“One of the industry’s faults is that producers can find themselves in financial trouble and in a bid not to lose face may not want to tell anyone else about it. Invariably, this sees the situation escalate to crisis point, and by that time with the problems apparent, they’re often irrevocable.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
‘We Want To Use Music To Create Better People’ — Philadelphia’s Project 440
“Project 440 is the brainchild of Joseph Conyers, assistant principal bassist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, who often explains to people that yes, he does operate a music organization that doesn’t teach music.” Says Conyers, “The arts can play a pivotal role in underserved communities, giving kids opportunities, giving them things that they keep for the rest of their lives.”
At Work With The Ushers At The Metropolitan Opera
“As a shift begins, they pass into the cloakroom to put on their uniforms — tuxedos with burgundy lapels, worn shiny from use. Forty-two work any given performance, each at once a rule keeper, hand holder, problem solver, diplomat.”
The Arts Have A Unique Role In Fighting Climate Change: Nicholas Serota
Writes the chair of Arts Council England, who was for three decades director of the Tate Galleries, “In 2012 we became the first cultural body in the world to include environmental reporting and action in our long-term funding agreements with arts organisations. … Together we substantially increased understanding about the role of the sector in addressing environmental issues and associated social challenges. The findings of our Annual Report on Environmental Sustainability, published on Tuesday, prove the value of that intervention.”
MoMA Chairman Gives $40 Million For New Film Center
“In recognition of the gift, MoMA will create the Debra and Leon Black Family Film Center, spanning two floors of the museum’s … Lauder Building, which includes multimedia exhibition galleries and two theaters. The center will present film exhibitions and premieres with directors, actors, and other cinema experts.”
Artist Ross Bleckner And Ex — Ex-Assistant? Or Ex-Boyfriend? — Sue Each Other
“Bleckner claims the relationship was personal and consensual in nature, and alleges that [Cody] Gilman attempted to extort him by making false claims of sexual harassment. Gilman, for his part, contends that the relationship was professional and that he was subject to inappropriate sexual behavior by the artist and had been attempting to reach an out-of-court settlement.”
Amazon’s HQ2 Will Not Be Good For New York’s Arts Community
“Some New York artists and art spaces may thrive in Amazon’s shadow. But recent art history already provides ample illustration that the benefits of increasing inequality are not really shared equally, and tend to get eaten up by rising rent anyway — the latter being a much greater concern for the average person, artist or otherwise.” For an example, look no further than the home of Amazon’s original HQ, Seattle.
Stolen Picasso Found In Romanian Forest — Whoops! Never Mind, It Was A Hoax
Picasso’s Tete d’Arlequin was one of seven paintings stolen from Rotterdam’s Kunsthal in 2012 by a group of Romanian thieves and thought to have been burned in a stove by the ringleader’s mother. On Monday, news broke that Tete d’Arlequin had been found in rural Romania: later, “it emerged it was totally too good to be true, part of an elaborate and carefully staged piece of performance art by a radical Belgian theatre company.”
After Seven Seasons, Jessica Lang Dance To Shut Down
While Lang’s career as a choreographer has been going well, things (mostly money) for her company have been as difficult as for any small, independent dance troupe. “You have to raise so much money, the smaller companies don’t have enough staff, and Jessica was running the company for the last seven years without a day off,” said Lang’s manager. The group will disband in April, after completing a final tour.
1,600-Year-Old Mosaic, Looted From Cyprus, Found After 44 Years
The 5th-century mosaic of St. Mark the Evangelist, one of the few Byzantine religious artworks to have survived the original iconoclasts of the 8th and 9th centuries, was hewn from a church wall following the Turkish invasion of northern Cyprus in 1974. Investigator Arthur Brand (“the Indiana Jones of the art world”) found it in an apartment in Monaco.