“Such private concerts were common in the 1750s … They started in France when musicians began to host events to show off their work – and their new status. The practice expanded to Austria, Germany, England, and Italy. It was also the way friends and families simply spent time together – as any Jane Austen book illustrates – before the onset of radios, televisions, and iPhones.” Now the Festival Verdi in Parma is trying out the practice anew.
Blog
Ten Ballet Stars Tell What ‘The Red Shoes’ Meant To Them
“It turns out it wasn’t easy to find dancers in their 20s (or even a decade older) who were moved by it or who had even seen it: They came of age with Center Stage and Black Swan. … But for an older generation, and for some just discovering it, the film is a touchstone.”
A Stolen Caravaggio And A Sicilian Town That’s ‘Wall-To-Wall Gangsters’
“Meet Charley Hill, the legendary bloodhound who has retrieved stolen masterpieces the world over. Most notably, Edvard Munch’s The Scream, taken from the National Gallery of Norway in 1994 and rescued by Charley from the basement of a summer house in Oslo Fjord. … Here, Charley takes us on the trail of his latest lead.”
How Much Do Chicago Actors Get Paid? Less If You’re Not A White Guy, Finds Equity Study
“The majority of Equity acting jobs across Chicago theaters are going to men, white performers are often paid higher salaries than performers of color, and women are paid less than men on comparable contracts, according to a study from the Actors’ Equity Association.”
Second Lawsuit Filed To Stop Berkshire Museum’s Sale Of Art
“Less than a week after the sons of Norman Rockwell filed suit against the Berkshire Museum, attempting to prevent it from selling art from its collection, another lawsuit has been lodged against the Pittsfield, Massachusetts institution.”
Four Million People Visited Hamburg’s New Elbphilharmonie In Its First Year
The highly-praised, wildly-over-budget venue “has taken in up to 17,000 guests a day, with people from all over the world streaming in to attend concerts or just have a look around the distinctive building. In total, more than 62,000 people have thus far taken a tour of the building and 660,000 people have attended the concerts held there.”
Stratford Festival Gets Largest Donation In Its History: $10 Million
The gift by board chair Dan Bernstein and his wife, Claire Foerster, will go toward the construction of a new $60 million performance space to replace the Ontario festival’s Tom Patterson Theatre Center, built in 1971.
Funders Join Forces to Aid Puerto Rico’s Beleaguered Arts Community
“Roughly a month after the hurricane made landfall, the Andy Warhol Foundation, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and Lin-Manuel Miranda announced they would each provide $100,000 in emergency grants to a hurricane relief fund focused on the island’s arts community, run by Beta-Local.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 10.26.17
Music Lessons for Museums
Over the past year or so, I have had the pleasure of working with the Wallace Foundation on its Building Audiences for Sustainability program, which has been funding initiatives at performing arts organizations for … read more
AJBlog: Real Clear Arts Published 2017-10-26
Parsing the Arguments: Second Lawsuit and Reply Brief Filed Today on Berkshire Museum’s Art Sales
In the continuing saga of Berkshire Museum’s planned art sales through Sotheby’s, a second lawsuit and motion for an injunction (following close upon these) have today been filed by a new set of complainants in … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-10-26
American Ballet Theatre Throws a Party
ABT presents new and recent ballets at Lincoln Center through October 29th. … read more
AJBlog: Dancebeat Published 2017-10-26
An Online Reader Community Of 60 Million Is Revealing Fascinating Insights On Readers
“With some 60 million monthly users—90% of whom are Millennials and Gen Z—spending more than 15 billion minutes per month reading content on Wattpad, the Canadian-based storytelling platform is a goldmine of information about what’s most popular with young readers around the world. What’s unique about Wattpad is that fanfic is treated like any other genre, living alongside other forms of fiction. This makes it more fluid for readers of an original fiction to discover a new fanfic, or inspire a fanfiction writer to start a new story and bring their audience along with them.”