Speaking of his own experiences as a child in 1970s Trinidad as well as conducting children's concerts at the BBC Proms in London and in North Carolina in the 2020s, Ryan says the secret is the same. - The Guardian
According to the statistics department at the country's Ministry of Culture, the total attendance figure for more than 1,450 museums and 46,000 monuments is, at 46.8 million visitors, up 13% from 2022 and 7% from 2019. - ARTnews
France was late to American-style drag, but as at the Olympics, it’s now prominent. So: “Answering hatred with glitter is a time-honored drag tradition, and Drag Race France Live, which premiered in Paris this week, showed French drag in defiant form.” - The New York Times
The complainers, and the police, said the painting of a naked woman could be pornographic. The artist: "I don’t know what kind of pornography they’ve been looking at, but it’s definitely not my painting.” - The Guardian (UK)
True, "film festivals have become a crucial part of the industry’s infrastructure, which may work against what makes them valuable in the first place,” but still, there are perfect, brilliant surprises, even some of those movies never get a distributor. - Washington Post
The report from the Fabian Society, founded in 1884 and one of the progenitors of today's Labour Party, calls for removing the "class ceiling" by issuing every Briton a "universal library card," ensuring every child can learn an artistic practice, and giving older children a "culture pass" to arts institutions. - The Guardian
Nicholas Cullinan: “Physically, our masterplan is a huge project. But intellectually, too, it’s an enormous challenge. Yes, fixing the roof is urgent. But if you’re going to address those physical problems you should also do something exciting with the collections and the way we present them to the public.” - The Times (UK)
The rules? Be flexible. “We each have our audiences, which are different in Memphis than in Sarasota or Houston, and we each have our missions. For some theatres, it’s about the actors or the playwright. For us at Hattiloo, it’s about accessibility to all socioeconomic groups.” - American Theatre
“The couple never meant to make political movies, Sanaeeha . ‘But in Iran, everything is political.’” (The issue here? A 70-year-old woman character doesn’t wear hijab … inside her own home.) - The Guardian (UK)
The Grammy winner stumbled across 17th-century music by accident. “Much of this Baroque music was written by women who sang about the pain of lost loves who went off to sea. They sang of nostalgia, melancholy and passion. Many of them are also … long forgotten.” - El Pais
For winter and spring 2024, box office was down 30% from the previous year. So the fact that this summer was down only 10% is seen as good news. But it also raises the question of whether the U.S. film business can maintain its momentum coming into the fall and then 2025. - Variety
"The UK‘s accomplishments in the arts are something its public prides above all else, according to a new study, while fondness for British history has dropped dramatically. The findings come from the British Social Attitudes Survey, which shows stark changes ... since it was last conducted ten years ago." - The Art Newspaper
"You pay a monthly membership fee ... that entitles you to attend however much you’d like. As with a gym or a streaming service, some people may go often; some, not at all. Regardless, the orchestra receives steady revenue, and you have full control of your calendar." - The New York Times
In a world that’s bleak enough already, feel-good, heartfelt comedy feels like more of a salve; earnest sitcoms seem to counteract the vitriol of the real world. But the dark comedies, by their very nature, feel truer to life than their more wholesome peers. - The New York Times
New company director Anthony Roth Costanzo has raised over $7 million since he took over on June 1, and he says, "That fundraising is not only subsidizing this ticketing model, but a lot of it is inspired by this ticketing model." (Patrons who can afford more have a pay-what-you-wish option.) - WHYY (Philadelphia)
