Kain claims she never imagined herself becoming the National Ballet’s artistic director. In this she is in a minority of one. After hanging up her pointe shoes in the fall of 1998 Kain accepted a position as part of the company’s artistic management team under then director James Kudelka. When he resigned in May 2005 it was generally assumed Kain was his obvious successor. – Toronto Star
Blog
Inigo Philbrick, A 33-Year-Old Art Dealer Wunderkind Is Arrested
The dealer, who operated galleries in London and Miami, has been the subject of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Major Theft Task Force/Art Crime Team in New York. A U.S. citizen, he is believed to have been living as a fugitive on Vanuatu since October. – The New York Times
Celebrity And The Art Of Quarantine
The currency of fame has always been deeply unstable. But, with movie theatres and live venues closed and the devices in our pockets quickly becoming our primary media machines, it can feel as though famous people are suddenly on the same footing as everybody else. Despite this illusion of a level playing field, many people are still holding on to stardom as a meaningful category, as something that validates their experiences of isolation. – The Walrus
The Radio Broadcast That Convinced The Irish Public They Love “Ulysses”
Listening on transistor radios and Walkmans, many Dubliners who had long been intimidated by the book found that they not only understood it but enjoyed it and recognised themselves in it. – Irish Times
Apple To Close Its Apple U App
The app, founded in 2007, is credited with playing a central role in opening up higher education to the public. Institutions such as Stanford University; the University of California, Berkeley; Duke University; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology all shared free educational content on the app in audio, video or ebook format. – InsideHigherEd
American Theatre: We Don’t Want Your Messages of Solidarity
How many of the people who authored those statements actually visited the Black Lives Matter website before posting is unknown. What is known, however, is that the stirrings of support statements coming from the American theatre community was too late and certainly not enough. – Howlround
The Intellectual Underpinnings Of Populist Strongmen
Populism is not just a bull-in-a-china-shop way of doing politics. There is a theoretical tradition that seeks to justify strongman rule, an ideological school of demagoguery, one might call it, that is now more relevant than ever. – Aeon
Nashville Symphony Cancels 2020/21 Season
Symphony President Alan Valentine said patrons donated $300,000 worth of tickets since the pandemic hit. But officials anticipate an $8 million loss from the shutdown, leaving the organization several million dollars short for the year. – The Tennessean
San Antonio Symphony Music Director Sebastian Lang-Lessing: Orchestras After The Virus
“I’m very convinced that people after this are more hungry for intellectual and artistic inspiration than before. So the wrong approach, I think, is to do a populist approach to the arts industry and just play happy tunes that everybody wants to hear and nothing profound. I think that would be the wrong approach. I think it should be the extreme opposite. I think now we can challenge our audience more than before. That’s my gut feeling. And I’m not alone with that.” – San Antonio Express News
BBC Pulls Classic Episode Of Fawlty Towers Over “Racial Slurs”
The episode in question — originally broadcast in 1975 and called The Germans — is renowned for featuring John Cleese’s deeply awkward and rude hotel owner demanding that his staff “don’t mention the war” around German guests, culminating in him doing a goose-stepping impersonation of Adolf Hitler. However, it also features a character, the elderly Major Gowen, using highly-offensive and racist language about the West Indies cricket team. – The Holywood Reporter