In December, 300 students and teachers from the Afghanistan National Institute of Music who had escaped the Taliban government arrived in Lisbon. After half a year, they're relieved to be safe and determined to preserve their music, but struggling to adjust and worried about their families. - PRI's The World
With Rick Caruso, developer of upscale "lifestyle centers" (that is, malls without roofs), being one of the finalists for mayor of Los Angeles, Carolina A. Miranda considers the history of shopping malls, their purposes, and how the could recover from their widely-noted decline. - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
Says the choreographer, who grew up in the country and has family there, "When I am in the studio, I am fully focused on the dancers and the ballet. I can still do that. But I have not choreographed since the war started." - The New York Times
The Quiet Girl (original title An CailĂn CiĂşin) "has astonished the industry by quadrupling the previous record for an Irish language film, and by last week earning more than €610,000 since its release in mid-May." Small numbers by Hollywood standards, but huge for a foreign-language film in that market. - The Guardian
"Molly Smith, ... a champion of American plays and the force behind a glittering transformation of (Arena's) Washington complex, announced that she will leave the job in July 2023. Her departure signals a rare turnover in the artistic leadership of one of the nation's most important nonprofit theaters." - MSN (The Washington Post)
"The show, titled 'Travels,' was to feature a group of works by 20th-century artists like Matisse, Picasso, and Chagall. ... Just hours before the show was scheduled to open, the state-run museum's director Pavel Car announced it was canceled after several art experts raised concerns about the collection's authenticity." - ARTnews
One of a small group of writers who got Israeli literature established on the world stage, "(he) tackled a variety of narrative forms — from surrealist to historical — and delved into knotty or uncommon subjects ... in an oeuvre of 11 novels, three short-story collections and four plays." - The New York Times
"Griffin was teaching jazz dance in the styles of Eugene Louis Faccuito and Gus Giordano, two white jazz dancers considered pioneers in the field. Griffin alleges the program's director of education said he should be teaching choreography like Garth Fagan, a Jamaican modern dance choreographer, instead." - The Kansas City Star
"Brothers to the Rescue leader Jose Basulto alleges Netflix and Ossayas falsely depicted him as a puppet of the United States and traitor to Cuba while romanticizing the criminal activity conducted by Fidel Castro's regime." - The Hollywood Reporter
After the pandemic shutdown in March 2020, musicians agreed to a 25% salary cut, with pay rising to 90% of previous levels by the end of next season. But the orchestra is in better financial shape than hoped, so full compensation will be restored starting in September. - The New York Times
Sure, that's down from the last full season, which was 2018-19. (Think about that.) What's more, tourists, who used to account for up to half of sales, aren't back in their usual numbers, especially from abroad. Nevertheless, the Met got through the season without missing a single performance, despite Omicron. - AP
"It's long, flat and electrified, with strings stretched over frets along a wooden body. Beneath them are black and white markers corresponding to the notes on a piano. ... A note sounds only when a string touches a fret, and that's done with any number of fingers." - MSN (The Washington Post)
With a years-long civil war in Mali cutting off access, you simply cannot get to the historic city from abroad. But you can still send postcards to loved ones from there. - Atlas Obscura
Joan Acocella reminds us how utterly different the character and narrative in the original novel by Carlo Collodi are from Walt Disney's 1940 movie. The story has been remade and adapted dozens of times since; Hollywood has two more on the way and a third in the works. - The New Yorker
Swearing can abuse people or amuse them, inspire doubt or trust (or both) in others, and measurably relieve stress or pain — if you do it properly. "When it comes to your well-being," writes Arthur C. Brooks, "I offer three rules to keep in mind while honing your cursing technique." - The Atlantic
