Alan Harrison (who has run a few arts outfits in his time): “If a revenue budget cannot survive the number of paid hours required to reach the goals, then the organization itself is not viable, at least not for that budget year. No longer should artists — performing, visual, administrative — tolerate the lack of compensation.” – The Clyde Fitch Report
Author: Matthew Westphal
Jeffrey Epstein Sought His Prey In New York City Dance Studios
Several lawsuits filed against Epstein’s estate “say that when [he] was luring teenagers into sexual exploitation in Florida, he was using a network of recruiters within New York City’s dance studios to procure aspiring performers into a similar scheme.” – The New York Times
Daniel Barenboim Physically Attacked Former Berlin Staatsoper Staffer, She Says, And Her Bosses Did Nothing About It
Laura Eisen, then the orchestral manager of the Berlin Staatskapelle (the Staatsoper’s orchestra), has come forward publicly to allege that in March of 2018, the conductor “came toward me, grabbed me with both hands on my upper body (between my shoulders and throat) and shook me. As he did so, he screamed at me that I should disappear/leave the room.” – Van
Tutankhamun Show In Paris Breaks All Attendance Records
The exhibition at La Villette in northeastern Paris features the largest collection of artifacts connected with the young pharaoh ever to leave Cairo. More than 1.3 million people have attended the show since its March 23 opening, and it has been extended by a week, to September 22, to meet demand. – Yahoo! (AFP)
The Rising Star Soprano Who Taught Herself To Sing By Mimicking Two Opera DVDs
Growing up in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Vuvu Mpofu never even heard opera until she was 15, and, with no voice teachers in town, all she had to learn from were video discs of La Traviata and The Magic Flute. And now she’s at Glyndebourne. – The Guardian
Propwatch: the kettle in ‘The Doctor’
Is a home without a kettle even a home? It is at least the first step towards home. And in The Doctor – Robert Icke’s coruscating new play based on Schnitzler’s Professor Bernhadi – the kettle is pretty much the only step. – David Jays
A Contrary View of Brion Gysin’s Calligraphies
A painter I know had this to say about his work as an artist: “Pleasantly surprised by his watercolour. But the calligraphies … I see too much repetitive strain there.” Personally, I love Gysin’s calligraphies. I don’t see “repetitive strain” in them. Repetitive, yes. But I like the repetitions. – Jan Herman
Heir Of Germany’s Last Emperor Is Suing To Get Back Great-Great-Grandpapa’s Art, Palaces, And Other Property
Georg Friedrich Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia — the current head of the Hohenzollern family, which ruled in Berlin for two centuries, until Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated at the end of World War I — “says that his family has, since the collapse of the Soviet bloc, insisted on getting back what it had been granted in the immediate post-WWI agreement. At stake are the right to reside at Cecilienhof [palace in Berlin] and many other properties, as well as the restitution of thousands of paintings, sculptures, furniture, books and coins.” (The German public is not amused.) – Yahoo! (AFP)
New York’s Last Single-Screen Cinema, The Elegant Old Paris Theater, Has Closed. Does It Matter?
As noted cinéaste John Waters put it, “Oh no! Where will old art movie fans go to see rarefied foreign films in the safety of a rich neighborhood?” And Film at Lincoln Center program director Dennis Lim said, “All these people lamenting the loss of the Paris, I would be curious about the last time they set foot there.” – The New York Times
Staff At Science Museums Across England Declare One-Day Strike Over Low Pay
“The action comes after [Science Museum Group’s] directors refused to increase a below-inflation 1.5% pay rise offered to more than 75% of staff this year. … Prospect, the union representing striking Science Museum Group staff, said a series a of below-inflation pay rises had left workers with a 13% real-terms pay cut since 2010” and that SMG had a profit of more than £4 million last year. – The Guardian