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Old Photos Of Enslaved African-Americans Should Belong To Their Descendants, Not Museums, Argues Lawsuit

Just as the law now requires that Native American remains and artifacts should be returned to today’s Native tribes, the descendants of a pair of slaves seen in historic daguerreotypes now owned by a Harvard museum claim that they’re the rightful owners of those slaves’ images, which are, says their lawsuit, “spoils of theft.” – The New York Times

Keeping Professional Theatre Going For 30 Years In A Far-Flung Pacific Archipelago

Wan Smolbag Theatre in the 70-island nation of Vanuatu is the only professional stage company in the entire South Pacific made up entirely of Pacific Islanders. Three decades after its founding, it’s now the largest locally-based NGO of any kind in Vanuatu: with over 100 employees, Wan Smolbag has expanded into film and into providing social services. – The Stage

Egyptian Military Sues One Of Country’s Most Popular Novelists For Insulting President

Alaa Al-Aswany (The Yacoubian Building) is accused in the suit of “insulting the president, the Armed Forces, and judicial institutions” in a set of articles he wrote for the Arabic service of Deutsche Welle, Germany’s equivalent of the BBC World Service. Al-Aswany, who currently lives in New York, responded that the lawsuit is “a clear violation of article 65 of the Egyptian constitution, which states, ‘Freedom of thought and opinion is guaranteed.'” – Melville House

Arts Pay Survey: Wanna Be Depressed? Here’s The Story For You

The personal stories tell of unpaid hours; unsustainable workloads; limited prospects for progression; poor pension provision; exploitation – and self-exploitation; undervalued qualifications; volunteers taking formerly paid positions; the need for financial support from family members; second jobs in other sectors; huge differentials between senior and junior staff; freelance rates that have been stagnant for a decade; and experienced and highly qualified workers leaving the sector altogether in order to be able to pay the rent. – Arts Professional

Yo Yo Ma And Deborah Borda: Music As A Force For Social Justice

Ma: “It’s never art for art’s sake, because even if I do it for myself in my head, I have an ideal. I’m actually trying to take something — a construct, a concept, a theory — and then I want to make it visible, I want to make it audible, I want to make it tactile. I want to make it felt.” Borda spoke of the New York Philharmonic’s efforts to engage with social issues, including gender equality. Recognizing that “all the music we play was written by men,” the organization is launching an initiative next year — the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote — to have 19 women write major world premieres for the orchestra. – Harvard Gazette

Hudson Yards Owners Modify Policy After Claiming They Owned Any Pictures You Take

Now visitors “retain ownership of any photographs, text, audio recordings or video footage depicting or relating to the Vessel” that they create. But if you want to send that photo out to your Instagram fans, you still “hereby grant to Company and its affiliates the right to repost, share, publish, promote and distribute the Vessel Media via such social media channel and via websites associated with the Vessel or Hudson Yards (including my name, voice and likeness and any other aspects of my persona as depicted in the Vessel Media), in perpetuity.” – The New York Times