“They’ve already called off operas and foiled film festivals. On Wednesday, thousands of France’s performing artists took their strike on the road, puffing into tubas or waving puppets as they marched through Paris’ streets in a demonstration. Now that spring strikes by transport workers, teachers and trash collectors have ended, a standoff over unemployment benefits for artists is threatening to ruin France’s summer artistic season. Dozens of performances… have been canceled. Actors, musicians, filmmakers and theater technicians are worried about changes to a unique French system that protects performers with an unemployment plan that takes into account their downtime between projects.”