Bjarne Melgaard, whose career soared in the 2010s, developed some very ill-advised habits (including crystal meth) and ran up big debts. Two investors gave him roughly $10 million in this Faustian deal — with a contract Melgaard says he was too drunk to understand at the time. - The New York Times
“The Wyoming Episcopal Church possessed the Northern Arapaho tribe’s artifacts for nearly 80 years — ranging from children’s toys to bows and arrows to traditional dresses. … The state’s Episcopal leadership had been reluctant to return the artifacts for decades.” - Washington Post (MSN)
Potentially huge changes in the city’s arts funding - canceling the $35 arts tax, for instance, and downgrading the longstanding Regional Arts and Culture Council - make November’s election choices vital for the city's and even the state’s continued “arts”creative future.” - Oregon ArtsWatch
Less than a year ago, “‘my goal was 20 to 25 kids,' Pieken said. ‘(I thought) if we don’t have at least like 15 signed up to audition … then we probably might want to rethink some things.’ … Now, the groups boasts 94 players.” - KCUR
"The complaint alleges that Stereophonic is an 'unauthorized adaptation' of Kenneth Caillat’s 2012 memoir, Making Rumours: The Inside Story of the Classic Fleetwood Mac Album (which he co-wrote with Steven Stiefel) about his time as a sound engineer (later promoted to co-producer) of one of the most popular albums in history." - TheaterMania
One of the largest nonprofit theaters in the Bay Area, the California Shakespeare Theater for 50 years offered high-quality outdoor productions and theater education programs. The company has had financial troubles for several years; an emergency campaign last summer raised $350,000 to complete this season's one production. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
"A slow-burning literary success who won multiple awards in (Asia) and Europe, Han is the first Asian woman and the first South Korean writer to win the Nobel literature prize." - AP
The Sherman High School's production became a subject of nationwide controversy after a transgender boy was removed from the cast, his fellow students protested, and the district called it all off. An independent report says that the now-former superintendent was upset about "same-sex kissing" onstage. - The Dallas Morning News (MSN)
"The Hollywood Reporter spoke with (director Ali) Abbasi and (producer and distributor James) Shani to discuss The Apprentice‘s counter-intuitive approach to the world’s most divisive real estate developer — and the behind-the-scenes story of how they raced against the clock to ensure the movie would be widely seen." - The Hollywood Reporter
"Still largely experimental, (CSO Proof concerts) might include elements of dance, lighting, theater and atmosphere to accompany a short program of classical music. The goal is to … engage audiences who might never have considered going to the symphony or even to Music Hall." - Cincinnati Business Courier
"By gutting and rebuilding the interior (of the New York Philharmonic's home), the project was meant to break, once and for all, the acoustical curse that had plagued the hall for decades. … So, after two years and more than 270 concerts, how does the hall sound?" - The New York Times
Regular weeding — librarians' term for removing from collections books that are out-of-date, damaged, or too seldom checked out to be worth shelf space — is standard practice. Some officials have started using the process to remove books about race or LGBTQ issues, and courts will soon weigh in. - The New York Times
Not to say there isn’t trouble brewing, particularly with its unions, but the opera’s numbers, and budget, have been on an upward trajectory for a while. - The New York Times
“The number of independent bookstores has grown by 200 from 2022 to 2023, and the number has more than doubled between 2016 and 2023.” Then there’s the internet - for indies. - Salon
“The subject matter is politically fraught, but once upon a time, American film distributors and exhibitors embraced controversy — especially when it came to acclaimed movies whose controversy was inextricably intertwined with their humanity. Are these companies holding back out of budgetary reasons, out of cowardice, out of political disagreement?” - Vulture
Then Hurricane Helene hit - and hit hard. In Asheville’s long-gestated River Arts District, the president of the District’s art group describes “the current scene as ‘near apocalyptic,’ adding that ‘two-thirds of the district has been either washed away or is in rubble.’” - The New York Times
Magee was “an enigmatic and idiosyncratic artist and poet who spent four decades building a starkly beautiful monument of stone and steel in the West Texas desert that may be the most significant artwork most people have never heard of.” Then there was his alter ego. - The New York Times
An oral history: current and former Post staffers, along with people involved with the incidents in question, talk about how they come up with the headlines, reveal which ones were too much even for the Post, and flesh out the stories behind them. Yes, this includes "Headless Body in Topless Bar." - Esquire
That project meant finding trees comparable to the huge oaks used to make the original eight centuries ago, finding or reproducing the medieval tools and techniques used by the original builders (and locating workers who knew how to use them), and getting the complicated structure finished within the five-year timeline. - GQ
Figures from the arts include poet Jericho Brown, violinist Johnny Gandelsman, media artist Tony Cokes, filmmaker Sterlin Harjo, cabaret artist Justin Vivian Bond, writers Juan Felipe Herrera and Ling Ma, multimedia artist Ebony G. Patterson, choreographer Shamel Pitts, visual artist Wendy Red Star, and young people's lit author Jason Reynolds. - NPR
