“[Fritzie] Fritzshall is one of 13 Holocaust survivors who tell their stories through holographic images that invite the audience to ask questions, creating what feels like a live conversation.”
Author: Matthew Westphal
Telling The Stories Hollywood Won’t – Producer Christine Vachon
“Vachon, now 55, has either launched or been instrumental in developing the careers of such idiosyncratic talents as Todd Solondz (Happiness), Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry), Mary Harron (I Shot Andy Warhol), and John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch)” – not to mention Todd Haynes, from Poison to Velvet Goldmine to Far From Heaven to Carol. “She has an instinct for which voices are best suited to tell which stories, and which audiences will turn out to see them. She likes working with first-time directors ‘because they are often telling a story they’ve waited their whole lives to tell.'” A Q&A with Dana Stevens.
What It’s Like To Be The Only Black Art Commissioner In A City (Exhausting)
“As an arts commissioner swept up in a zeitgeist where all public displays of art honoring problematic white men are on red alert, [Kilolo] Luckett is in a position where she must not only help [Pittsburgh] navigate this space, but she also gets to help discern what message the city sends to the people. As a professional art historian, this is an uneasy dance of preserving artistic freedoms and expressions and also making sure decisions are not merely capitulations to political correction.”
BBC Worldwide To Stop Commissioning Original Content
“The commercial arm of the BBC has shifted its strategy from ordering factual entertainment series such as Fishing Impossible and Stupid Man Smart Phone for its BBC Earth and BBC Brit channels. Last year, the two channels aired over 50 hours of originally commissioned content. These channels will now concentrate on airing a mixture of existing BBC Worldwide-distributed series … and more local formats.”
William Christie, Fiorenza Cossotto Among Winners Of 2018 Opera News Awards
“This year’s honorees – conductor William Christie, mezzo-soprano Fiorenza Cossotto, tenor Vittorio Grigolo, soprano Hei-Kyung Hong, and soprano Sonya Yoncheva – will be celebrated at a black-tie gala celebration on April 22nd, 2018 at the Plaza Hotel in New York City.”
The First Of 2017’s ‘Word Of The Year’ Winners Is Here (And It’s One We’ve Heard Too Much Of)
“Collins Dictionary’s lexicographers, who monitor the 4.5bn-word Collins corpus, said that usage of the term had increased by 365% since 2016. The phrase, often capitalised, is frequently a feature of Donald Trump’s rhetoric.” (Can you guess it?)
Sean Scully’s Ex-Assistant Charged With Stealing His Paintings
Arturo Rucci is accused of stealing three canvases from Scully’s storage space, combining them into a triptych, and consigning them to an auction house as a single work.
Protestors Accuse New Play About Jefferson-Hemings Relationship Of Romanticizing Slavery And Rape
“The central question of [Thomas] Bradshaw’s play – whether Sally Hemings, who as Jefferson’s slave was his legal property, could have loved her master, who fathered six of her children – has made Thomas and Sally the locus of a veritable firestorm of public protest and criticism. With that backlash have arisen questions of how sexual assault and slavery history can and should be portrayed onstage.”
Mass. Attorney General Moves To Join Lawsuit Against Berkshire Museum
“The Attorney General’s Office filed an emergency motion late Wednesday to bolster – or perhaps salvage – its effort to halt art sales by the Berkshire Museum. The office acted after participating in a two-hour hearing … that appeared to leave that quest on life support, as plaintiffs’ attorneys struggled to convince the judge their clients held necessary legal standing to challenge the museum’s planned sale.”
Chicago Symphony’s Deficit Up 27% (Though Other News Is Good)
“The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association posted an operating deficit of $1.4 million for fiscal 2017, compared to deficit of $1.1 million the year prior.” It’s the CSO’s seventh consecutive year in the red. On the other hand, endowment and investments are up more than 6% to $373.4 million, and the subscription renewal rate is 90%. (For a more optimistic take on the same fiscal news, see the Chicago Tribune report here.)