So far, it appears that almost all of the major art objects and relics in the cathedral were saved, thanks to a human chain formed during the fire; most will be taken to the Louvre for conservation and storage. Amazingly, neither the stained-glass windows nor the grand organ appear to have suffered severe damage. – Smithsonian Magazine
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In Britain, Arts Now Contribute More To GDP Than Agriculture: Report
Research from Arts Council England shows that, in 2016, the arts sector added £10.8 billion to the UK economy, more than farming did. (A similar result in the US was reported last month.) And this happened even as three-quarters of arts organizations were suffering from cuts in government funding. – The Guardian
Is The French Church Or The French State Responsible For Historic Sites Like Nôtre-Dame? Well, That’s The Problem …
In a newly relevant article brought back from the archives, Jerome Bernard explains that this question has been argued over ever since France legally separated church and state in 1905 — and that dispute is why places like Nôtre-Dame-de-Paris have been allowed to deteriorate so badly. – The Art Newspaper
New Russian Film About USSR In Afghanistan Infuriates Politicians And Vets
Pavel Lungin’s Leaving Afghanistan (Russian title Bratstvo, meaning Brotherhood), based on the real-life experience of an officer who went on to become the head of the FSB (the successor to the KGB), is said by its director to be about “the senselessness and cruelty of war.” The head of one veterans’ organization calls it “dirt and filth” and a senior member of parliament says it’s unfit for “educating young people with a sense of patriotism.” – The Guardian
Barbara Schultz, TV Exec Who Stood Up For Serious Drama When Rest Of Industry Wanted Comedy, Dead At 92
“One of a very few women in television’s executive ranks at the time, [she] oversaw CBS Playhouse in the late 1960s and the PBS series Visions in the 1970s, … offer[ing] writers a platform free from interference by corporate sponsors in exchange for stories that explored contemporary American themes.” – The New York Times
English National Opera Artistic Director Daniel Kramer Resigns
The American theatre director, now 42, had never run an organization when he took the helm at the then-troubled ENO in 2016. Things appear to have stabilized at the company financially and administratively, but the company’s productions are considered to have veered wildly between brilliant successes and painful disasters — so many are wondering if Kramer’s departure is voluntary. – The Guardian
Donald Trump Meeting Mao Zedong Could Be The Salvation Of Cantonese Opera
Wait, what? Yes, a new work in the traditional Cantonese opera format shows a young Donald Trump meeting the Chairman on a trip to China in 1972. The hope is that this piece, titled Trump on Show, could show younger Hong Kong audiences that their traditional music-theater isn’t just a historical curiosity. – Quartz
The World Order Was Created For Nations. But Increasingly Cities Are Taking The Lead
No, Chicago isn’t about to negotiate with North Korea. And London isn’t making a mutual defense treaty with New York. But on a range of issues from climate change to workers’ rights, cities are making pacts with one another. – CityLab
Game Of Thrones Premiere Shatters Ratings With 17.4M Viewers; Most-Watched Scripted Show Of The Season
GoT is the extremely rare drama that has managed to grow its audience every single season (AMC’s Breaking Bad was another). AMC’s The Walking Deadused to top Game of Thrones in the ratings, but the zombie drama has recently fallen to around 5 million weekly viewers. – Entertainment Weekly
An Art Professor’s Painstakingly Detailed Scans And Images Of Notre Dame Could Help Rebuild It
In 2010, Andrew Tallon, an art professor at Vassar, took a Leica ScanStation C10 to Notre-Dame and, with the assistance of Columbia’s Paul Blaer, began to painstakingly scan every piece of the structure, inside and out. They mounted the Leica on a tripod, put up markers throughout the space, and set the machine to work. Over five days, they positioned the scanner again and again—50 times in all—to create an unmatched record of the reality of one of the world’s most awe-inspiring buildings, represented as a series of points in space. – The Atlantic