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Michael Bobbitt Is Tired Of Boards. What To Do?

Ugh. In our current structure, boards of directors for nonprofits don’t work. I’m sure there are outliers with highly functioning boards, but this is not the norm. How do we fix this? - American Theatre

How ‘American Dirt’ Went From Hot Title To PR Fiasco And Still Became A Bestseller

Despite the disastrous rollout of a book that had been advance-hyped by some as a Grapes of Wrath-level work of literature, Jeanine Cummins's thriller about an Acapulco bookseller and her young son on the run from a drug cartel was the top-selling novel for adults of 2020. Here's a report on how the rise and fall and rise of...

Squatters Invade Site Of Oldest City In Americas And Threaten To Kill Archaeologists

The place is Caral, estimated to be 5,000 years old and now a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Peruvian coastal desert about 125 miles north of Lima. Archaeologist Ruth Shady discovered the ruins in 1994. Over the past year, an extended family of squatters has made repeated invasions, claiming that the land — which has increased in value...

Novelist Eric Jerome Dickey Dead At 59

" was an aspiring actor and stand-up comic who began writing fiction in his mid-30s and shaped a witty, conversational and sometimes graphic prose style. It brought him a wide readership through such novels as Sister, Sister and Naughty or Nice and through his Gideon crime fiction series, which included Sleeping With Strangers and Resurrecting Midnight." - Yahoo! (AP)

Film Version Of ‘Hamilton’ Is Eligible For Golden Globes And SAG Awards But Not Oscars. Here’s Why

Disney bought the rights to the specially shot and edited footage of the Broadway production and planned to release it in movie theaters — until the pandemic changed everything and the show was put on Disney+ instead. That's similar enough to other movies from 2020 that the Globes consider Hamilton eligible; SAG, oddly, puts it in the TV movie...

To Save Itself, San Francisco Art Institute Might Sell Its Diego Rivera Mural To George Lucas

The long-financially-strapped school — which shut itself down last March, only to reverse that decision a month later after raising $3 million — has one valuable asset other than its campus that it could sell: a piece of meta-art by Rivera depicting workers painting and installing a Diego Rivera mural. And the creator of the Star Wars franchise wants...

The Current State Of Lockdowns Around Europe

Rules vary quite a bit between the eight countries covered here. The Netherlands, which has seen a huge surge in cases, is quite strict; Sweden, which was much laxer than most of the continent, has gotten more strict but still less so than France or Germany (which is letting some performances continue without audiences). Spain's measures vary widely by...

Britain’s Gone Into Another Lockdown. How Are The Arts Affected?

It's not as bad as it was last spring, and, in London, not too different from the last couple of weeks. "As per Gov.uk guidance, 'training and rehearsal without an audience (in theatres and concert halls)' will be exempt from the rules regarding business closures, while auditoria will be able to open 'for the purposes of film and TV...

Grammy Awards Postponed For Six Weeks Due To Pandemic

The ceremony, hosted by Trevor Noah, had been scheduled for January 31. It will now take place on March 14, due to, as a statement from the Recording Academy puts it, "the deteriorating COVID situation in Los Angeles, with hospital services being overwhelmed, ICUs having reached capacity, and new guidance from state and local governments." - Variety

LA Movie And TV Production Shuts Down

Production shutdowns are expensive, and a delay of a few weeks would disrupt series’ delivery dates and air pattern. This is especially crucial for broadcast series whose current seasons are already airing. - Deadline

An Enormous Expansion Of Melbourne Contemporary Museum

The proposed new building, the NGV Contemporary in Melbourne, will be Australia’s largest gallery of contemporary art and design, says Tony Ellwood, the director of the National Gallery of Victoria. It will span 30,000 sq. m, one third of which will be exhibition space. - The Art Newspaper

Ray Bradbury’s Outsized Influence On American Culture

There were other fine sci-fi writers, but Ray was the one who first engaged the mainstream audience. He had a huge impact on both American literature and popular culture. He was also one of the most significant California writers of the last century. - Los Angeles Review of Books

Has The Gagosian Gallery Left San Francisco?

As of Thursday, Dec. 31, the gallery phone was disconnected and the exterior banner as well as signage in the window had been removed. Mentions of the San Francisco location have also been stripped from the Gagosian website, which serves as an online hub for its myriad galleries. - San Francisco Chronicle

The Biggest Archaeological Finds Of 2020

As always, Egypt was fruitful ground for archaeologists, with the discovery of the first ancient Egyptian funeral parlor, the world’s oldest Illustrated book, and a mummy buried with a secret painting gallery, among other finds. But the biggest news in Egyptian archaeology this year was undoubtedly the excavation of over 100 painted sarcophagi in Saqqara, an ancient burial ground south of Cairo....

When Theatre Comes Back To Stages It Will Be Different. But That’s OK

"While there have been times during the past year when theatre and all who work in it have felt helpless, unloved and ignored, there is also plenty of evidence that it does matter and can make itself matter – not just to its own community but beyond. When theatre doesn’t just think of itself, when it thinks beyond the...

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