“On Tuesday afternoon, the [paper] announced that it would be hiring Quinn Norton as an editorial board member. Shortly before 10 p.m., the paper fired her. Norton has been a prolific tech journalist – covering issues ranging from bioethics to the Anonymous movement for publications like Wired and The Atlantic – and seemed initially to be a remarkably good pick to become the Times‘ lead opinion writer ‘on the power, culture, and consequences of technology.’ The hours between her hiring and firing were an object lesson in all three.”
Month: February 2018
Philadelphia Orchestra, Combining Cultural Diplomacy With Fundraising, To Tour Israel
“Spinning the globe for a spot where it can play for a knowledgeable crowd, conduct cultural diplomacy, and woo some important patrons, the Philadelphia Orchestra has put its finger on Israel. The ensemble will perform in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa the first week in June, after another leg of the tour takes them to Vienna, Paris, and smaller European cities. The Philadelphians have been to Israel only once before, in 1992 as Riccardo Muti was ending his tenure as the orchestra’s fifth music director.”
How Montreal Symphony Management Blew It On Charles Dutoit – 15 Years Ago
Robert Everett-Green points out that allegations of Dutoit’s bullying of musicians in rehearsal – allegations repeated in detail last week in two of Montreal’s francophone newspapers – were made very clear by the players in 2002. And when they were, Dutoit abruptly stormed away from his job, and the orchestra’s management was far more concerned with his feelings than those of the musicians. “It’s worth looking at the circumstances that may have led [the board] to brush off the players’ complaints for about 20 years.”
Paris Reveals Final Plans For Grand Palais’s Three-Year, €466M Renovation
“An spokeswoman says that the site will be ‘totally closed from December 2020; the Rue des Palais, Nef [nave] and Grand Galleries will open in the spring of 2023’. During the 2024 summer Olympics, fencing and taekwondo will be held at the historic venue. The closure will, however, cause upheaval in the art fair calendar with three major fairs – Fiac, Paris Photo and La Biennale Paris – forced to relocate to temporary locations for their 2021 editions.”
Ava DuVernay And City Of Los Angeles Launch Program To Increase Diversity Behind The Cameras
“Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti joined filmmaker Ava DuVernay and producer Dan Lin on Monday to launch the Evolve Entertainment Fund, a public-private partnership aimed at creating new opportunities for communities that have been historically excluded from the entertainment industry. The fund plans to raise $5 million by 2020 to award grants to various entertainment industry organizations.”
English National Ballet To Perform In U.S. For First Time In 30 Years
“Akram Khan’s much talked-about reworking of Giselle, created for English National Ballet in 2016, will come to the United States next year, the company’s first trip across the Atlantic in 30 years. The Harris Theater in Chicago will present English National Ballet in four performances of Mr. Khan’s work, Feb. 28 to March 2, 2019.”
Looking Into The ‘Toxic’ Backstage Culture At English National Ballet
“Rumours of bad human relations and plummeting morale had been circulating for years, seemingly validated by a staggeringly high turnover of staff year after year. … Fifteen dancers left the company last summer alone. And yet the Times report was the first time allegations of unacceptable managerial conduct in the company came out into the open. … Why have people with compelling stories to tell not spoken out before? Or sought redress in-house? We talked to twelve ENB dancers past and present, as well as support staff, and had sight of relevant documents. And the answer we consistently got was ‘fear.'”
The Reclusive Artist (I’m Sorry, We Don’t Have Tolerance For That These Days)
Once upon a time, not turning up for an awards ceremony held a kind of clout: “When a writer doesn’t show his face,” as DeLillo wrote in his 1991 novel, “Mao II,” about a reclusive novelist who becomes a prisoner of a terrorist organization, “he becomes a local symptom of God’s famous reluctance to appear.” Now it feels a little rude, like not showing up to a dinner party held in your honor.
Are Museums Pandering To The Selfie Generation And Losing Their Meaning?
“Not only are [visitors] taking pictures of art, they are taking pictures of themselves within these spaces. So in the pre-digital photography era, the message was ‘This is what I am seeing. I have seen.’ And today the message is: ‘I was there. I came, I saw, and I selfied.’ ”
Opera Star Paata Burchuladze Questioned In Embezzlement Investigation
“Paata Burchuladze, a prominent opera singer who challenged Georgia’s ruling coalition in 2016 parliamentary elections, has been questioned by prosecutors [in Tbilisi] investigating allegations of embezzlement and misuse of funds by his charitable foundation.”