Make-Believe is a new podcast company in Chicago, and is, as Jeremy McCarter likes to put it, a podcast that’s “one part live theater, one part TV production, one part social science… Chicago is multiple cities. The discourse becomes more authentic when you can bridge — let’s call it what it is — segregation.” – The New York Times
Blog
Is Amazon Killing Incomes Of Writers? No, Protests Amazon
Amazon is frequently blamed for not just disrupting the way people buy books, but for making it difficult for writers to make a living. Now the company is fighting back, taking aim at an Author’s Guild report last week that detailed a catastrophic drop in author incomes. – The Guardian
200-Year-Old Riverfront Gardens At The Taj Mahal Have Been Restored
These historic gardens, originally built for Agra’s nobility, are two of the city’s few riverfront gardens that survive today. The project of bringing them back to their original glory has involved restoring their original plantings, reactivating their water features, and creating a visitor center. – Atlas Obscura
How Four Guys Who Thought They’d Be Playing Cymbals In Orchestras Turned Into Sō Percussion
A look into the backstory of a quartet that became two rare things: a star classical percussion group and a genuinely hip chamber ensemble. — Ludwig van Toronto
“Exciting Future”? Monitoring the Uncertain Condition of the Embattled National Academy of Design
“Get updates about our exciting new future,” proclaims the homepage of the long-dormant NAD, which closed its doors to the public on June 1, 2016, at the age of 190, with the stated intention of reopening in a “new home.” Two and a half years later, the nature of that “exciting future” has not yet been revealed and a “new home” has not yet materialized. — Lee Rosenbaum
New European Internet Content Law Will Be A Disaster For The Internet
“Taken together, these two rules will subject huge swaths of online expression to interception and arbitrary censorship, and give the largest news companies in Europe the power to decide who can discuss and criticise their reporting, and undermining public-interest, open-access journalism.” – Electronic Frontier Foundation
Baltimore Symphony Musicians’ Contract Has Officially Expired
“A contract between management and musicians expired Tuesday night as they continue to debate whether shrinking the BSO’s season from 52 weeks to 40 weeks a year is the best path forward. The development is unlikely to have any immediate, public effects. … The dispute, however, is seen as a threat to the orchestra’s continued role as one of the nation’s preeminent orchestras.” — Baltimore Business Journal
When Trees Are Part Of The Design, Is It Okay To Cut Them Down?
Milwaukee’s Marcus Center for the Performing Arts has a need to attract new audiences (and don’t we all). So there’s a plan to refresh the complex’s campus, including an idea to cut down a grove of trees and replace it with a lawn. But Mary Louise Schumacher wonders if destroying the trees – an important design element of the current campus – is really in the best interest of the community. – Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel
Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra’s Next Music Director Will Be Richard Egarr
The British harpsichordist and conductor, who currently leads the Academy of Ancient Music (from which he recently announced his departure) and begins a stint as artistic partner at the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra next season, succeeds Nicholas McGegan at the helm of the San Francisco period-instrument band at the start of the 2020-21 season. — San Francisco Chronicle
Universities Are “Moneyballing” Students To Figure Out Who Will Succeed
The dropout rate at American universities has been high. What to do? Use mountains of data to find better ways of predicting who will do well when they get in. And no, it’s not just looking at whether you got good grades (duh)… – Politico