Saved By A Donor, Australia’s Top Professional Vocal Ensemble Emerges From Bankruptcy

In May, The Song Company suddenly announced that it was ceasing business and beginning the bankruptcy process called in Australia Voluntary Administration. Then, in early June, the ensemble’s board chairman announced that, following “the intervention of a significant donor” and confirmation of government funding, “the company is in a good position to recommence trading.” – Limelight (Australia)

What Did Old English Sound Like?

“No one living, of course, knows exactly what it sounded like, so scholars make their best educated guesses using internal evidence in the scant literature, secondary sources in other languages from the time, and similarities to other, living languages.” And here are some of those educated guesses, applied to excerpts from Beowulf, prayers, and even a casual conversation. – Open Culture

Robert Kelley On 50 Years Of Running TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, This Year’s Regional Tony Award Winner

“Actually, our growth curve as a company parallels almost exactly the growth of Silicon Valley as a thing. And I credit our success and durability as a company with the fact that we were in this unique area that was changing rather dramatically over time over this same period. It was becoming one of the most international and diverse places on earth, really. And diversity is one of the big commitments of TheatreWorks, one of our core values, and that was something that made the company, we think, increasingly attractive to people in the region.” – American Theatre

Twin Cities’ Theater Mu Hires New Artistic Director To ‘Reunite’ Company Following #MeToo Scandal

Lily Tung Crystal began her career as a news journalist who did stage acting on the side. She now says that “theater is the hobby that became a job” — in 2010, she co-founded the Bay Area Asian-American theater company Ferocious Lotus. She comes to Theater Mu following last December’s dismissal of artistic director Randy Reyes. – The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum Has New Director, Nearly Two Years After (Non-)Scandal

“After more than a year and a half of being without a permanent director, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam said that the veteran museum leader Rein Wolfs has been picked to fill the position. … [He] follows Beatrix Ruf, who resigned in October 2017 after three years on the job, amid conflict-of-interest accusations from which she was later cleared.” – ARTnews

Did The Enlightenment Invent The Future?

We didn’t used to worry or predict it, aside from religious prophets. Then came the idea of progress. “The Enlightenment gave humanity the idea that we might make things better, that perhaps there was some inevitability to this, that we would discover more, find better ways to live, treat one another with greater kindness, and eventually build a kind of heaven without the need of gods to hold it up.” – LitHub

Moving, By Choice, From Ballerina To Administrator

Kathleen Breene Combs has been with the Boston Ballet for decades. now, she’s packing up her pointe shoes, putting on the business shoes, and moving to Rhode Island’s Festival Ballet Providence as executive director. Her interest in the smooth running of the back end came about when she got active in the union, negotiating dancers’ contracts, and morphed into something else when she got pregnant. – Pointe Magazine