Two actors have publicly accused Eric Schaeffer, who has been the Northern Virginia company’s artistic director since its beginnings in 1989, of repeatedly grabbing their genitals during public events in 2016 and 2018. Signature management says that a two-month investigation in 2018 by an attorney for the company found the allegations “not credible,” but Schaeffer decided to resign this week after the actors made their accusations public on Facebook over the weekend. – The Washington Post
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Google News Starts Program ‘To Pay Publishers For High-Quality Content’
“The U.S. internet giant has for years tried to fend off demands for payment from news publishers worldwide in return for using their content, with European media groups among their fiercest critics. … The new product” — which is launching with news publishers from Germany, Australia and Brazil and will subsequently add more — “will be available on Google News and Discover. [An exec] said Google would also offer to pay for free access for users to read paywalled articles on a publisher’s site where available.” – Reuters
A Classical Music Festival With All Black Musicians — And Why It’s Necessary
Lee Pringle, founder of the Colour of Music Festival in Charleston: “The average white orchestra fears that Colour of Music will shine a huge light on the fact that while you can’t put black musicians onstage, this guy in Charleston goes out and finds 89 who are willing to play and have master’s degrees from the same institutions as the white kids. … With 2,000 orchestras, less than 2 percent of the members on those stages are of African ancestry. It is truly the last water fountain for black people to drink from.” – Charleston City Paper
Omaha Symphony Names Next Music Director: Ankush Kumar Bahl
Bahl, who succeeds Thomas Wilkins at the start of the 2021-22 season, becomes the second conductor of color in a row to hold the music director position in Omaha. An Indian-American born and raised in the Bay Area, Bahl has worked as assistant conductor to Kurt Masur in Europe and Christoph Eschenbach in D.C. – Omaha World-Herald
Philadelphia Museum Of Art To Let Go More Than 20% Of Its Staff
“The [museum] is moving to cut more than 100 jobs from its staff through furloughs, voluntary departures, and possibly layoffs. The furloughs will go into effect July 6, museum officials told employees during a webinar meeting Wednesday morning. Some furloughed employees will be recalled as operations ramp up, [and a] buyout package will be offered to … employees in most museum departments.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Louvre Plans Four-Year Overhaul Of How It Displays And Explains Its Art
“To counter its elitist image, the museum will strive for a ‘cultural democratisation’ to make its treasures more accessible with improved presentation, labelling and curating. [Director Jean-Luc] Martinez, who comes from a working-class background, said he wanted to build on the outreach success of the Louvre’s outpost museum in Lens, a poor former mining town in northern France.” – France 24 (AFP)
Australian Government Announces $250M Rescue Package For Arts
The program includes $90 million to underwrite bank loans to fund new productions, $35 million in additional money for organizations already funded by the federal government, $50 million to finance the restart of film and video production, and $75 million in grants to events businesses to fund new touring shows and festivals. (But will it be enough?) – The Guardian
A Virtual Cannes Is Open. Are Movies Still In Business?
Given the festival’s date shift from early May to late June, Cannes now looks far better than it did a few months ago at the beginning of a lockdown that stretched across the planet, shuttering theaters from Beijing to New York. But now, cineplexes have begun to reopen in Europe and Asia, with box office figures in some territories like Scandinavia, Japan and South Korea exceeding expectations. Adding to the cautious optimism is the fact that U.S. theaters are poised to open up in July. – The Hollywood Reporter
Pandemic Has Shut Down The Cultural Economy Of The Berkshires
The COVID-19 crisis has devastated the Berkshires, where tourists flock for theater, art, music, and dance, as well as yoga, spa treatments, and hiking and biking amid wooded hills. One after another this spring, world-renowned organizations canceled their seasons or shut their doors, some for the entire year — crippling the Berkshires’ tourism industry and the more than 8,000people working in it. – Boston Globe
NY Design Commission Unanimously Denies Mayor’s Plan To Move Wall Street Bull
The artist, who spent $350,000 to make and install the sculpture as a guerrilla artwork in 1989, had argued that moving it would transform it into an advertisement for the stock exchange, which would violate his copyright. – Artnet