There are blind auditions, special fellowships for Black musicians in particular, prep and financial aid for auditions as well as other programs from the Sphinx Organization. Writer Tim Diovanni looks into the efforts, focusing on the Detroit, Dallas, and Fort Worth Symphonies. - The Dallas Morning News
Penguin Random House has partnered with a raft of advocacy organizations on a public campaign called "Open Books Open Doors", while the Authors Guild has launched a Banned Books Club on the app Fable, on which users organize social media book groups. - Publishing Perspectives
Well, strictly speaking, they're being admitted to the choir school; there will be separate boys' and girls' choirs. Music director Andrew Carwood: "I accept the idea of a boys' choir as culturally iconic, and I'd like to keep that. And I'd like girls to experience exactly the same thing." - The Guardian
These toxic books, produced in the 19th century, are bound in vivid cloth colored with a notorious pigment known as emerald green that’s laced with arsenic. - National Geographic
When a certain 72-year-old woman explored the exhibition in March, she reportedly didn’t realize the jacket was anything other than someone’s actual jacket—and she fancied it for herself. So she took it off the hook, brought it home, and had a tailor shorten it by nearly a foot to fit her better. - Mental Floss
He was fond of the Beat writers who had emerged on the West Coast and elsewhere and began publishing them. The spring 1958 issue featured Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure, Ginsberg, Kerouac and others who had been making an impression on the San Francisco poetry scene. - The New York Times
An abnormal announcement. "Dear guest, our event will be suspended in case of air raid alert. Dancers and spectators must go to the bomb shelter situated in the theater," it tells the crowd -- a poignant reminder that this is not a regular night at the theater. - CNN
Houston Grand Opera’s history of 70 world premieres — “readier to take chances” — certainly puts the Dallas Opera’s handful of new works to shame. - Dallas Morning News
Known early on for his "bright vanilla hair" and youthful mien in films by Jacques Demy, Vittorio De Seta, Claude Chabrol, and others, he later pursued darker roles with filmmaker Pierre Schoendoerffer. As a producer, he scored his greatest success with nature documentaries Microcosmos and Winged Migration. - The Guardian
Having been stamped with the label of postmodernism – out of favour since the 1990s, when his work was described as “architectural terrorism” – he has been rediscovered by a new generation, thirsty for colour, pattern, ornament and fun. - The Guardian
Laurent Hilaire, who was an étoile in Paris since Nureyev's days, became director of dance at the Stanislavsky Theatre in 2017; he left Russia after the Ukraine invasion in February. He now succeeds Igor Zelensky (who has returned to Russia) at the helm of the Bavarian State Ballet. - Yahoo! (AFP)
My agent didn’t know anything about it either, until he checked his email and saw he’d received a message less than half an hour before – just after 6pm on the Sunday of a bank holiday weekend – to say the show was closing and I no longer had a contract. - The Guardian
Alejandro Cerrudo: "One of the most common thoughts I've heard from audiences is, 'Sometimes I feel like I don't understand it.' You don't have to. You just have to experience it. Sometimes you like it, sometimes you don't, and sometimes you don't know why you like it, and that's OK." - Charlotte Magazine
Even the Met’s own head of costume has said; “I think the power of fashion is that it can reflect the zeitgeist.” So what does last night’s Gala tell us about the time we’re living? Ironically, by saying nothing as the world burns around them, the guests gave a very clear sense that we’re still living in a gilded...
