"In 2024 the average most expensive ticket outside of London was £56.46, compared to £49.19 last year. This is 63% cheaper than the average top-price ticket across West End theatres, which was £154.56. The average cheapest ticket in theatres across the UK was £20.96, a 1.5% decrease on 2023." - The Stage
The orchestra's 2023-24 annual report shows a sixth consecutive year of a balanced budget as well as endowment growth of 11% to $296 million; audience numbers have rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. - Ideastream Public Media (Cleveland)
"Beautiful brick early 20th-century town halls were once venues for council meetings, award nights and country dances. But in recent decades many have been under-used or left entirely empty." Now municipalities are offering them to strapped arts organizations, often without rental fees. - The Guardian
"The project responded to ongoing reports of record-breaking levels of first-time attendance. Since full houses are central to the artistic and financial health of opera companies, OPERA America set out to uncover ways to retain and convert these newcomers into a sustaining audience for the future." - Opera America
The outlet, near Independence Hall, will offer 30% to 50% discounts, up to three days before curtain, to select music and dance performances (including the Philadelphia Orchestra and Philadelphia Ballet) as well as theater. This is the first TKTS booth in the US outside New York City. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
Yes, even if we don’t play, or know anything about it. The massive game has been a campaign tool, an academic study subject, one of the first social networks, and a test run for subscription services and micropayments. - The New York Times
"Archivist of the United States Colleen Shogan and her top aides directed employees to remove certain objects and details over the past year in order to avoid angering Republican legislators and making visitors feel ‘confronted.’” - Hyperallergic
“The Cultural Olympiad (can’t we go back to the friendlier Arts Festival?) is special. It is the only aspect of the Olympics that needn’t be politicized or commercialized.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
Stopgap, a contemporary dance company which integrates variously disabled and neurodiverse performers, has a piece titled Lived Fiction in which audio description is integral to the work. Partially-sighted writer Caroline Butterwick came to find out if description can work with an art form as purely visual as dance is. - The Guardian
"In the nation's oldest opera house," begins correspondent Scott MacFarlane, "seats for this performance cost less than a movie ticket. Opera Philadelphia is launching a pick-your-price model, starting at just $11, as they try to lure more diverse and younger audiences." - CBS News
"Could the Hirshhorn be a major institution? These days, Director Melissa Chiu says it should assume its role as 'the national museum of modern and contemporary art.' The notion would have invited laughs in 1974." - The Washington Post (MSN)
The reopening is barreling toward its reopening date, and “while visitors to the most notable cathedrals in neighbouring countries, including Spain, Italy and Britain, routinely pay for the privilege, France’s Roman Catholic church is fiercely opposed to the idea.” - The Guardian (UK)
