Category: people

“During her [time] at Pew, the organization has evolved from a foundation focused on grant-making [mostly in and around Philadelphia] to a nonprofit with national scope and its own operations, including the oft-quoted public-opinion surveys from the Pew Research Center in Washington.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer

His confinement, pending trial on embezzlement charges that many observers contend are politically motivated, has now been extended to July 4. Nevertheless, he continues to work remotely, directing several opera productions abroad, and Russia’s film academy just gave him a Best Director award for his movie Leto (Summer). – Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

Parul Sehgal: “Who’s afraid of Glenda Jackson? Most people, and with some cause. She became famous for her electrifying portrayals of history and literature’s most unconventional women … In life she has proved no less formidable; the stories are legion, dark and thrilling, assuming you’re not on your way to interview her yourself.” (Corrupts? It was the cigs.) – The New York Times Magazine

“Here, in our second edition of this list, we bring you a group of individuals each working to strengthen the impact, reach, social responsibility or financial stability of a field that is seemingly in a constant state of flux.” (While not all 50 are involved in the visual arts, there does seem to be a bias in that direction.) – The New York Observer

Patel, star of Slumdog Millionaire, Lion, and now Hotel Mumbai, says that when he finds a new project, “after that initial excitement, you’re just drenched with fear of, now I have to actually do this. That’s kind of what happens with everything. It’s eagerness, curiosity and excitement, followed by fear and how the hell am I going to get through this?” – The New York Times

Oswald started curating the collection when it had about 350 items in 1947, and built it into this: “You can walk into the dance division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and request to see the ballet slippers of the early-20th-century ballerina Anna Pavlova, or a silk flower garland that adorned the modern-dance pioneer Isadora Duncan, or countless other items in a vast repository of materials on dance.” – The New York Times

In The Gleaners and I and Faces Places, Varda paid attention to the France that feels left behind by the powerful and rich. But there was a secondary benefit as well: “She had wanted to pay attention to people who were ‘invisible.’ And she did. One of those people was her.” – The Atlantic

Possibly the most Company Town thing in this story: “Studios, networks and production companies all over town want to be in the LeBron James business. And not only for his screen presence — even though his performance in Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck was considered a revelation. He and his SpringHill team are very good for business (also, many Hollywood executives are LeBron fans).” – Los Angeles Times

“A man was arrested Wednesday in connection with the apparent desecration of surrealist artist Man Ray’s tomb in the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris, a municipal official said. An AFP photographer noticed Wednesday that the gravestone appeared to have been wrenched off Ray’s tomb, and a portrait of the American artist and his wife smashed.” – Yahoo! (AFP)

“[She] did not publish her first collection, Too Bright to See (1981), until she was almost 40. But once she did, she drew quick attention in poetry circles. … {and she] taught poetry at Columbia, the University of Iowa, Princeton and other institutions. Her many honors included the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry and the Jackson Poetry Prize.” – The New York Times