That city is Aurora, an outer-ring suburb of Chicago with about 200,000 people, and the theatre is the twice-restored, 1,885-seat Paramount. in fact, writes Chris Jones, “with the exception of Cleveland, which has benefited immeasurably from the Playhouse Square Center, I’d argue that no Midwestern downtown has been more changed by a single arts organization.” – Chicago Tribune
Author: Matthew Westphal
Artist (And Scrotum-Nailing, Bank-Burning Refugee) Pyotr Pavlensky Arrested For Leaking Sexts Of Paris Mayoral Candidate
When the ever-provocative protest artist put online sexual images and messages sent to a woman by former Macron aide Benjamin Griveaux, thus driving him from the race for mayor of Paris, Pavlensky was violating France’s revenge-porn law, which carries penalties of up to two years in prison and a €60,000 fine. Pavlensky, who is in France on political asylum from his native Russia, and his girlfriend (the alleged recipient of Griveaux’s sexts) are being held by police. – Deutsche Welle
15,000-Year-Old Wall Carvings Found In Spanish Cave
“Experts have discovered a cave full of prehistoric carvings in northern Spain. Among the hundreds of rock carvings, some believed to be 15,000 years old, are vivid depictions of horses, deer, and bulls, as well as a wealth of mysterious and abstract symbols. Unlike the famous prehistoric paintings at Altamira in northern Spain, the recently discovered cave art in Catalonia is carved directly into the soft surface of the rock.” – Artnet
Raphael’s Sistine Chapel Tapestries Displayed There For First Time In 500 Years
“All 12 tapestries designed by Raphael have been hung on the lower walls of the Sistine Chapel as part of celebrations marking the 500th anniversary of the artist’s death. … All 12, made with silk, wool and gold and silver thread, have been painstakingly restored by Vatican Museum conservationists in the last 10 years.” – Reuters
Reinbert de Leeuw, Champion Of Contemporary Classical Music, Dead At 81
A conductor, pianist and composer who became the Netherlands’, and one of Europe’s, leading specialists in new classical music, de Leeuw founded what is now the Asko | Schönberg ensemble in 1974, recorded a landmark LP set of Satie’s piano works, had a remarkable late-life artistic partnership with soprano Barbara Hannigan, and worked closely with composers from Ligeti and Kurtág to Ustvolskaya and Knussen and, above all, Louis Andriessen. – Presto Classical
Ballet Philippines Appoints Foreign Artistic Director; People Flip Out
As the company’s founding artistic director, Alice Reyes, retires after 50 years, its board of directors selected as her successor Mikhail Martynyuk, a star of the Kremlin Ballet in Moscow. Many of the dancers and other members of Manila’s dance community are objecting to the appointment; they say they’re upset about a rushed timeline and lack of consultation, but the petition now circulating calls on the board “to rescind or revise the contract offered to a Russian artist … and to keep the position of Artistic Director Filipino.” – BusinessWorld (Manila)
Why Has A Whole Series Of Private Art Museums Shut Down?
Just last year in L.A., the Marciano and the Main Museum ended operations, and the year before that, the Pasadena Museum of Californian Art. In recent years there have been similar closings in Paris, London, Vienna, Moscow, Cape Town, Beijing, and Chengdu. Georgina Adams identifies three reasons for these failures — funding, disengagement, and generational change — that boil down to the same thing: the danger of relying on a single founder-donor. – The Art Newspaper
This Composer Just Made History At The Oscars. Get To Know Her Music With These Seven Pieces
Hildur Guðnadóttir is actually three-quarters of the way to an EGOT: she has an Oscar (and a Golden Globe) for her score to The Joker and an Emmy and a Grammy for her music for HBO’s Chernobyl. “But it’s on her own, and in the occasional duo or trio setting, that Guðnadóttir has established her signature sound: a moving fusion of ambient drone and contemporary classical that places an emphasis on her exceptionally controlled tone; she’s capable of conjuring entire worlds out of just a few carefully chosen notes.” – Pitchfork
California May Remove Submissions Cap For Freelance Journalists Under New Gig Law
The bill, which is called AB5 and which went into effect on Jan. 1, says that outlets may not accept more than 35 submissions a year from any individual freelance journalist; any more, and the freelancer must be put on staff. Following desperate pleas from affected journalists, the law’s author said, in a series of tweets, that she will introduce an amendment to AB5 to eliminate the 35-article limit. – Los Angeles Times
How Hard Is It To Be A Freelance Theatre Critic Under California’s New Gig Law? This Hard
Lily Janiak, the only theatre critic in the entire Bay Area to have a staff position, writes about her friend and colleague Sam Hurwitt, who was earning all too little money before the law AB5. Now, with the new cap of 35 submissions per year before an outlet is required to put a freelancer on staff (which outlets insist they cannot afford to do), Hurwitt thinks he may have to abandon criticism altogether. – San Francisco Chronicle