“The tale of professional dancer’s pay is a very long story that’s never going away but things have reached a new low with the revelation that dancers working on the English National Opera production The Death Of Klinghoffer are being paid just £327 for what amounts to a 40 hour working week during rehearsals.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Planned Ground Zero Arts Center Hires First Staffer
“Roughly two months after a board was named to create a performing-arts center at the World Trade Center, the institution has passed two important milestones: It has been granted nonprofit status and hired its first staffer to help bring the institution into being. The new hire is Maggie Boepple, a former president of the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.”
Franklin McMahon, ‘Artist Reporter’, Dead At 90
“[His] art documented the 1955 Mississippi trial of the men accused of lynching Chicago teenager Emmett Till; the Second Vatican Council of the Catholic Church; and political campaigns from Dwight Eisenhower’s run for president through the debates between Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.”
Facebook Co-Founder Buys The New Republic
“The newest owner of The New Republic magazine is Chris Hughes, a new-media guru who co-founded Facebook and helped to run the online organizing machine for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign.”
London’s Newest Theatre, Built And Funded Despite The Recession
“Two years ago, [Jez] Bond took possession of a nondescript office block in Finsbury Park, north London. His plan was almost ludicrously ambitious: to drum up £2.2m in the middle of an economic downturn and build a theatre from scratch. By the end of this year, the shiny new Park Theatre will open its doors.”
How Gerhard Richter Became The Top-Selling Living Artist
“Last year, his works sold at auction for a total of $200 million, according to auction tracker Artnet – more than any other living artist and topping last year’s auction totals for Claude Monet, Alberto Giacometti and Mark Rothko combined.”
Meet The Iraq War Veteran With A Dance Company
“As a Marine, Sgt. Roman Baca spent eight months in Fallujah between 2005 and 2006.” A few months after he came home, his girlfriend (now wife) said, “You are not OK. You are not the same person I knew before the war. What can I do to help you?” A bit nervously, “Mr. Baca admitted that he always wanted to start a dance company. Her response: ‘Let’s do it’.”
A Revolutionary New Chair For Arts Venues? (Sort Of)
“A theatre chair designed for multi-use venues was unveiled this week which its creator claims will ‘revolutionise retractable seating’. The Recital Chair has been launched by theatre seating specialist Audience Systems and aims to combine the comfort levels of a large, padded auditorium seat, with the ability to be stacked away on a telescopic platform.”
Telenovela Production Begins Migrating From Mexico To Miami
“Although telenovelas were long churned out in Mexico, the two dominant Spanish-language networks in the United States, Univision and Telemundo, are increasing production in South Florida, attracted by American marketing opportunities, tax breaks and the growing Hispanic audience in the United States.”
Holding An Orchestra Together In Chaotic Kinshasa
“An amazing new documentary film …, takes us into the everyday lives of the members of a most unlikely ensemble: the Orchestre Symphonique Kimbanguiste, located in the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, a place ravaged by war, endemic poverty and corruption.”