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Tavis Smiley Ordered To Pay $1.7 Million To PBS Over Morality Clause

Smiley, who was fired in 2017 amid sexual misconduct allegations, sued PBS contending he was dropped from the network as a result of racial bias and that he was wrongly terminated. Smiley was the only solo black host of a show on the broadcasting organization’s airwaves. Though he admitted that he had engaged in sexual relationships with employees, he insisted they were consensual. He sued for $1 million. – NPR

Why Are We Still Naming Buildings And Programs After Donors?

The dilemma these groups face is contractual, in two ways. First, there is the contract with the donor, which, if broken, may seem a betrayal to some, and a sign of institutional inconstancy to others. There may also be tangible legal issues involved. But there is a larger contract to be considered, too. Selling or otherwise offering naming rights makes it look as though the institution is mainly serving its wealthy donors, no matter how public-spirited the rest of its endeavors may be. – Washington Post

Miami’s Ultra Festival Canceled Over Virus Fears

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and Commissioner Joe Carollo told reporters for the Miami Herald that the risks were too great for the festival, which draws 165,000 fans from around the world over three days to Miami’s Bayfront Park. The festival, technically just postponed, isn’t likely to be held until 2021, they said. A formal announcement from the festival is expected Friday. – Los Angeles Times

Broadway Worries About Coronavirus

“Of course, I’m worried as a producer about tickets not being sold and people canceling their trips to New York City,” the Broadway producer told The Daily Beast. “But my main concern is for anyone involved in the industry being affected directly, and if people are affected, how does Broadway sustain itself? Theaters are petri dishes for three hours.” – The Daily Beast

How Creativity Opens Up When Not Tied To Pre-planned Outcomes

“We didn’t start with an end in mind and this meant we could use the collective creativity of the people we have worked with, whether local participants, artists or partner organisations. This has provided solutions and outcomes that could not have been predicted in advance by bureaucratic strategies. More than this, it has helped to give some ownership to communities who often feel they are ‘done to’, rather than ‘done with’.” – Arts Professional

‘I Was In ‘Riverdance’ — A Dance Critic Fesses Up

Siobhan Burke: “Divulging this information has never been simple, not during the four and a half years I spent touring, on and off, with the Irish dance extravaganza, and not in the decade since I last set foot onstage with the show. … The mere sight of a Riverdance billboard … fills me with an uneasy mix of affection and anxiety, embarrassment and pride.” – The New York Times

Annals Of Self-Plagiarism – Hey, Originality Is Tough!

It’s surely axiomatic that the greater the prolificacy of the writer, the greater his or her capacity for self-plagiarism. This has to be one of the principal reasons why we admire such productivity rather less than classical economics implies we should; another is embodied in Mark Twain’s witty cynicism: “I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one instead”. – Times Literary Supplement

Is This Playwright ‘The American Noël Coward’?

“Noël Coward’s fantastic, but all I could think was: What’s the use of having an American one?” says Richard Greenberg. To him, writes Kurt Soller in this profile, “that comparison has always felt like false equivalency, a naïve supposition about the people he was chronicling — and the behavior he was lampooning, particularly among urban cultural elites.” – T — The New York Times Style Magazine