Stories

Capitalism first created the space in which such music could flourish, and then took it away, leaving behind a frozen, formalized tradition. - Jacobin

The 13½-by-22-foot, 1,225-pound painting is back in place at the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp, which is about to reopen after a decade-long renovation. Moving the 417-year-old masterpiece was quite an operation. - AP

Sarah Kaufman: "To better understand the pressures facing these artists and how they'll affect audiences, I spoke with presenters, consultants and company leaders about what's happening now, and what the longer-term story may be." - MSN (The Washington Post)

Academies at top companies all over western and central Europe have given refuge to more than 60 young dance students since the war started, with more coming. - NPR

At least seven major institutions in Shanghai's West Bund and Pudong districts shut their doors on March 10, just before local schools were closed. Lockdowns have also closed museums in Shenzhen, across the river from Hong Kong; other southern Chinese cities remain open for now. - ARTnews

"Broadcast technicians and other employees at WTTW-Channel 11 went on strike Wednesday at the ... public television station shortly before the start of the nightly news program Chicago Tonight. - Robert Feder

"The emergency reception program will finance Ukrainian artists and cultural professionals and their families for a period of three months (with) residencies within the network of public establishments of the (culture) ministry." "Dissident" Russian artists are also eligible. - ARTnews

Very luckily, it appears that most of the civilians inside the Mariupol Drama Theater were able to get down to the building's bomb shelter before the shelling started, and the survivors have begun to emerge. - CNN

It was announced on Wednesday that Olga Smirnova, who was born and raised in St Petersburg, has now joined the Dutch National Ballet, where she will start immediately alongside the Brazilian soloist Victor Caixeta, who has left the Mariinsky Ballet in St Petersburg in response to the war. - The Guardian

Latin, classical Arabic and Sanskrit were no one’s mother tongue. They are cosmopolitan tongues, mega-languages that evolved to facilitate communication between local dialects, then expanded to become world languages. - Psyche

“The US art world is notorious for being vague about salaries. A job might pay $40,000; it might pay $80,000. Right now, you can’t necessarily tell, so you have to negotiate. But, after this law, they are going to have to be open with you from the start.” - The Art Newspaper

Peter Turchin has been warning for a decade that a few key social and political trends portend an “age of discord,” civil unrest and carnage worse than most Americans have experienced. - The Atlantic

The European Commission, which reviewed the merger, said it would not significantly reduce competition. - Axios

While reductions in sales and revenues in 2020 were universally catastrophic, the pace of recovery between and within nations in 2021 was very varied, both geographically and by venue type. - TRG

"Until the fall, Lauren Lovette was an esteemed principal at New York City Ballet, but now she has crossed over into modern dance and has been named the first resident choreographer at the Paul Taylor Dance Company." - The New York Times