastoral, her new work for this year’s Bard SummerScape.

Experience the world premiere of Pastoral, June 27–29 only. 🔗 Learn more and book now at bit.ly/pastoral-su25.

🎥: A Doll’s House Pictures

Sarah Crowner discusses the concept and process of designing the stage décor for Pastoral, premiering at this year’s Bard SummerScape.

Experience the world premiere of Pastoral, June 27–29 only. 🔗 Learn more and book now at bit.ly/pastoral-su25.

🎥: A Doll’s House Pictures

Caroline Shaw discusses composing the music for Pastoral, premiering at this year’s Bard SummerScape.

Experience the world premiere of Pastoral, June 27–29 only. 🔗 Learn more and book now at bit.ly/pastoral-su25.

🎥: A Doll’s House Pictures

Fisher Center LAB Choreographer in Residence Pam Tanowitz discusses the dancers and development of Pastoral, her new work for this year’s Bard SummerScape.

Experience the world premiere of Pastoral, June 27–29 only. 🔗 Learn more and book now at bit.ly/pastoral-su25.

🎥: A Doll’s House Pictures

Fisher Center at Bard Announces Civis Hope Commissions (Gift Article) The Fisher Center at Bard has announced a wave of works by artists including Suzan-Lori Parks, Courtney Bryan, Barrie Kosky and Lisa Kron.

Honored to announce @fishercenterbard.bsky.social ‘s new commissioning program on the subject of Hope, with a founding gift from the Civis Foundation.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/01/a...

Inspired in part by @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social !

Gino!!

❤️

Hi there

This morning at Dept of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) HQ in DC as mandatory return to office began, this video played on loop for ~5 mins on screens throughout the building, per agency source.

Building staff couldn’t figure out how to turn it off so sent people to every floor to unplug TVs.

So grateful to @anniedorsen.bsky.social for her leadership

Rebecca Solnit’s Hope in the Dark is more than 20 years old but is just as relevant, sane, and inspiring as ever. It should be required reading on every high school and college syllabus. @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social

No One Knows How This Will End (But I Do Not Think It Will End Well for Them) I can sum up the Trump/Musk/Vance theory of power in five words: "We have power; you don't." Alternative version in six words: "we can do anything we want." They seem to believe that nothing is really...

These three horsemen of the MAGA-tech-bro apocalypse are in the position of penthouse dwellers who think their top floor apartment doesn't rest on all the floors underneath... www.meditationsinanemergency.com/no-one-knows...

Adams must be removed. The city cannot sustain being governed for nearly a year by a Mayor who is being coerced by Trump admin in order to escape charges.

This corruption poses a real threat to the people of the city. He should have resigned a while ago, but will not. So it’s time for him to go.

Given developments at the Kennedy Center, effective today I am resigning as artistic advisor to the NSO.
Not for me.
It’s been a wonderful 8 years working with Kennedy Center President Deb Rutter, fellow artistic advisor Renee Fleming, NSO artistic administrator Justin Ellis, and the entire NSO

New Kennedy Center board elects Trump as chair. Rutter departs as president. President Trump’s refashioned board of trustees voted him chairman in a meeting Wednesday afternoon. President Deborah Rutter told staff she was departing the institution.

Updated list of political leaders that seized control of artistic institutions:

Adolf Hitler
Joseph Stalin
Benito Mussolini
Francisco Franco
Mao Zedong
Pol Pot
Kim Il-sung
Nicolae Ceaușescu
Saddam Hussein
Muammar Gaddafi
Idi Amin
Donald Trump

www.washingtonpost.com/entertainmen...

This action by the NEA is beyond odious. And a betrayal of their mission to “foster and sustain an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States.”

Email address for the NEA's office of civil rights in case you would like to share your thoughts: civilrights@arts.gov

The shock and awe Musk, Vought, Bannon and Trump — are bringing will backfire if we’re smart about it. Make clear that DOGE is the Dept of Govt Extermination, not Efficiency. Let people see that their taxes are no longer paying for vital public services but to fatten the richest people on earth.

Welcome to Meditations in an Emergency We are very clearly in a lot of emergencies right now. They demand action. But action demands thought and thoughtfulness: who are we, what are our values, our goals, our allies, our possibilities, and...

I finally launched my own newsletter! I'm happy to be albeit write what I want when I want. And to put a lot of short in-the-moment essays that used to be on FB at this site instead. Please subscribe! meditations-in-an-emergency.ghost.io/welcome-to-m...

I think we should start talking about art like our lives kind of depended on it… because right now, more than ever, it kind of does.

They’re trying to make us less human. Less interested in humanity. So let’s be as interested as possible. Let’s show up for living artists too. All of it.

Trump's treasury nominee Scott Bessent, who is worth ~$500 million, said extending Trump's tax cuts for the rich is "the most important economic issue of the day."

When asked if we should raise the federal minimum wage above the current paltry $7.25 an hour, he said, "No, sir."

Despicable.

How about the live arts: theater; performance art; dance; opera?

'George's Daughter' — Lenfest Center for the Arts Professor of the Arts and Dean Emerita Carol Becker discusses her new memoir about the complexity of a father/daughter relationship that will “resonate with anyone whose family has come undone when ...

Join me at Columbia on Feb 20, when I’ll be in conversation with Carol Becker about her spectacular new memoir, George’s Daughter