Black Leads Profitable at the Box Office: In the wake of the recent controversy over the lack of diversity in Hollywood, both on screen and behind the scenes, a team of researchers investigated how movies featuring African-American actors perform at the box office compared to those with all-white casts. Venkat Kuppuswamy of the University of North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler Business school and Peter Younkin of McGill University studied films released between 2011 and 2015 that met the criteria for Academy Award eligibility, excluding animated and foreign films. Of the 732 films that met these criteria, Kuppuswamy and Younkin discovered significance evidence that movies featuring black actors were actually much more successful at the box office than those with no black actors at all. Specifically, films with two black cast members earned roughly 60% more on average than films with no black actors. Films with two black leads actually outperformed those with no black actors by a whopping 149% at the box office. Kuppuswamy explains: “There’s a general sense that we’re not going to make diverse movies because there isn’t an audience for it–[and that] is simply not true.” As efforts continue to promote fairness and diversity in casting, this research shows that Hollywood and its producers certainly have a financial incentive to follow suit.

Celebrating Healthy Relationships between Men and Girls through Dance: A new project by London-based dance company Fevered Sleep aims to challenge the suspicion associated with relationships between grown men and young girls, tainted in recent years by instances of scandal and abuse. “Men & Girls Dance” pairs professional male dancers with young female recreational dancers. Initial reactions to the project were, in the words of artistic director Sam Butler, “quite shocking,” as people questioned his vision and were concerned about the program being “a bit creepy.” The company’s initial interest in the project was largely aesthetic, as the company’s other artistic director David Harradine explains: “Incredible things happen when you are choreographing men who are six foot five and girls who are four foot six…In terms of the movement potential, it’s really exciting.” As the company came up against criticism for the topic, however, they realized the potential for social commentary: “We’re trying to provoke people to question what society seems to tell us about this relationship.” Through a program that is described as “joyful” in spirit and incorporates improvisation, the company hopes to bring attention to cultural attitudes towards the relationship between men and girls and restore some of the innocence that has been lost there.

Philadelphia Orchestra Aims for Music with Social Impact: The Philadelphia Orchestra is combining a new social-impact program with current programs as part of the new “HEAR” initiative to use music in community outreach efforts. “HEAR” incorporates four pillars of social-impact: Health, Education, Access, Research. Specific programs in these area include (1) orchestra musicians providing music therapy to victims of trauma, (2) mentorship, coaching, and rehearsal with student orchestra members, (3) reduced price tickets for teenagers, and (4) research to ultimately improve existing music education programs in the city. Daniel Berkowitz, the Philadelphia Orchestra’s director of collaborative learning, explains a driving question behind the HEAR programs: “How do we use music to increase quality of life for people in challenging situations?” Orchestra president Allison Vulgamore notes that the HEAR programs are also meant to ultimately attract new funding and investments in the future of the group, which she sees as involving being “off stage as much as we are on stage.” What a wonderful initiative using music to bring communities together and help the less fortunate, while also promoting the arts!

Columbia Students Protest Sculpture: Students at Columbia have banded together in signing a petition against the newest addition to their campus: a Henry Moore sculpture. Moore is hailed as one of the most influential British artists of the 20th century; his work is displayed in major museums like the Tate and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His sculpture “Reclining Figure” (1969-70) is set to arrive on Columbia’s campus soon, but it is already raising a good deal of controversy. More than 1,200 students have signed a petition condemning the sculpture for clashing with the proposed location’s “Versailles-like symmetry” and being, ultimately, “ugly.” The Columbia administration responded to the petition, releasing a brief statement explaining that current and future generations of Columbia students are welcome to debate the place of modernist art in classical settings. One Columbia student probably best summarized the situation: “Columbia loves protesting. So this is just another protest.” The petition does open for discussion the question of who should determine the placement of art in communities–donors, or residents?