“Mercedes-Benz USA has filed lawsuits against four artists, seeking a federal judge’s ruling that its use of their outdoor Detroit art in Instagram posts in 2018 did not infringe on their copyrights. … The lawsuits, filed Friday, claim that a year after the Instagram post, artists Daniel Bombardier, James “Dabls” Lewis, and Jeff Soto and Maxx Gramajo threatened copyright infringement lawsuits against the company. ” – Detroit News
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Walt Disney Co. Sued For Systematically Underpaying Women
“The firm of Andrus Anderson LLP, based in San Francisco, seeks to represent all women employed by the Walt Disney Studios in California since 2015. The suit claims that corporate policies — including setting a new hire’s salary based on her salary at previous employers — has a discriminatory effect on women.” – Variety
Christo Is Going To Wrap The Arc De Triomphe
“The project, L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped (Project for Paris, Place de l’Étoile-Charles de Gaulle), will involve covering the arch with a silvery blue recyclable polypropylene fabric — nearly 270,000 square feet of it — held together with about 23,000 feet of red rope.” The dates: April 6-19, 2020. – The New York Times
After 25 Years, Rebecca Rimel Steps Down As Chief Of Pew Charitable Trusts
“During her [time] at Pew, the organization has evolved from a foundation focused on grant-making [mostly in and around Philadelphia] to a nonprofit with national scope and its own operations, including the oft-quoted public-opinion surveys from the Pew Research Center in Washington.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
This Playwright’s Subjects Are So Explosive That His Plays Are Regularly Banned And He Fends Off Death Threats With Ice Cream
Abhishek Majumdar has written a trilogy of dramas about the decades-long cycle of violence in Kashmir, another about Hindu nationalism, and one about the 2008 riots in Tibet’s capital. That last is the one that got him the death threat, and London’s Royal Court Theatre cancelled a production of it last year under apparent pressure from the Chinese government. (The Royal Court was shamed into reversing that decision, and the play is about to open there.) – The Guardian
Director Kirill Serebrennikov’s House Arrest Extended Yet Again
His confinement, pending trial on embezzlement charges that many observers contend are politically motivated, has now been extended to July 4. Nevertheless, he continues to work remotely, directing several opera productions abroad, and Russia’s film academy just gave him a Best Director award for his movie Leto (Summer). – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
English National Opera Sees Some Box Office Success, With One Show Last Year Its Best Seller Ever
“[The company’s] figures showed it had brought thousands of new people to the art form during recent months. It has achieved 75 per cent capacity in its 2000-plus seater Coliseum with 47 per cent of its bookers by first-timers. The 2018 production of Porgy and Bess was its highest grossing show ever.” – The Times (UK)
Would England’s Morris Dancing Clubs Rather Die Out Than Go Co-Ed?
Yes, it’s apparently a real question: as clubs gradually disappear and the membership of the remaining groups ages, admitting women would seem to be an obvious way to keep things going. But whether or not to do so is an argument raging on within the (shrinking) Morris community. – The Guardian
Rise Of The Women Choreographers?
By some estimates, about 90 percent of choreographers at major companies are male. Even though ballerinas have been the focal point of dance. Now though, there seems to be a new generation of women choreographers getting attention. – BBC
Clickbait Scammers Are Ruining Self-Publishing
And some of them are earning $100,000 a month. In the Amazon self-publishing universe where authors earn a share of revenue based on how many people are reading, scammers have so gamed the system that quality legitimate books are being edged out, and money is going to clickbait. – The Guardian