Coming Attractions
Our expert critics supply a guide to film, visual art, theater, author readings, television, and music. More offerings will be added as they come in.
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The Arts Fuse Currents
Music
After more than a quarter century, with an impressive new venue serving as a platform, Radius Ensemble continues to expand its musical reach.
Visual Arts
Every subject in Jim Dine’s richly rendered work seems to edge towards something other than itself, deeper and more personal.
Film
“Rust” is an old-school Western with some fine performances, a violent edge, and a lot of heart.
Books
I wish this catalogue spelled out John Singer Sargent’s professional stance as a “juste milieu” painter more methodically. That term refers to those eager to be associated with new stylistic tendencies yet careful not to transgress the establishment’s norms.
Poetry at The Arts Fuse
This week’s poem: Danielle Legros Georges’s “The Two Liberations of Crispus Attucks”
Dance
All of the gritty challenges for today’s ballet companies are touched on in “Étoile”, including financial troubles, union strikes, rapaciously controlling donors, jealous, egomaniacal dancers, and more bumps in the road.
Theater
The emphasis of the B&P troupe has become increasingly apocalyptic: the struggle we are engaged in is for nothing less than the preservation of our planet, and for the preservation of our individual — and collective ––hearts and minds.
Television
All of the gritty challenges for today’s ballet companies are touched on in “Étoile”, including financial troubles, union strikes, rapaciously controlling donors, jealous, egomaniacal dancers, and more bumps in the road.
Podcasts
In this conversation, Elizabeth Howard engages with Tyler Wetherall, focusing on how she connects with the literary community in New York City through her newsletter, “Reading the City.”
Short Fuses
Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.
Spotlight
About the Arts Fuse
The Arts Fuse was established in June, 2007 as a curated, independent online arts magazine dedicated to publishing in-depth criticism, along with high quality previews, interviews, and commentaries. The publication's over 70 freelance critics (many of them with decades of experience) cover dance, film, food, literature, music, television, theater, video games, and visual arts. Support arts coverage that believes that culture matters.
Arts Commentary: From the Editor’s Desk — By Popular Demand, 2025
Back in February of 2024 I began to write a weekly column for AF newsletter on Substack. A few readers have asked that I post these opinion pieces in the magazine. Here is a selection of my favorites of 2025