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Opera Philadelphia, $11 tickets, and a predictable outcome

Opera Philadelphia's $11 ticket prices produced what we expect: increased attendance and more diverse audience. But audience perceptions about price aren't fixed.

SUMMER RERUN: The Con Is On – Raising Emergency Money at the Expense of Everyone Else Is Not a Heroic Act

Especially when you leave the premises just before the devastation and claim victory ...

Stephanie Shonekan talks about the value of the arts in a modern world

Stephanie Shonekan, Ethnomusicologist and Dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland, talks about the value of arts and humanities in a modern world.

How to Talk About a Terminated NEA Project

...it’s not just about the amount of money in the grant—people will care because of the impact on your community!

Kennedy Center audiences vote with their feet. What happens next?

Kennedy Center subscription sales are in free fall. How much danger does that put the Center in?

SUMMER RERUN: What Would a Post-NEA (Arts) America Look Like?

An all-too-prescient post from January 2025 begs you to answer the question: if WHEN the NEA’s funding is eliminated, how ...

“Aida” in South Africa: a Sonic Earthquake

Photo: Oscar O’Ryan Never in an opera house have I thrilled to such a sonic earthquake as the wall of

Just a Reminder — June 30 Is Only Meaningful to You

Also: clearing the decks for an important announcement in August No one cares ...

The Power of Strangers at Art

On a Sunday in May, a friend and I planned to try for rush tickets to see Hugh Jackman at the Minetta Lane Theater in New York City. She woke up with bad sciatica and cancelled on me. But I went ahead to get in the rush line. I arrived at 11:15 for the noon

Michelle Wu

My introduction of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu at New England Conservatory’s Commencement ceremony on Sunday May 18, 2025. She received an honorary degree. Michelle Wu was a musician, a pianist, before she was a politician—and she remains a  musician today.   You might have heard her play George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue across the street at Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops,...

On the frontiers of AI

Prelude, from The Onion: Prague's Franz Kafka International Named World's Most Alienating Airport Now then. A few days ago, my son googled “Franz Kafka Airport” and here is what Google AI came up with: Being a public spirited sort, son informed Google that they might want to tweak this a wee bit. And so I had to check this afternoon for an...

Pro-Social Parents Sing More to Their Infants and, By Doing So, Contribute to Greater Language Acquisition, Study Suggests

Plenty of studies, some of them published by the Arts Endowment, have shown how arts participation in early childhood appears to awaken greater social skills and behaviors at a crucial stage of development. It’s no surprise, especially among infants and toddlers, that most arts activities involve a parent or caregiver. It stands to reason, therefore, that parents’ own preferences or backgrounds,...

Children of Men

At Indiana University each spring there is an arts festival in honor of Kurt Vonnegut, Granfalloon. This year’s theme is his novel Cat’s Cradle, which is the book where he introduces the term Granfalloon (although, to my mind, not really as something one would celebrate; Karass would have been a better choice to name a gathering?). Since that novel is about...

Heroes & Zeroes: Why DOGE Shouldn’t Fund Trump’s Redundant Sculpture Garden

Where’s Elon Musk, the DOGE watchdog, when we really need some “Government Efficiency”? There’s nothing efficient about the proposed creation

Even more on the economics of live theatre

The Freakonomics series on the economics of live theatre continues with this third and final episode, in which I talk about its value – no, not economic value: all the other kinds… Will 3 Summers of Lincoln Make it to Broadway?

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