The 5% increase over last year seems to indicate that the museum’s adoption of a mandatory $25 admission charge for out-of-state visitors didn’t discourage attendance. Even revenue from New York state residents, who may pay whatever they wish, is up by around 15%. — Crain’s New York Business
Author: Matthew Westphal
New York’s Beloved Drama Book Shop Was About To Close , So Lin-Manuel Miranda Bought It
The store, known for its wide selection of play scripts and books on theater, had announced that it was going to close after one rent hike too many for its 84-year-old owner. So Miranda, who says he wrote much of In the Heights in the Drama Book Shop basement, got three of his Hamilton producing partners to join with him to buy the business. — NPR
There Are Two Golden Tractor Tires On The Grand Staircase At The Paris Opera
The gilded pieces of farm equipment, perched like two glowing wreaths, are part of an installation titled Les Saturnelles by artist Claude Lévêque. Some irked onlookers are comparing the piece to Jeff Koons’s widely reviled Bouquet de Tulipes and Paul McCarthy’s notorious sculpture Tree. — The Art Newspaper
At Shakespeare’s Globe, Dozens Of Staffers Face Layoffs
“The Globe’s exhibition space will close following what the London theatre has described as a ‘difficult financial year’, meaning several roles will be restructured and some teams merged. The theatre said the changes to its tours and exhibitions department would impact approximately 40 employees – about 14% of its 288-strong staff.” — The Stage
‘The Favourite’ Leads BAFTA Nominations
“Yorgos Lanthimos’s raucous period romp about a high-stakes love triangle in the court of Queen Anne [received] 12 nominations … Meanwhile Vice, the Dick Cheney biopic …, came away with six nominations. Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman has five, and Green Book and Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War have four each.” — The Guardian
2039: What Will The World Look Like In 20 Years?
Eight writers, including Dahlia Lithwick, Kate Julian, and Tyler Cowen, offer their predictions on sex, computers, neo-antebellum politics, China, the Internet, and the Supreme Court. — New York Magazine
Mission Commitment
No mission statement should be the template for another organization (that’s very nearly a truism for us in the nonprofit world), but being able to see commitment to engagement in the mission is a pre-requisite for effectiveness. Is it obvious in yours? — Doug Borwick
Smithsonian Pandemonium: Skorton Leaves, Museums Shuttered
It’s been a bad-news month for the Smithsonian: On Dec. 20, Secretary David Skorton — arguably the most successful, least embattled Smithsonian leader in recent memory — announced he’d be leaving his Smithsonian post in June. Just two days after this bombshell, the federal government shutdown began. — Lee Rosenbaum
Is There Any Point To Conspiracy Fiction When Conspiracy Theories Have Become Political Weapons?
“[Today,] conspiracy theories are customized to achieve desired political outcomes and then injected into the news stream via social media. … No, with swiftboating, birtherism, voter fraud, anti-vaxxing, Pizzagate, crisis actors, false flags, and alternative facts, the conspiracy theory has clearly been weaponized in the most cynical and partisan way. So where does this leave conspiracy fiction? Well, sort of in the lurch.” — Vulture
A Parliament Of Owls; A Bloat Of Hippos. Where Do These Nouns Of Assemblage Come From?
“While terms like herd, swarm, and pack seem more or less reasonable, others are downright ridiculous — and that’s probably because they were never meant to be taken seriously.” — Quartz