Actors In The Doctors Exam Room – A Thriving Market To Play “Standard Patients”

“Word of mouth, and stories in trade papers like Backstage, swell the ranks of actors eager to become Standard Patients. Compensation ranges from $25 an hour in Manhattan to slightly more for assignments involving long commutes to outer boroughs; actors mobilized as “secret shoppers,” who infiltrate clinics to monitor the behavior of entire medical staffs, are paid from the moment they arrive until they leave, including, sometimes, hours of waiting around.”

Italy Fought Hard To Keep Venice Off UNESCO’s Heritage In Danger List, Despite Actual, Serious Danger To Venice

“UNESCO’s World Heritage Site Committee meeting in Istanbul this July voted not to put Venice on its list of World Heritage in Danger sites, but instead to postpone the decision until the 2017 meeting. This was despite the highly critical conclusions of UNESCO’s own recent State of Conservation report on Venice.”

Israeli Ministry Of Culture Sued By Artists Over Politicized Funding Decisions

“Artists and cultural institutions are feeling increasingly intimidated under the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, especially since Miri Regev, an Israeli army brigadier-general, became the country’s minister of culture in 2015. … Threats to funding based on policies that limit freedom of expression could be a ‘death blow to culture institutions that rely heavily on public funding’, says one of the petitioners in the lawsuit.”

‘Hamilton’ Has Run Out Of #Ham4Ham

“Many of the original cast members of Hamilton have left this summer, and now one more of the show’s pillars is saying goodbye, at least for now: #Ham4Ham. The mini-concert series, which has been taking place outside the Richard Rodgers Theater several times a week at the show’s lottery, will take a break after one last performance on Wednesday.”

A Full-Throated Defense Of Humanities In A Skills-Obsessed Education Economy

“Economic arguments for the value of a humanistic education will not save the humanities, and we should stop making them. The value of the humanities as the heart of a university education does not lie primarily in “transferrable skills” nor in the “critical thinking” that employers presumably want. Instead, a core education in the humanities gives students the intellectual space to grapple with questions of enduring importance.”