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Oscar Nominees Told Zooming In Not An Option For The Event

"We are treating the event as an active movie set, with specially designed testing cadences to ensure up-to-the-minute results, including an on-site COVID safety team with PCR testing capability. There will be specific instructions for those of you traveling in from outside of Los Angeles, and other instructions for those of you who are already based in Los Angeles."...

IKEA Has Turned Its Catalog Into An Audiobook

"When IKEA canceled its beloved print catalog last year, it hinted at plans to venture into new formats to better reach an increasingly internet-dependent customer base." And so it did: "Published on Spotify, Audible, and YouTube, the IKEA Audio Catalog is essentially a quippy version of its 288-page product book." But can you really use it to shop without...

The Bottom Line: How America’s Arts Organizations Are Doing

A new report looks at the balance sheets of the country's arts organizations. Community and theatre organizations fared the best, while museums and symphony orchestras had negative bottom lines. - SMU Data Arts

Streaming Classical Music: Where The Money Really Goes, And Where It Ought To Go

"In the first two articles in the series, we looked at the streaming industry's revenues, how they're shared out between the music we listen to and how we choose that music. This week, we're going to look at who ultimately receives the money — and at how the industry could or should change." - Bachtrack

James Levine Was An Argument Against Genius-Worship Culture

Until his death, Levine was perhaps the music world’s most staggering living testament to the dangers of genius-worship culture. That culture nourished his ascent and enabled his alleged serial sexual abuse of young men, whom he had the power to make or break. - Boston Globe

Beijing Leans On Hong Kong’s Arts Funding Body To Curb ‘Anti-Government’ Work

"The campaign has forced the Arts Development Council into stating it might suspend grants to artists who advocated independence, while additional cultural venues have refused to screen a controversial documentary about the 2019 anti-government protests. The question of what constitutes 'lawbreaking artworks' has also been raised in the Legislative Council." - South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)

Oh Great, Now They’re Turning Dance Into NFTs, Too

With Non-Fungible Tokens taking the visual art world hostage by storm, it was only a matter of time before other art forms turned to them. The NFTs made by blockchain platform Enjin and street dance group Beauty in the Streets "represent signature moves and mannerisms of various performers which, in turn, can then be sold to fans via online...

Exec Who Saved Capitol Records, Bhaskar Menon, Dead At 86

The record label was reeling in 1970: its cash cow, The Beatles, had disbanded, and it lost $8 million that year. Parent company EMI put Menon in charge the next year and he turned it all around: in 1973 Capitol released Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, and the label spent the decade issuing hit after hit...

Arts In Chicago Set To Restart After IL Governor Raises Capacity Limits

"The new 'phase 4A' will allow for 25% fixed seating capacity in indoor and outdoor film, theater and performing arts venues of 200 seats or more. For fixed-seating venues with capacities under 200, the limit will increase to 50% capacity or 50 seats, whichever is fewer. .. The new plan will be implemented when 70% of Illinois residents 65...

Many Museums Want To Remove The Sackler Name From Their Campuses. State Attorneys General Want To Let Them.

"Following court filing in New York, the attorneys general from 23 states issued a statement calling for amendments to the plan, which they say does not offer sufficient concessions — including one that would protect non-profits that opt to remove the Sackler name from their spaces, regardless of gift agreements." - Artnet

Russia Is Investigating Its Own Eurovision Song Contest Entry For ‘Illegal Statements’

Following criminal complaints by a veterans' group and the Russian Union of Orthodox Women that the pop tune's words "aim to seriously insult and humiliate the human dignity of Russian women" and " hatred towards men, which undermines the foundations of a traditional family," authorities are investigating singer Manizha Sangin for her anthem "Russian Woman," which salutes the strength...

Bollywood’s Biggest Legend Leads Fight To Preserve India’s Oldest Films

Amitabh Bachchan, who's been a superstar in India for 50 years, has campaigned for years for the preservation of film from Indian cinema's early history, which goes back to 1931 for talkies and 1913 for silent movies. Some 80% of Bollywood's output from 1931 to 1950 is lost or unavailable to the public, and out of more than 1,100...

NBC Cancels “World Of Dance”

The show had been a strong performer for NBC over its first three seasons, but the fourth season ebbed and flowed in the numbers. The format, which is owned by Universal Television Alternative Studio, also has been remade in a number of territories globally including Thailand, Philippines and Poland.  - Deadline

2020 Movie Box Office Down Big Time (But Home Streaming Offsets Much)

The U.S./Canada box office market was down 80% in 2020, to $2.2 billion, while tickets sold were down 81% to 0.24 billion. Still, that was offset by home and mobile entertainment, which increased to $30 billion, up 21% from a year earlier. The number of online video subscriptions increased 32% to 308.6 million. - Deadline

How A Japanese AI Used In Bakeries Ended Up Fighting Cancer

In early 2017, a doctor at the Louis Pasteur Center for Medical Research, in Kyoto, saw a television segment about the BakeryScan. He realized that cancer cells, under a microscope, looked kind of like bread. He contacted BRAIN, and the company agreed to begin developing a version of BakeryScan for pathologists. - The New Yorker

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