Author: Matthew Westphal

The Nationally-Known Arts Education Center That Nearly Collapsed After Its Founder Moved On

“A Reason To Survive, or ARTS, a nonprofit youth arts education center in National City, was close to being shuttered after its founder and CEO Matt D’Arrigo left his post in June. ‘It’s the classic tale of a founder transition,’ said D’Arrigo, who’s back at ARTS as a part-time consultant until the nonprofit is on stabler ground. ‘But it’s not fully closed, they’ve just scaled operations way back.'”

Tests Reveal The Actual Age Of Jesus’s Tomb In Jerusalem

When the medieval-era shrine at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was restored last year, archaeologists found a previously unknown marble slab with a cross carved on it lying atop the limestone presumed to be the burial bed. Mortar on that marble has now been dated to the 4th-century reign of the Emperor Constantine – seemingly verifying the traditional history that he sent his mother, Helena, to find the location and have the original church built.

Donor Gives Millions To Help Public Radio ‘Disrupt Itself’

“All across the media world, organizations continue to grapple with ‘digital disruption.’ … Which is why the Jerome L. Greene Foundation’s $10 million gift this month to New York Public Radio (NYPR), home to WNYC and WQXR, is so interesting.” Mike Scutari looks at how this donation, along with several others from the Greene Foundation over the past decade, has funded NYPR’s “self-disruption” – that is, its transformation into a “multi-platform journalism service.”

Ticket Resellers In UK Are Flouting The Law, Say Investigators

“At the moment, secondary ticketing sites are required to tell customers whether there are restrictions on using a resold ticket, such as the need for photo identification. They must also make clear exactly where the customer will be seated in the venue and who the customer is buying the ticket from, whether an individual or a business. Due to the large amount of evidence gathered, the [Competition and Markets Authority] has now broadened the scope of its investigation.”

This New Concert Hall Really Is Pulling In A New Audience

Before the Philharmonie de Paris opened in early 2015, many observers fretted that the mostly older, well-heeled classical music fans in the city would not travel out to a big, modernist venue on the northern edge of the city. Nearly three years later, concerts are selling better than they used to at the (older and smaller) Salle Pleyel, and the crowds are younger and more diverse.

MPR Cuts All Ties With Garrison Keillor Over ‘Inappropriate Behavior’; Keillor Responds With His Version

In response to the accusation from an unnamed former co-worker, Minnesota Public Radio will cease distributing reruns of old Prairie Home Companion shows and merchandise as well as Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac; the current PHC with Chris Thile will be renamed. Keillor himself has given responses to The Star Tribune and on Facebook.

You Know How People Start Reading Books And Don’t Finish? They’re No Better About Audiobooks

“New stats revealed this week by audiobooks.com showed how many (or few) of us get to the end of a range of audiobooks. They make tough reading for Craig Oliver, whose No 10 [Downing St] Brexit memoirs, Unleashing Demons, kept only 20% of readers rapt until the end. The oft-unfinished War and Peace retained about the same proportion through its 60-plus hours of narration (stats were not available for Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time).”

El Sistema Comes To Kenya

“Though Faith Syovata had almost lost her voice because of a cold, the students still hung on her every whispered word. With violins tucked under their chins, the 14-year-olds at Kawangware Primary School here had their bows at the ready as she pointed out notes for the song on the blackboard.” A reporter visits a Sistema classroom in a Nairobi slum.