Stories

This Fund Was Launched To Save Public Radio Stations From Closing. Now It’s Helping Them Figure Out How To Stay Open.

“The Public Media Bridge Fund has raised about $87 million and stabilized 186 public radio stations that serve about 30 million people in the United States. (Now begins) PMC’s new $38 million fundraising effort to help stations become more financially sustainable without federal funding.” - AP

San Francisco Looks To Start New Arts District Along Market Street

“The Market Street Arts & Theater District will initially focus on the 900 block of Market Street between Fifth and Sixth streets, with plans to activate one to two vacant or underused spaces; add lighting, banners and public art as part of beautification efforts; fund pop-up performances and other arts programming.” - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)

Netflix Is Profitable, So Why’s It Laying Off So Many People?

You mean it’s not just to pump up the stock price? Well, … - Variety

Berlin Philharmonic’s Concert Hall Renovation Will Take At Least Eight Years

We already knew that the cost would be huge — €1.15 billion for the overhaul and a temporary venue at the former Tempelhof Airport — but Philharmonie management announced that the project is expected to last from 2032 to 2040. (And that’s before overruns.) - AP

Public Housing Project Wins Stirling Prize For Britain’s Best New Building

Lion Green Road, designed by Mary Duggan Architects with Ruff Architects in the outer London borough of Croydon, “demonstrates how more homes than you might imagine can be constructed on the most unpromising of sites in a sympathetic way, without sacrificing greenery, views and public access – and keeping plenty of parking, too.” - The Guardian

Tom Di Nardo, Longtime Philadelphia Classical Music And Jazz Critic, Has Died At 89

For 43 years, he wrote hundreds of reviews, profiles and features, first for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, then the Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer. Music criticism was his second career: he worked for more than three decades as an electrical engineer for PECO, the region’s electricity and gas utility. - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Writers Are Being Deluged With Scams, Even Though Most Don’t Have Much Money. How Come?

Because these scammers have hit on an M.O. to which writers are particularly susceptible, that’s why. And there are a lot of hopeful writers out there, so the scammers can ask for small amounts of money (making it look low-risk to the targets), and make bank on volume. - The Dial

Yes, Reading Has Changed. Adapt.

“We have everything we need to be happy,” the hero of Fahrenheit 451 observes, “but we aren’t happy.” Maybe that’s the ultimate lever to pull: the growing awareness that our devices are exhausting and eroding us. - The American Scholar

Minnesota Opera Orchestra Unanimously Votes To Strike

The musicians say that, in contract negotiations, management has rejected any cost-of-living increases in pay. (Their salaries have been flat for the past four years.) The company’s season begins on Halloween with the world premiere of The Many Deaths of Laila Starr by composer Kamala Sankaram and librettist Minita Gandhi. - Minnesota Public Radio

The Real Cause Of The BBC’s Funding Crisis

The biggest driver of the BBC crisis is the cut in real-terms funding for its national, regional and local UK services. These are the services that largely account for licence payers’ willingness to pay the fee. The reduction in the real-terms funding of these services has been building up since 2010. - The Conversation

Karachi Biennale Abruptly Canceled

It is not yet clear what specific circumstances or events in the region contributed to the cancellation, which reportedly occurred without the input of the biennale’s curator, Noor Ahmed, according to the Pakistani newspaper Dawn’s cultural imprint, Images. - Hyperallergic

Met Opera’s New “Lincoln In The Bardo” Is “Quite Hilarious At Times”

Well, so says librettist Royce Vavrek. The subject matter — Abraham Lincoln grieving his young son Willie, who is stuck in the place between death and rebirth — would seem grim. So Vavrek and composer Missy Mazzoli took care to include humor and even joy. - AP

Trump’s War Has Decimated Iran’s Visual Art Community

The sudden onset of war shuttered commercial galleries in central Tehran, cancelled scheduled solo exhibitions, severed shipping channels and destroyed the fragile domestic market that allows creators to pay rent and sustain studio practices. - The Guardian

Shareholders Approve Fox Deal To Buy Roku

In an expected development, shareholders for both Fox Corp. and Roku voted to approve Fox’s $22 billion acquisition of the streaming-video platform company. - Variety

Alan Mandell, The “Beating Heart Of LA Theatre”, Dies At 98

Actor Alan Mandell, who died at 98, helped shape Los Angeles theater as a performer, director, administrator and arts supporter whose influence stretched from experimental stages to the Mark Taper Forum. - Los Angeles Times

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