iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

ActiveCultures @activecultures.bsky.social · 14h

Grateful for this article from Sandy Times that captures so much about not only The Arts Center, but how we all work together as a sector in Abu Dhabi. sandytimes.ae/culture/5468...

sandytimes.ae

How The Arts Center At NYU Abu Dhabi Helped Build Abu Dhabi’s Performing Arts Scene

Inside the institution that helped make contemporary performance a regular part of life in Abu Dhabi

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ActiveCultures @activecultures.bsky.social · 22h

Are you an US expat voting from abroad? Here in the UAE the Embassy will deliver your ballot if received by tomorrow Oct 1. Info generally can be found at www.votefromabroad.org/states

votefromabroad.org

Voting rules for US States | VoteFromAbroad.org

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Bryan Waterman @waterman.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Love this piece celebrating our friend Gelina, one of the most remarkable and hardworking people I’ve ever known. She’s a nanny whose side gig is marshaling F1 races, and she’s done it on multiple continents.

businessmirror.com.ph

From nanay to nanny… to Madrid F1 marshall | Troi Santos

MADRID—Gelina Lutaro is 50 years old, a single mother of five, and an FIA-certified intervention marshal at this year’s inaugural Spanish Grand Prix. Getting there took 18 years, most of them spent aw...

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ActiveCultures @activecultures.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

In case you were wondering what live music looked and sounded like on Turkmenistan television.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Your regular reminder that this is a public website and things that you say can and will be used against you.

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First World Music @firstworldmusic.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

#FirstWorldMusic remembers 🇳🇬 singer & guitarist SUNNY ADÉ today, on his birthday, 9/22. #HappyBirthday

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cb ⿻ @lovevolv.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

bsky.app/profile/love... shoutout @activecultures.bsky.social happy arrivalday

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Mr Natural @neilmatheson66.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Happy 75th birthday, record producer and muscian Daniel Lanois. 🎂

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Mr Natural @neilmatheson66.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Happy 68th birthday, guitarist and singer/songwriter, Lita Ford. 🎂

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Mr Natural @neilmatheson66.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Happy 63rd birthday, singer, lyricist, and founding member of Pulp - Jarvis Cocker. 🎂

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Mr Natural @neilmatheson66.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

#BOTD 1928. Remembering actor Adam West. (d.2017) #FilmSky

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Mr Natural @neilmatheson66.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Happy 78th birthday, actor Jeremy Irons. 🎂 #FilmSky

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Mr Natural @neilmatheson66.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Happy 77th birthday, model, singer, and actress Twiggy. 🎂

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kenny mellman @kennymellman.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

happiest of birthdays Bill!

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Todd @kinetograph.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Happy birthday!

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Mr Natural @neilmatheson66.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

#BOTD 1941. Remembering singer, songwriter, actress, and comedian Cass Elliot. (d.1974)

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Mr Natural @neilmatheson66.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Happy 74th birthday guitarist, songwriter, vocalist, record producer, and co-founding member of Chic - Nile Rodgers. 🎂

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ActiveCultures @activecultures.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Starting 59 as I ended 58. Reviewing performance proposals over a nightcap. With social media distracting me. I am who I am.

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Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

NEW YORK (AP) — At least three supporting acts quit Ed Sheeran's tour after Macklemore is dropped over pro-Palestinian comments onstage.

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Johnathan Perkins @johnathanperk.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

“Intersex” is the “I” in LGBTQIA. Learned a lot, watching this.

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Melvin Gibbs @melvingibbs.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

I am also going to present “Geechee Reclaimation”. I’ll rework/remix/reconstitute recordings of “Plantation Echoes”, music from Wadmalaw Island in South Carolina that was performed for George Gershwin when he was writing “Porgy and Bess”. My great-grandfather Solomon Gibbs was one of the performers.

the poster for Geechee Reclamation- a project being presented by bassist/composer/author Melvin Gibbs as part of a series of concerts he is curating at Big Ears Festival 2027 in Knoxville, Tennessee

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Barry Freed @barryfreed.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Heading to Mathaf for a screening of Waël Shawky’s Drama 1882

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jeff @jazyjef.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Big Ears 2027 Knoxville, Tennessee bigearsfestival.org/lineup-2027/

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Nonesuch Records @nonesuch.com · 14/09/2026

Big Ears Festival announced the lineup for its 2027 edition— taking place in Knoxville, April 1–4—including artist-in-residence @vijayiyer.bsky.social, Brad Mehldau, Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, Josh Johnson, @nataliemerchant.bsky.social, @dirtyprojectors.net solo, Gustavo Santaolalla, and Kronos Quartet.

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ActiveCultures @activecultures.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Reviewing new grant proposals. I signed in to reconnect with what’s happening in the US performing arts scene. It’s a huge amount of time. Which I don’t really have. So many interesting projects. I’m reviewing text of a proposed work in progress right now and near tears. This is why I said yes.

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Musicology Duck @musicologyduck.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

these people are always taking my dream jobs

Most recently, Kronos Quartet has been selected as the Doomsday Clock Artists in Residence for The Bulletin of
Atomic Scientists.

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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 11/09/2026

Shanah Tovah, New York! Wishing all Jewish New Yorkers celebrating a sweet, joyful and meaningful Rosh Hashanah. Here’s to a new year filled with health, happiness and blessings (and yes, even another Knicks championship).

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ActiveCultures @activecultures.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

💃🏽🕺🏽🌈🎧 Excited to have two more goes of The Butterfly 🦋 Who Flew Into a Rave 🪩

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ActiveCultures @activecultures.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

When Devo formed more than 40 years ago, we never dreamed that two decades into the 21st century, everything we had theorized would not only be proven, but also become worse than we had imagined. www.vice.com/en/article/d...

vice.com

We Are Drowning in a Devolved World: An Open Letter from Devo

Following the band's Rock Hall nomination, founder Gerald Casale reflects on its dystopian legacy in the age of Trump.

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ActiveCultures @activecultures.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

If you are in UAE and interested in contemporary dance and/or rave culture, don’t miss The Butterfly Who Flew Into the Rave, tonight thru Sat at The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi @magpieuae.bsky.social interview magpie.ae/dance-till-y... Show tix / info publicprograms.nyuad.nyu.edu/en/the-arts-...

Magpie headline: Rave on: how to fit a weekend into an hour. Photo of a fierce trio of dancers.

Pink fluorescent light suspended mid air and theater lights on the floor. Caption reads: The Black Box at nyuadartscenter nyuabudhabi is ready for you to fly (butterfly emoji) into the Rave starting this Thursday with a link to tix.

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Damon K @dadadrummer.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Went to see Bread & Puppet - Hurrah!

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ActiveCultures @activecultures.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Completed: 7 1/2% of my evaluations for a major artist grant. Slowed than I expected. More to review than I expected. But my goal was also get an overview of what’s up, and so far so good.

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ActiveCultures @activecultures.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

My wife and I are planning a trip to Turkmenistan with some friends. So now I’m looking for music. Perhaps we have a new favorite Turkmenistani band. youtu.be/VBkkR44qXrs?...

youtu.be

The Cleavage, Cleavage. Girl.

YouTube video by Gunesh - Topic

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ActiveCultures @activecultures.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Last night, a friend’s living room cinematic showed the bleak Nick Cave-written cinematic murder ballad of a Western, The Proposition, which was great but bleak AF and messed with my fall season theme of Joy and Resilience. So re-upping this as a personal timeline cleanse.

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ActiveCultures @activecultures.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

And thanks also for picking up on the clapping theme I mentioned going into intermission. All the various senses of rhythm here are such a great metaphor for what life is like in the UAE. And why my expected 4-5 years has become 12 and counting.

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ActiveCultures @activecultures.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Thanks for the moving response. I also realized I haven’t stayed in one place for more than 3 weeks since March. It was so healing. I had planned it pre-war, in part as counterbalance to an especially heavy season last year (see magpie.ae/joy-to-the-w...) but it ended up being even more important.

magpie.ae

Joy to the world: The Arts Center’s new season - magpie

Bill Bragin is back from Edinburgh. He saw 45 shows there in two weeks (he says he’s slowing down – a few years ago he was managing 8 or 9 per day). It’s

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Nate Bowling @natebowling.com · 06/09/2026

I had other plans for the newsletter today but I gotta tell y'all about this dang jazz show. It was my first real public anything in the city since the war started. buttondown.com/natebowling/...

buttondown.com

The First Night That Felt Normal

New Orleans Brass and North African Jazz, together for one night only

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Nate Bowling @natebowling.com · 06/09/2026

Algerian-French jazz met New Orleans style brass band last night. Giants of their genres just jamming together. This show was INCREDIBLE!

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ActiveCultures @activecultures.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Only in Abu Dhabi, bruh. Only in Abu Dhabi. New Orleans Dirty Dozen playing Gnawa music with French North African band Fanfaraï at The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi. Historic. Epic. Music is medicine. Esp for you @earlofedgecombe.bsky.social and @postmambo.bsky.social

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