“[The expert engaged for the project] has 22 months to identify potential risks to the world-famous museum, such as fires, theft or terrorist attacks, and to come up with ‘a massive evacuation plan’ for the artwork” — including a list of the 250 “most important” items to be secured first. – El País (Spain)
Author: Matthew Westphal
Israel’s Most Famous Choreographer Says Slightly Sympathetic Things About BDS; Israeli Right Flips Out
Batsheva Dance Company’s Ohad Naharin told Army Radio, “BDS is against the occupation, something I sympathize with. I’ve always said that if protesting and boycotting my performances would improve the situation in the territories or bring a solution to the conflict, I would support the boycott myself.” There were prompt calls from some members of the public for Naharin to be stripped of all previous honors and for state funding of his work to be withdrawn. – Haaretz (Israel)
Louisville Orchestra Music Director Teddy Abrams Gets A Segment On CBS’s ‘Sunday Morning’
“Louisville, Kentucky has gotten used to the fact that the maestro rides his bike to concerts. No limo, no tux for him. At 32, Teddy Abrams is the youngest conductor of a major orchestra in the United States, and in Louisville (if it’s possible for a classical musician) he’s a rock star.” (video and text) – CBS
Desperate Front-Line Staff At Louvre Declare One-Day Strike
“The Sud Culture Solidaires trade union said in a statement that the Louvre was ‘suffocating’ and staff were being overwhelmed by the number of visitors. … ‘More than 10 million people visited the Louvre in 2018. Although visitor numbers have grown by more than 20 percent since 2009 … staff numbers are falling.'” – Yahoo! (AFP)
Louvre Will Offer Off-Hours Tours At €30 A Head
The stated idea behind the tours is to attract Parisians who avoid the museum because of the massive crowds of tourists. If that’s the case, though, why are the tours being offered through Airbnb? – Hyperallergic
Digging Our Roots videos, speakers inspire engagement
Chicagoans watched Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Junior Wells, Buddy Guy and other heroes of the blues on videos at the the fifth Digging Our Roots: Chicago’s Greatest Hits “listening session” this spring. – Howard Mandel
Peggy Lee And Miles Davis
If only they were still with us, two major artists would be celebrating their birthdays this weekend. – Doug Ramsey
‘Eat The Problem’: Art, Environmental Activism, And Gastronomy Unite
As one of her projects as artist-in-residence at the Museum of Old and New Art in Tasmania, Kirsha Kaechele has created a cookbook called (yes) Eat the Problem, full of recipes that turn Australia’s “invasive species from something hated into something delicious … that is, transforming a flaw into a feature.” – The Guardian
John Waters Explains Why He’s Earned The Right To Be Mr. Know-It-All And Give The Rest Of Us Advice
“Suddenly the worst thing that can happen to a creative person has happened to me. … Somehow I became respectable. I don’t know how — the last film I directed got some terrible reviews and was rated NC-17. Six people in my personal phone book have been sentenced to life in prison. I did an art piece called Twelve Assholes and a Dirty Foot, which is composed of close-ups from porn films, yet a museum now has it in their permanent collection and nobody got mad. What the hell has happened?” – The Paris Review
What If Ballet Companies Could Hire Dancers The Way The NFL Has A Draft For Players?
“What if all ballet dancers had agents and ballet companies had scouts? What if once a year there was a ballet combine, at which pre-professional dancers and ‘free agents’ could showcase their skills and be assessed by ballet companies across America like in a centralized audition?” – Dance Magazine