Stories

American Tap Dance Foundation Closes Its Building And Cancels Its Annual Festival

"The ATDF non-profit organization will downsize yet retain its 501c3 status as a nonprofit organization to produce projects and programs in the future. Tap City, the annual New York City Tap Festival which would have celebrated its 24th year, will also be canceled this year." - Dance Informa

Texas School District Reverses Course, Will Allow High School Production Of “The Laramie Project”

When school district leaders in the Fort Worth suburb of Keller cancelled the production last month, they gave no specific reason but indicated that they'd prefer something more anodyne than a docudrama about the murder of a gay college student. But, facing resistance, the officials backed down. - The Dallas Morning News (MSN)

Boston NPR Station WBUR Warns Of Cash Crisis And Likely Layoffs

Though listenership and ratings are up (Nielsen reports WBUR is the top news station in its market and third overall), income from advertising and sponsorship is way, way down. - Boston Herald

Staffers At Mass MoCA Are On Strike

Employees at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams have begun a walkout (97% voted in favor) as contract negotiations (which began in October) have stalled. Low wages are the main issue. - The Berkshire Eagle

Edinburgh International Festival Lowers Ticket Prices — A Lot

"More than half of the tickets will cost £30 or less, with £10 tickets on offer for every performance, while 2,000 free tickets will be distributed to young people. A half-price ticket offer will be extended to under-18s, those with disabilities or hearing impairments and to neurodivergent festival-goers." - The Guardian

Armorer In Alec Baldwin Shooting On Set Of “Rust” Convicted Of Involuntary Manslaughter

"The verdict against movie armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed assigned new blame in the October 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins after an assistant director last year pleaded no contest to negligent handling of a firearm." She was acquitted of a charge of evidence-tampering. - AP

New Help For Creative Industries IN UK Budget

The new permanent rate covering theatres, museums and galleries - 45% for touring productions and 40% for non-touring shows - is below the current rates of 50%/45%, but well above the pre-pandemic rates of 25%/20%, which had been due to come back in over the next two years. - BBC

Netflix Is Back On Top. How?

How did Netflix defend its bulwark when there are still multiple streaming services fighting for eyeballs? - Los Angeles Times

How Schoenberg’s Ideas About Music Shaped Movies

Film composers have taken up serialism as an important technique, employing this to yield a high degree of dissonance and ethereal sounds. - The Conversation

How American Outsider In Popular Media Shaped Our Culture

As we entered the new millennium, three daring TV series remade the television landscape, and they all featured a new breed of outsider: lawless, desperate, violent characters once unimaginable on the small screens in our living rooms. - LitHub

Can Literature Shape Law?

What does it mean to credit the written word with such capacious potencies, to charge it with such real-world responsibilities? And how is literature, poetry, language to operate as a force for good and still maintain its duties to itself, to its self-delighting, essentially purposeless imperative to live as lively language? - Public Books

Architect Turns To Local Materials, Builds Schools That Stay Cool In 100+-Degree Heat

“We don’t need air conditioning, which is an incredible energy saving." Temperatures in this region of the world remain at about 40C (104F) during the hottest season. - The Guardian

Thirty Years After The Fall Of Apartheid, South Africa’s Film & TV Industry Is Still Looking For Its Identity

"On the surface, there is much reason to cheer. No country on the continent has benefited as much from the disruption of global streaming platforms as South Africa, where competition between Netflix and homegrown rival Showmax has fueled a surge in production." - Variety

Paris’ Own Outlaw Street Artist — The French Banksy

Like Banksy, the British street artist he is sometimes likened to, Invader is elusive, fiercely protective of his anonymity and operating on the margins of illegality. - AP

He Went From Hip-Hop Moves In Iraqi Kurdistan To New York’s Hotbed Of Contemporary Dance

Hussein Smko learned his first hip-hop at age 9, from an American soldier in Erbil, and founded a street dance troupe there when he was 13. From there it's been a long journey, with some very good luck, to his debut this week at the Joyce Theater. - The New York Times

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