That’s the dilemma that faced Simon & Schuster last fall, when right-wing media star Charlie Kirk was assassinated not long before the scheduled publication of Rebecca Novack’s satirical novel Murder Bimbo. - The New York Times
On Tuesday, the Skydance-owned company said it would pay Warner shareholders an added “ticking fee” if its deal doesn’t go through by the end of the year — amounting to 25 cents per share, or a total of $650 million, for every quarter after Dec. 31. - AP News
Overhauling the Kennedy Center has become a fixation for Trump—and no detail is too small for the real-estate-developer-turned-president. - The Wall Street Journal
Marine Le Pen’s party is concocting plans to replace a vital, vibrant arts scene with a retrograde movement that would glorify the country’s past. - The Guardian
“The influential founder of France’s École Philippe Gaulier … taught the art of clowning for decades and his students included Sacha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Thompson, Rachel Weisz and Geoffrey Rush.” - The Guardian
A new iron curtain now separates American dance and Russian dance, bringing an abrupt end to a rich dialogue that spanned centuries. Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, two crown jewels in the American repertoire, would not exist without Petipa’s original stagings; meanwhile, Russian ballet was bolstered by American influence. - The Atlantic
That Sunday, a ribbon-cutting ceremony will kick off two weeks of priority member access to the galleries, with general admission beginning May 4. - Los Angeles Times
“It has nothing to do with the name change. It is strictly dollars and cents, and the Kennedy Center’s inability to understand the economics of how opera works.” - Washington Post
“The Basic Income for the Arts initiative will provide €325 ($386) a week to 2,000 eligible artists based in the Republic in three-year cycles. ... The (pilot) scheme recouped more than its net cost of €72 million through increases in arts-related expenditure, productivity gains and reduced reliance on other welfare payments.” - The Guardian
“An international media outlet employing hundreds of foreign journalists with the stated mission of promoting civil liberties abroad was bound to be incompatible with an administration that was attacking the same liberties at home and had made xenophobic nationalism central to its political platform.” - The Point
“Trading financial gain for lasting impact, several older artists have donated the houses they bought decades ago to community land trusts, legal entities that can break the cycle of displacement by ensuring properties are handed down from one artist to another at affordable prices.” - The New York Times
Most of the World Service’s £400 million budget comes from the licence fee which funds the entire BBC, though the Foreign Office contributes a sizable amount, £137 million in the last year. BBC director general Tim Davie has just warned that the government must not delay further in deciding on Foreign Office funding. - The Guardian
The ensemble, founded in 1946, was believed to be the longest-running chamber orchestra in the US. While it has faced the same post-COVID financial problems that have plagued many performing-arts organizations, the PCO’s biggest difficulty has been recovering from the sudden death in 2023 of popular artistic director Yaacov Bergman. - Willamette Week (Portland)
Derrer — who came to The Dallas Opera in 2018 and then steered the company through COVID, raised $54.5 million and doubled the endowment, and commissioned and staged multiple new works — will take the helm at the COC in Toronto as of July 1. - CultureMap Dallas
“The Southbank Centre in London, which includes the Hayward Gallery, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Undercroft skatepark and was once voted ‘Britain's ugliest building’, has been heritage-listed. Completed along the River Thames in the 1960s, the post-war landmark has now been Grade II-listed by the Department for Culture Media and Sport.” - Dezeen
