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A Full-Time Classical Singing Career, Over 16 Years, Will Cost You A Million Dollars

Tenor Zach Finkelstein: “Below I’ll show you four case studies demonstrating that the inability to continue in a performing career and support yourself financially has very little to do with the expenses of running an opera business, although they are onerous. Or your abilities as a performer, although it is a necessary condition to be best-in-class. Success has to do with two major decisions you make when you are most vulnerable and know the least about the business: the amount you pay for your undergraduate and graduate school education, and the cost of living in the city where you build your career.” – The Middle-Class Artist

Artistic Director Of Houston’s Shuttered METdance Launches New Company

METdance, the city’s largest company after Houston Ballet, was disbanded this past summer, having never recovered financially from 2017’s Hurricane Harvey. Before the summer was over, Marlana Doyle had started both a school, the Institute of Contemporary Dance Houston, and the Houston Contemporary Dance Company, which gives its first performances this weekend. – Houston Chronicle

So Many Good, And Successful, Movies By And About Women This Year — Why Are They Getting So Few Award Nominations?

Films such as Greta Gerwig’s Little Women, Melina Matsoukas’s Queen & Slim, Lulu Wang’s The Farewell, Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart, and Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers have been nearly shut out of the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild nominations. Reporters Nicole Sperling and Brooks Barnes look into the reasons. – The New York Times

What’s Behind #PayUpHollywood?

“In recent weeks, hundreds of TV and film assistants … have begun to speak out about their experiences on the bottom rung of the industry, mounting a fight for better pay and fair treatment.” Many of those assistants are paid only $12 and hour, California’s minimum wage, and the stories of bizarre demands and mistreatment by bosses are legion. – The Guardian

Strikes Over Pension Reform Have Cost Paris Opera And Ballet €2.5 Million A Week

“The Opéra de Paris’s pension regime is one of the oldest in France, dating back to Louis XIV. It is costly as ballet dancers are allowed to retire at 42 and technical staff can leave with a full pension in the their 50s. However, their generous regime is one of 42 that are for the chop after President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial shakeup of the French pension system.” – The Telegraph (UK)

Thousands March Against Hungarian Regime’s Plans To Tighten Control Of Performing Arts

“Actors and directors led Monday evening’s rally in Budapest against a bill that they say threatens artistic freedom and extends the nationalist government’s reach into areas that should be politically independent. The city’s liberal opposition mayor Gergely Karácsony also addressed the crowd. … [The legislation will] establish a national cultural council to determine ‘the unified strategic direction of various segments of culture’.” – The Irish Times

Rebuilding The Shattered Great Mosque Of Aleppo

“A civil engineer named Tamim Kasmo, 73, has joined a team of architects and engineers, stonemasons and woodworkers who have taken on the task of rebuilding the [12th-century] mosque. … Kasmo’s team must put the minaret back up and repair the broken columns, scorched ceilings, and bullet-scarred walls of the prayer hall and arcades that surround the courtyard.” – Atlas Obscura

Berlin’s Biggest Art Fair Is Canceled

Berlin’s most prominent art fair evolved out of its previous iteration, Art Berlin Contemporary, and was held for the past three years in the historic Tempelhof airport each September, showing mostly contemporary art. But the fair’s owner which also runs Art Cologne, has decided after months of discussions that the conditions in Berlin are too unpredictable for its liking. – Artnet