She got the idea after losing a music director post, following a successful audition, because "we just didn't know how to market you" (meaning a Black woman). Says Johnson, "It's like, we have this piece of grit — how do you create something beautiful out of that awfulness?" - MSNBC
Founded in 1986 to focus on new plays from and about the South, the company moved into a new space in 2018 that raised its expenses by 50%; shortly before the pandemic shutdown, Southern Rep cancelled a production and laid off six staffers. - The Times-Picayune / New Orleans Advocate
Hirst's A Hundred Years, a glass cube in which flies hatch on one side and then fly into a bug zapper on the other, was removed from an exhibition at a German museum — whose director said, "We thought that flies were not covered by the Animal Welfare Act." - Artnet
On a Tuesday in May, just arrived in town, Mélisse Brunet started rehearsing the Lexington Philharmonic in Kentucky for the season's final concert. By Thursday, musicians were texting the board president about how good she is. By Friday, the whole search committee was watching rehearsal. And now ... - Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader
"In response to a precipitous slide in attendance during the 2021-22 season, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has canceled 10 concerts originally scheduled to be performed next season at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. ... By the end of last season, attendance at BSO performances was averaging about 40% of capacity." - The Baltimore Sun
Bill remembers the myriad performers who came from abroad and his trips overseas covering Canadian ensembles: in Prague in 1968, weeks before the Soviet tanks rolled in, and in China in 1978, when everyone still wore Mao hats. Plus his North American odyssey trying to interview Luciano Pavarotti. - Toronto Star
The sixth annual Cultural Infrastructure Index, produced by AEA Consulting, has found that "after a predictable dip in 2020, due to broader pandemic lockdowns, 2021 showed an extraordinarily robust rebound in new buildings and projects." - Artnet
Remote work may be good for efficiency but it's deadly for team-building. So, just as the development of multi-location businesses led to the creation of the middle manager, whose role was to keep far-flung operations coordinated, the rise of hybrid in-office/remote work will require a new profession. - MSN (The Atlantic)
Many of them opened during the pandemic shutdown, such as The Salt Eaters Bookshop in L.A. County and Socialight Society in Lansing, Mich., oriented toward Black women; Pocket Books Shop in Lancaster, Pa., a "queer, feminist indie bookstore"; and Yu and Me Books in Manhattan's Chinatown. - The New York Times
Skywhale and her companion, Skywhalepapa, were to appear at an event in Ballarat, a historic town 72 miles WNW of Melbourne that's notorious for unpredictable and turbulent weather. Winds put a three-foot gash in Skywhale's underside, and she's gone back to the National Gallery of Australia for repair. - The Guardian
"A century later, the animal dance craze — and the issues it raises around body autonomy and regulation — is part of the legacy of social dancing that continues to this day, embodied now through these viral dance challenges like the one to (Lizzo's) 'About Damn Time.'" - Zócalo Public Square
After Labor Day, Lea Michele, who has famously wanted the role for years, will play Fanny Brice, and Tovah Feldshuh will play her mother, Lynch's role. In August, Feldstein's understudy, Julie Benko, will take the title role, and she'll continue it on Thursdays after Michele's arrival. - The New York Times
Not long ago, the 29-year-old French memoirist (The End of Eddy) found an old snapshot of his mother at age 20 with a bright, hopeful smile. He always remembered her as tough and grim, and he decided to find out what happened to that smiling young woman. - The Guardian
Amy Duncan was editor and publisher, and her husband, Mark Davitt, managing editor, of The Record-Tribune in Indianola, Iowa, and when they heard that Gannett wanted to sell some of its smaller titles, they leapt at the chance. They're publishing in hard copy weekly and operating online daily. - NPR
"A community of artists — many of color — has blossomed in unassuming districts with names like East Rock, Newhallville and Fair Haven. Most are Yale alumni who chose to stay. … New Haven's appeal over larger cities may not be self-evident, but it makes sense." - T — The New York Times Style Magazine
