“Despite reports from some officials that have characterized the illicit trade in antiquities as a multi-billion-dollar industry and the third largest black market after the drugs and arms trades, the new [World Customs Organization] report reveals that the scale is much more modest. In fact, cultural heritage crime is so minor compared with other risk categories globally that it barely registers on Customs’ radar.” – Artnet
Sofiane Sylve Had Just Started Jobs Leading Two Ballet Companies When The Pandemic Hit
“Departing her post as a principal dancer at San Francisco Ballet, she embarked on a multifaceted, bicontinental career as ballet master and principal dancer at Dresden Semperoper Ballett, and artistic advisor and school director at Ballet San Antonio — and then COVID-19 hit, sidelining performances and administrative plans at both companies. But ballet dancers are nothing if not resilient. In her new leadership roles, Sylve is determined to help shepherd ballet through this challenging time — and transform it for the better.” – Pointe Magazine
Who Owns Public Radio’s Podcasts, The Stations Or The Creators? And Who Should?
“After controversies this year involving the intellectual property of podcasts owned by Spotify and BuzzFeed, some public media podcasters who have co-created podcasts or worked as driving voices behind them are asking whether they should have ownership stakes in their work.” – Current
What’s The Purpose Of Book Reviews? A Book Critic Speaks
Charles Finch: “For me, books evoke a feeling first, and then you have to try to feel lucidly in words. … That’s the art of criticism to me: trying to explain emotions, which, in a way, all art forms are trying to do through different means. … The best reviews often have an essayistic quality. They’re trying to say, what is this telling us about our moment of life?” – Slate
One Fourth Of U.S. Adults Say They Get News From YouTube
“The study finds a news landscape on YouTube in which established news organizations and independent news creators thrive side by side – and consequently, one where established news organizations no longer have full control over the news Americans watch.” – Pew Research Center
Scientist Discovers Drawing Hidden Beneath Paint In ‘Mona Lisa’
“The faint traces of a charcoal underdrawing, visible thanks to multispectral analysis, are evidence of the spolvero technique, in which the artist pricks tiny holes along the outlines of the drawing and uses charcoal dust to transfer the cartoon to canvas. The discovery, published by scientist Pascal Cotte in the Journal of Cultural Heritage, was more than 15 years in the making.” – Artnet
The Latest Music Piracy: Stream-Ripping
Called stream-ripping, it accounts for 80% of copyright infringement among the biggest piracy sites, according to a recent report by the PRS. Stream-ripping websites make money from advertisers, touting a mix of legitimate products, scams and pornography. Over the past three years, the use of it has increased by 1,390%, says the report. – BBC
St. Louis Public Radio Ousts Its Leader
The flap between Tim Eby and some of his workers came to light in early August when journalists and producers of color complained about unfair treatment. – St. Louis Post-Dispatch
How COVID Scrambled How Hollywood Finances Projects
COVID-19 has upended the revenue streams that Hollywood could once depend on. As theaters have yet to fully reopen and draw film fans, studios have had to find other ways to release their movies and recoup investments. – Los Angeles Times
How America’s Literary Programs Made The World Smaller
Even today, the institutions of creative writing in the United States reflect their origins in the Cold War. In the 1940s and 1950s, early advocates for such programs, including Paul Engle at Iowa and Wallace Stegner at Stanford, shared a common vision for American culture with the internationalists of the Truman and Eisenhower administrations and influential philanthropic foundations. – Chronicle of Higher Education
Artemisia Gentileschi’s Life Story Is So Much More Than The Rape Everyone Focuses On Today
“The turmoil of Artemisia’s early life — and the remarkable evidence of it that survives — has inevitably overshadowed the less sensational, and less documented, narrative of what followed. Nevertheless, her later career was extraordinary, and it is reasonable to conclude that the fact of having been raped was less significant to Artemisia’s sense of self than some of her modern champions have suggested.” – The New Yorker
The Flaws And Blemishes Of Thinking Scientifically
Philosophers of science tend to irritate practicing scientists, to whom science already makes complete sense. It doesn’t make sense to Michael Strevens. “Science is an alien thought form,” he writes; that’s why so many civilizations rose and fell before it was invented. In his view, we downplay its weirdness, perhaps because its success is so fundamental to our continued existence.” – The New Yorker
These Artists Turned Medical Bills Into Art And Sold Them To Pay The Debt
MSCHF, the group responsible for stunts like Finger on the App and MasterWiki, is bringing attention to the failures of the American healthcare system with Medical Bill Art. Three real medical bills were rendered into oil paintings and sold for the amount of money owed via the art market. The work is aptly called 3 Medical Bills. – Mashable
The BBC Anchors The Entire British Media. Now It May Be In Real Danger.
“The world’s largest broadcaster, the BBC has remained iconic through the generations — criticized regularly, of course, but nonetheless capturing the trust and attention of Britons like nothing else. Now, though, it’s facing a remarkable array of new private-sector competitors — and public-sector overseers — that all seem to have Auntie Beeb, in various ways, in their sights. And that puts one of the core purposes of a public service broadcaster — serving as a central, trustworthy anchor in a country’s media ecosystem — at a new level of risk.” – Nieman Lab
Turns Out Edward Hopper’s Earliest Paintings Are Copies Of Others’ Work
“Most grad students in art history dream of discovering an unknown work by whatever great artist they are studying. Louis Shadwick has achieved just the opposite.” – The New York Times
America’s 100 Most Banned And Challenged Books Of The Decade
Each year for Banned Books Week, the American Library Association releases a list of the books that offended parents or patrons tried most often to have removed from schools and libraries; for 2020, the ALA has compiled a list covering the 2010s as a whole. As usual, Huck Finn and To Kill a Mockingbird are there, as are Fun Home and the kids’ book about the gay penguins in Central Park, but top of the list is Sherman Alexie’s award-winning The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. (The runner-up is Captain Underpants.) Right in the middle of the list, at no. 52, is The Holy Bible. – The Guardian
Minnesota Orchestra Musicians Accept 25% Pay Cut
“In a deal announced Monday, the orchestra’s board and union musicians ratified [a two-year contract extension] outlining work rules and compensation cuts during a pandemic that has taken a financial toll, nixing live audiences through at least the fall. If, after a year, the whole orchestra returns to performing for full audiences, those pay cuts would be reversed.” – The Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
Judge Tosses Out Suit Against New York City Ballet Over Sexting Scandal
In 2018, after now-former City Ballet principal Chase Finlay sent nude images of his ex-girlfriend, Alexandra Waterbury, to two of his colleagues, Waterbury sued all three men as well as the company and its ballet school, where she had previously been a student. The judge on the case has now dismissed all claims against the company, the school, and the other two dancers as well as six of Waterbury’s seven claims against Finlay, allowing to proceed only the charge that Finlay violated “a city administrative code prohibiting unlawful disclosure of an intimate image.” – The New York Times
Is Putin’s Plan To Build Cultural Centers All Over Russia About To Fall Apart?
“Russian president Vladimir Putin’s 120bn ruble ($1.6bn) project to build a string of regional cultural centres with branches of leading federal museums and theatres has come under fire after … two dozen former staff members of the National Cultural Heritage Foundation, which is building the centres with funding from Russian state oil and gas profits, said that 120 contracts had been terminated in June with no notice, no severance pay and four months of salary arrears.” – The Art Newspaper
The Kinds Of Theatre That Might Work Best Virtually
Plays that explore broken institutions, social unrest, and isolation may be uniquely suited to the Zoom platform with its fractured screen of boxes and its disruptive glitches, hiccups, and delays. – Howlround
The Students Left Behind By Virtual Learning
Society’s attention to them has always been spotty, but they had at least been visible—one saw them on the way to school, in their blue or burgundy uniforms, or in the park and the playground afterward. Now they were behind closed doors, and so were we, with full license to turn inward. While we dutifully stayed home to flatten the curve, children like Shemar were invisible. – The New Yorker
How Wagner Became Part Of Our Baseline DNA
Ross demonstrates how the city you live in, the government you live under, the culture you consume (high and low) and the way you consume it very likely has Wagner molecules in its DNA. – Los Angeles Times
UK TV Industry Unites To Talk About Reform For Freelancers
For the first time, we are openly acknowledging industry shortcomings, and recognizing that there is work to be done on a range of issues: employment and recruitment practices, workplace culture, race and diversity, bullying and harassment, training and talent progression, new talent, mental health and wellbeing. – Variety
Say Goodbye To Movie Theatres?
If it takes 18 months, or even longer, for enough Americans to get vaccinated, could Americans simply lose the habit of going to the movies, learning to get their video entertainment from streaming series and their socializing from the backyard? – Washington Post
How Tap Dancing Made Kobe Bryant A Better Player
Bryant’s injury prevention routine was particularly unique—and involved taking tap classes to strengthen his ankles. (You’ve probably heard of football players taking ballet, but this one was new to us.) – Dance Magazine