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Happy Monday! Thanks for checking out Art&Seek’s weekly look at the biggest and most important stories in the North Texas arts scene.

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Things You Ought To Listen To

The Dallas-born, art-rocker Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent) blew through North Texas less than ten days ago and critics are still struggling to epitomize her far out performance at The Bomb Factory.

Photo: Nedda Afsari

Photo: Nedda Afsari

The Dallas Morning News saw Clark’s one-woman rock-n-roll show – which featured Clark on stage in a pleather, thick strapped thong bodysuit; shredding on custom guitars with artsy visuals of the performer on giant screens behind her – as an attempt by a brainy feminist to be a sex symbol in male-dominated genre.

But as KERA’s Molly Evans put it – Clark likely won’t be reading those reviews. Clark told KERA’s Krys Boyd that she said she doesn’t find music criticism particularly useful.

“With all due respect, I’ve dedicated most of my life to loving music and listening to music, so it’s not going to make me enjoy something more or less hearing someone who doesn’t play music’s idea of what it is or should be,” she said.

Check out the full interview for insights into the artist’s next project, finding her voice and more.

More Stuff To Listen To

Things You Ought To Look At

If you’re anything like me, you’ve spent the past week trying to cram as many viewings of Oscar nominated films into your life as possible. But even with a sinus infection and a couple of days off of work, it’s pretty tough.

Luckily, you don’t have to feel like a noob all week long. You can participate in discussions about whether the Oscars are still too white, if ‘Shape of Water’ was really all about fish sex or why the Oscars seem to love method actors. That’s because there’s a plethora of content out there about just about every single thing you can imagine.

Our own ‘The Big Screen’ delved into every movie nominated for ‘Best Picture.’ NPR and Great Big Story introduced us to the man behind the monster mask. Vanity Fair crafted this totally enlightening explainer video about how a film wins the Oscar for ‘Best Picture.’ And then there are those admirable Octogenarians who were up for awards last night.

So even if you didn’t watch all nine films nominated for best picture or the dozens more that were nominated for technical categories, there’s plenty to talk about (and look at) at the water cooler.

More Stuff To Look At

Things You Ought To Know

Dallas City Performance Hall gives small and mid-size local arts groups a place to call home. Photo by Stevan Koye, courtesy of AT&T Performing Arts Center

Dallas City Performance Hall gives small and mid-size local arts groups a place to call home. Photo by Stevan Koye, courtesy of AT&T Performing Arts Center

Dallas City Performance Hall is no more. Now, don’t get worried. No one’s bankrupt and the structure is still standing. But as we reported last Spring, the performance hall has a new name – Moody Performance Hall.

The name was officially branded onto the Hall last week. And the Dallas Morning News reports that Mayor Mike Rawlings shared some exciting news at the sign unveiling ceremony:

The Moody Foundation, which had pledged to give $1 million a year to an endowment that would support small arts groups in Dallas over the next 10 years, has elected to provide all $10 million at once — in addition to the $12 million already designated to the AT&T Performing Arts Center for the retirement of its capital debt.

The application process has already begun. Details can be found at Moodyartsfund.org.

More Stuff To Know

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