A clunky, outmoded piece of software called OverDrive had been the standard app for getting reading material from the library onto your Kindle. Instead of merely upgrading, OverDrive (the company) created a new, far more user-friendly app called Libby which debuted but only started getting public attention over the past year. - Engadget
"For nearly seven decades, Juilliard has been a byword of rigor in the performing arts, with world-class music and dance divisions. The drama division has been no slouch either, educating a who’s who of name actors from Robin Williams to Oscar Isaac, Wendell Pierce to Viola Davis. But on top of the usual stresses of education in the theatre,...
" a 600-square-foot gallery-cum-warehouse that Arthur Sackler had commandeered as his personal storage facility, a deal he wrangled by dangling the possibility of eventually gifting the trove to the museum. … The 'enclave' had all of the benefits of being in the museum, with climate control, security guards, and prime New York City real estate, as well as its...
The telecom giant is selling Yahoo, AOL and the remainder of its Verizon Media brands to the private equity firm Apollo Global Management in a $5 billion deal announced Monday. - The Hollywood Reporter
"Pointe spoke to four U.S. ballet companies — Milwaukee Ballet, Orlando Ballet, Avant Chamber Ballet and Columbia City Ballet — about how they have cautiously made their way back to live audiences. For each, the road back to the stage meant a combination of lessons learned throughout the pandemic, adhering to government and health and safety policies,...
In short, disgust may not derive from a simple aversion to harmful substances but from a tension between the desire to explore and consume new things and the dangers of doing so. - Nautilus
Execs at Nexstar, the country's largest owner of local TV stations, had research saying that consumers wanted a source of nonpartisan news. So the corporation turned its cable outlet, WGN America, into NewsNation, offering five hours of news programming every evening to 75 million homes. Nielsen says NewsNation averages 27,000 prime-time viewers a night. (That's nationwide.) Several top editorial...
The site for the project is AlUla, a historical site with ancient rock-hewn buildings similar to those in Petra, Jordan. The plan is for five different cultural districts connected by a tram running along 12-mile greenway; attractions are to include museums and galleries, an archaeology and conservation center, an outdoor amphitheater, a nature park, and, of course, luxury hotels....
"Known for his distinctive delivery during his 60-year broadcasting career, Bookspan served as a host and commentator for live broadcasts of the , Boston Pops, the New York Philharmonic and the American Symphony Orchestra under its founder, Leopold Stokowski. He was also the lead commentator for Live from Lincoln Center on PBS for the show’s first 30 years, until...
"The decision, one of many such wholesale changes as the Chicago theater slowly emerges from the COVID-19 crisis of closures, is not unexpected by close observers: Shapiro long ago signaled her intention to leave at the end of her current contract and the ensemble and board of directors has been engaged in succession planning." - Yahoo! (Chicago Tribune)
New York Public Radio, which includes news-talk outlets WNYC AM and FM and classical station WQXR as well as a podcast production unit and the local news website Gothamist, had been running a deficit even before the pandemic, which resulted in a decline of 27% in sponsorship revenue. Fourteen jobs, about 4% of the total, are being eliminated, including...
"Performances during the tour will take place outdoors on a custom-built stage designed to unfold from an 18-wheeler truck. At each stop, 20 members of the company will perform a 50-minute show comprising four pieces." - The New York Times
" combined classical elegance with all-American verve and athleticism to become one of the top male dancers at New York City Ballet, then spent more than four decades providing free dance education to countless youngsters through his National Dance Institute." - Yahoo! (AP)
"In my official capacity as theater critic, I’m prepared to make a cultural diagnosis. As the pandemic shows signs of coming under control in the U.S., an epidemic of stage fright is exploding." - Los Angeles Times
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday that one capacity restriction that will remain in place, with limits still being mandated on the number of people who can attend events at large outdoor stadiums. Those will remain at 33% capacity. Even though the rules have been loosened, Broadway isn’t expected to welcome guests back for several weeks, even months. - Variety
