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Remembering Dance Critic Clement Crisp, 95

Crisp's dance reviews for the Financial Times – "the pink 'un" – from 1970 until 2020 were legendary for their passionate fastidiousness about ballerinas and high style, their acuity about rising talents and the difficulties of creativity, and – often – their ferocity, when he saw something he thought a blight. - The Arts Desk

The Anti-Putin Songs That Have Gone Viral In Ukraine

A track titled “Bayraktar,” of indeterminate origin, has been receiving hundreds of thousands of plays online, and is in rotation on Ukrainian radio. Over a simple beat, a gravelly voice insults Russian President Vladmir Putin’s forces. - The Atlantic

Neal Stephenson, The Tech Billionaires’ Favorite Sci-Fi Writer

His 1992 novel Snow Crash is the source of the trem "metaverse"; his 1999 Cryptonomicon basically predicted cryptocurrency. With fans from Jeff Bezos to Bill Gates to Peter Thiel to Sergey Brin, "Neal Stephenson might be the most influential novelist among business tycoons since Ayn Rand." - The Baffler

15 Things That Suck About Museums

Walking around a museum can feel a little off-putting when you know that workers aren’t being paid a fair wage — and, in the case of the Penn Museum, are even subject to union busting. - Hyperallergic

Why Don’t More North American Orchestras Have Adequate HR Staff?

Orchestral musicians have difficult jobs, yes. But they have notoriously low job satisfaction, and the workplace atmosphere can become fraught or even toxic. But orchestra personnel managers rarely have HR training, and few administrations have personnel professionals to manage the problems that inevitably arise. - Van

Classical Music, Politics, And The Ethics Around War

The reactions to people being banned and insisting, Oh, we’re not politicians, we’re artists, and therefore what we’re doing is not political—I think that musicologists are alert to that and raise an eyebrow and say, like, No, even if you think you’re not political, we’re all political actors. - The New Yorker

How Brooklyn Mack Suddenly Found Himself In Charge Of A Ballet Company

The company is the one where Mack first studied, Columbia Classical Ballet in South Carolina. Last fall, artistic director Radenko Pavlovich visited his hometown, Sarajevo — and never came back, becoming ballet master there and recommended his star pupil to fill in at CCB for the season. - Free Times (Columbia, SC)

End Of An Era: Humana Theatre Festival Calls It Quits

Several of the more than 400 plays presented at the festival have gone on to win wider accolades — “The Gin Game” by D.L. Coburn, “Dinner With Friends” by Donald Margulies and “Crimes of the Heart” by Beth Henley, all won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama — and the event is often regarded as a milestone in the careers...

In Russia, Ballet Has Always Been Tied Up With Politics And Diplomacy

"As a wordless art, dance travels well. With strong links to the Kremlin, the Bolshoi has been hailed as Russia's 'secret weapon' by former prime minister Dmitry Medvedev, sent abroad to 'achieve our goals', he said, unabashed about using the ballet studio as an arsenal of soft power." - The Guardian

Does The Rock ‘N Roll Hall Need A Name Change?

When the artists being nominated and inducted are questioning their own “rock and roll” credentials, does the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame have a fundamental problem? - The Plain Dealer

The Tories’ Culture-War Politics Have Britain’s Museums Confused And Worried

Administrators and staffers are "'taken aback' by the apparent cognitive dissonance between directives ... to increase diversity and improve access both in their programming and infrastructure, and the blowback received from members of the government when they complied. The apparent catch-22 has created a culture of fear." - Artnet

Annie Flanders, Who Founded Details Magazine, Dead At 82

"In a way, she formed that '80s culture, which became not just an American phenomenon but an international one. We who were in the trenches (couldn't) see it ourselves. ... Annie was able to stand back and see the glamour in it and sell tickets to it." - The New York Times

Would Chekhov Weep? A Drama Critic On Russia’s Bombing Of The Mariupol Theater

Peter Marks: "Russia is a nation of passionate theater-, music-, and dance-lovers. ... It is beyond comprehension that terrified women and children could turn to a theater for physical security and have their safe space shattered by a (Russian) force set on destroying Chekhov's humane legacy." - MSN (The Washington Post)

There Are 200 Priceless Artworks From Moscow On View In Paris. Will They Make It Back To Russia?

The exhibition from the Morozov Collection — estimated to be worth $2 billion, with pieces by (among others) Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet, and some of Russia's greatest artists — at the Fondation Louis Vuitton may be the most popular art show in French history.  And it's now in a difficult position. - Slate

Can The Art World Live Without Its Fixes Of Russian Oligarchs’ Money?

The Russian robber barons' colossal fortunes have had an outsize effect not only on the commercial market, but on museums and not-for-profit galleries and exhibitions as well. - The Guardian

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