“Local cynics will contend that Miami can never support a professional symphony orchestra, either financially or in terms of a regular audience. Yet … Miami today is a very different place than the city was when the Florida Philharmonic ceased operations nearly fifteen years ago. … There is clearly a new audience in place for concerts in downtown Miami as the Cleveland performances have proved. Unlike in past decades, Miami now has a first-class performing arts facility.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
PBS And Member Stations Working On New Subscription Streaming Model
“PBS is strategizing with stations on how to package national and local content into an over-the-top ‘skinny bundle,’ potentially creating an entirely new channel for the younger viewers who are willing to pay for live streaming services. That partnership deal, a first for PBS, could come within the next six months.”
Did They Just Find The Oldest Surviving Work By Leonardo Da Vinci?
“A small square tile with the profile image of a beautiful angel has been claimed not only as the earliest surviving work by Leonardo da Vinci, but as his own self-portrait as the Archangel Gabriel. If genuine the tile has survived miraculously unbroken for more than 500 years, since the 18-year-old artist made it in 1471. The claim – dismissed out of hand by the world renowned Leonardo expert Martin Kemp – is certain to spark academic debate.”
Five-Year-Old Knocks Over And Breaks $132K Sculpture In Museum, And Insurer Says Parents Must Pay For It
“Surveillance video recorded last week at the Tomahawk Ridge Community Center in Overland Park, Kansas, shows two young boys running around and playing with each other while a group of adults sat and chatted nearby. It was all fun and games until one 5-year-old decided to stop and admire the art.”
Audiobooks Get Stronger Physiological Response Than Movies Do: Study
“UCL, in collaboration with audiobook giant Audible, measured the physical reactions of 102 participants aged between 18 and 67 to audio and video depictions of scenes from [well-known] books … According to the study, while the participants reported that the videos were “more engaging” than the audiobooks by about 15% on average, their physiological responses told a different story, with heart rates higher by about two beats a minute, and body temperatures raised by roughly two degrees when listening to audiobooks.”
Audiobook Sales Up By More Than 20% In Past Year
“Based on information from responding publishers, the [Audio Publishers] Association estimates that audiobook sales in 2017 totaled more than US$2.5 billion, up 22.7 percent over 2016, and with a corresponding 21.5-percent increase in units. This continues a six-year audiobook trend of double-digit growth year-over-year.” And the accompanying consumer study explores the advantages listeners find in the format.
Pasadena Museum Of California Art’s Board Votes To Close Down (Can It Be Saved?)
“The Pasadena Museum of California Art, that Modernist beacon that has swooped above East Union Street since 2002, will close its doors at the end of the current exhibition,” according to a slightly odd vote by the institution’s directors. Columnist Larry Wilson looks at the PMCA’s unusual situation and wonders if some individuals or institution might step in.
Miami City Ballet Hires New Executive Director
Tania Castroverde Moskalenko, a Miami native who has spent the last two years at the helm of the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago, will take the reins at MCB later this summer. “Thursday’s announcement noted that under Castroverde Moskalenko’s leadership the Auditorium ‘experienced a significant financial turnaround … and is projected to end Fiscal Year 2018 in August with a surplus.”
Tom Hanks Improvises As Falstaff While Medics Deal With Emergency In Audience
Last week, during a Los Angeles performance of Shakespeare’s Henry IV starring Hamish Linklater as Prince Hal and Hanks as Falstaff, an audience member passed out from dehydration. As paramedics were stabilizing the patient under the seating risers, “never breaking from his tragicomic role of Falstaff, Hanks addressed the crowd and even started pulling people on stage.” (includes video)
How Bollywood Broke The Shackles Of Silliness And Started Addressing Serious Women’s Issues
“This is the summer the vibrator arrives in Bollywood. No woman in the 105-year history of the Hindi film industry has ever pleasured herself. But this month, in the blockbuster Veere Di Wedding and Netflix’s Lust Stories, no fewer than three women are featured in onanistic embrace. It is one sign of the rapid change under way in India’s most prolific cultural industry. The past decade has seen Bollywood’s first gay kiss, a hit film about sanitary towels and the industry’s highest-ever grossing film – about the lives of two female wrestlers.”