“The U.S. internet giant has for years tried to fend off demands for payment from news publishers worldwide in return for using their content, with European media groups among their fiercest critics. … The new product” — which is launching with news publishers from Germany, Australia and Brazil and will subsequently add more — “will be available on Google News and Discover. [An exec] said Google would also offer to pay for free access for users to read paywalled articles on a publisher’s site where available.” – Reuters
Author: Matthew Westphal
A Classical Music Festival With All Black Musicians — And Why It’s Necessary
Lee Pringle, founder of the Colour of Music Festival in Charleston: “The average white orchestra fears that Colour of Music will shine a huge light on the fact that while you can’t put black musicians onstage, this guy in Charleston goes out and finds 89 who are willing to play and have master’s degrees from the same institutions as the white kids. … With 2,000 orchestras, less than 2 percent of the members on those stages are of African ancestry. It is truly the last water fountain for black people to drink from.” – Charleston City Paper
Omaha Symphony Names Next Music Director: Ankush Kumar Bahl
Bahl, who succeeds Thomas Wilkins at the start of the 2021-22 season, becomes the second conductor of color in a row to hold the music director position in Omaha. An Indian-American born and raised in the Bay Area, Bahl has worked as assistant conductor to Kurt Masur in Europe and Christoph Eschenbach in D.C. – Omaha World-Herald
Philadelphia Museum Of Art To Let Go More Than 20% Of Its Staff
“The [museum] is moving to cut more than 100 jobs from its staff through furloughs, voluntary departures, and possibly layoffs. The furloughs will go into effect July 6, museum officials told employees during a webinar meeting Wednesday morning. Some furloughed employees will be recalled as operations ramp up, [and a] buyout package will be offered to … employees in most museum departments.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Louvre Plans Four-Year Overhaul Of How It Displays And Explains Its Art
“To counter its elitist image, the museum will strive for a ‘cultural democratisation’ to make its treasures more accessible with improved presentation, labelling and curating. [Director Jean-Luc] Martinez, who comes from a working-class background, said he wanted to build on the outreach success of the Louvre’s outpost museum in Lens, a poor former mining town in northern France.” – France 24 (AFP)
Australian Government Announces $250M Rescue Package For Arts
The program includes $90 million to underwrite bank loans to fund new productions, $35 million in additional money for organizations already funded by the federal government, $50 million to finance the restart of film and video production, and $75 million in grants to events businesses to fund new touring shows and festivals. (But will it be enough?) – The Guardian
Paolo Giorgio Ferri, Hero In Fight Against Trade In Looted Antiquities, Dead At 72
“Colleagues say his legacy includes dismantling multinational looting and trafficking rings; recovering tens of thousands of Greco-Roman artifacts from secret storehouses; and compelling what is sometimes called ‘the great giveback,’ a period that began in 2006 and continues to this day, during which American museums have returned at least 120 ill-gotten antiquities valued at more than $1 billion to the Greek and Italian authorities.” – The New York Times
Changes Afoot: What’s Next For Me
In January I made the difficult decision to leave The New School when my current contract ends. My heart and mind have been calling me to other lands, to other ways of being and living in the world, and to center work that has been squeezed into the margins the past few years. – Diane Ragsdale
‘Dover Beach’ on video: When scope is achieved with many shades of gray
Whenever someone of visibility in the music industry proclaims that what the pandemic lock-down world needs now is this (whatever that is), the chances are good that it’s here already. – David Patrick Stearns
When Hollywood Discovered Cyberspace (The Year Was 1995)
Johnny Mnemonic. The Net. Hackers. Strange Days. “It’s hard to know what’s most dated about these mid-’90s curios: the primitive-looking effects, the funky fashions or the clunky technology depicted on screen. But now, 25 years later, they’ve proved prescient in their concerns about surveillance, corporate power and the corruption of what seemed to be an excitingly democratic new age.” – CNET