The company’s chief content officer said in a statement, “Given the legislation has not yet been implemented, we’ll continue to film there, while also supporting partners and artists who choose not to. Should it ever come into effect, we’d rethink our entire investment in Georgia.” – Variety
Author: Matthew Westphal
There Will Be No Roof Garden Or Avant-Garde Spire At Notre-Dame: French Senate Votes To Make It Like It Was
“On Monday evening, the French Senate approved the government’s Notre-Dame restoration bill — but added a clause that it must be restored to the state it was before the blaze, striking a blow to the government which had launched an international architecture competition to debate ideas on the restoration.” – The Local (France)
Author Tony Horwitz Dies Suddenly At 60
Though he won a Pulitzer in 1995 reporting for The Wall Street Journal on the conditions of facing low-wage workers, he was best known for his books combining personal travel and history, often following himself the path of historical figures. His most famous volume, Confederates in the Attic, is now used in many a college course. – NPR
Gerard Schwarz Named Music Director Of Palm Beach Symphony
The 71-year-old conductor, formerly music director of the Seattle Symphony, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and the Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center, will take over in Palm Beach this fall. He has also accepted a faculty appointment at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. – South Florida Sun Sentinel
Berlin Has Become A New Capital Of Contemporary Chinese Culture
“An array of Chinese artists and writers, performers and filmmakers — all up to no good by the standards of Beijing’s morality police — [are] hungrily taking in the many crazy, dissolute subcultures Berlin has to offer. The city’s affordable housing, the country’s special visa for freelancers and artists, and German-government support for a few of China’s best-known creatives have meant that some of the most interesting developments in modern Chinese culture are happening as much in Berlin as in Beijing.” – The Atlantic
Robert Bernstein, Longtime CEO Of Random House And Co-Founder Of Human Rights Watch, Dead At 96
“Under his direction, Random House expanded into the world’s largest general-interest publisher, increasing revenue from $40 million in 1966, when he was named president, to more than $800 million in 1989, when he was forced into retirement. … For decades, he spent what few free hours he had promoting human rights, a passion that deepened in the 1970s when he visited Moscow with a delegation of American publishers.” – The Washington Post
Countless Historic Sites In Italy Ravaged By Looting, Vandalism, And Plain Old Neglect
“The country boasts the highest number of UNESCO world heritage sites in the world, but according to EU statistics is second-last in Europe for public funding of culture. As a consequence, parts of its immense heritage – which have survived earthquakes and wars” – have essentially been abandoned. – The Guardian
Collectors Bought Rare Antique Manuscripts, Only To Find Out They’re From French Public Archives
Until it went bankrupt in 2015 after its founder was prosecuted for money laundering and fraud, the French company Aristophil held the world’s largest private collection of historic manuscripts. For the past 18 months, auctioneers have been liquidating that collection — but now 900 lots have been withdrawn because they are, in fact, stolen government property. – The Art Newspaper
How I Found An Old Lady’s Diary In The Trash And Turned It Into A Hit Novel
Kathryn Scanlan found the journal in a bin of unsold items at an estate sale; it covered the years 1968-72. “Over the years, Scanlan ‘edited, arranged, and rearranged’ the contents, the product of which is Aug 9 — Fog. [In this essay,] Scanlan traces the discovery of the diary through the crafting of the finished, fictional volume.” – Publishers Weekly
Bunch Crunch: How Will Smithsonian Institution’s Secretary-Elect Navigate DC’s Political Minefields?
The elephants-not-in-the-room at this morning’s press conference celebrating the appointment of Lonnie Bunch III as the Smithsonian Institution’s new secretary were the man currently occupying the Oval Office and conservative members of Congress — politicians not known to be sympathetic towards federal cultural support in general and politically sensitive exhibitions in particular. – Lee Rosenbaum