"Even if Baker's career had been restricted to her role as an entertainer, it would have had the allure of a thriller. The racecraft of the day was bound to give rise to spycraft: all identities are impostures, and Baker had a chameleonic gift for moving among them." - The New Yorker
"It's quite a catalog of allegations that have been leveled against Patricia Schlesinger. Until recently, she was both the director of the regional public broadcaster RBB (Rundfunk Berlin Brandenburg) and held the rotating chair of the (national association of state public broadcasters) ARD." - Deutsche Welle
The site lists gigs that are available to book on the home page, and under the My events section, users can see their past and upcoming ticket bookings. - TechCrunch
"Michael Auer, the Royal New Zealand Ballet's fired ballet master and husband of artistic director Patricia Barker, was banned from all company premises after multiple complaints were made about his behaviour. ... Auer is understood to have returned to the United States while Barker remains in New Zealand." - Stuff (NZ)
The share of 13- to 17-year-olds who say they're "almost constantly" online has nearly doubled, from 24% in 2014-15 to 46% today. Among Black and Hispanic teens, that share was even higher, at 55%. - CNET
"Rather than demanding that school boards or librarians remove books, the current case takes the books to court, using an obscure Virginia law that would allow the judge, if she found the books obscene, to ban bookstores, libraries, and even private citizens from selling or sharing them, everywhere in Virginia." - Slate
Live performances can account for 90%-95% of a band’s income, according to Help Musicians, but Brexit has cut into one of their most important revenue streams, restricting them to £1,000 worth of merchandise before they get into a higher taxable bracket. - The Guardian
"It is not just about fabulous queens competing on RuPaul's Drag Race; even Mr Tumble performs in drag on CBeebies. So, how have we reached a place where a man in a dress is automatically deemed to be a threat to children?" - The Guardian
Back home in Russia (where he spent years under house arrest on trumped-up charges), among culturati in Ukraine, in Europe (where he now lives and works), and especially at Cannes this year, the dissident director opposes the invasion of Ukraine but gets criticism for it nevertheless. - The New York Times Magazine
Tarsila do Amaral's painting Sol Poente (Setting Sun) is one of 16 artworks (not including stolen jewelry and cash) that were conned out of, or simply taken from, the widow of a Rio de Janeiro art dealer by her daughter, working with a bogus clairvoyant and a supposed candomblé priestess. - ARTnews
A very popular exhibition of minimalist and conceptual art this summer at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art features major pieces by Marcel Duchamp, Sol LeWitt, Frank Stella, and others. The art was collected by the government of the last Shah and put away by the Khomeini regime. - AP
"The Broadway production of The Kite Runner announced a policy Tuesday requiring masks for audience members at Friday evening performances only. The new hybrid policy marks the first of its kind on Broadway." - The Hollywood Reporter
Extreme heat, flash floods, and, especially, smoke from wildfires — which can affect venues hundreds of miles away — have been the cause of multiple rescheduled and cancelled performances. Leading institutions such as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Santa Fe Opera are working on ways to adapt. - The New York Times
"The group of 16 employees — which includes front-of-house staff, stagehands and arts administrators — filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board last week" to join three locals of IATSE. They also called for the Board of Directors' resignation and decried "the broken 501(c)3 non-profit model." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
Postmodern ideas have gained the status of absolute truths. Relativism, selectively appropriated into the language of both left and right politics, has metamorphosed into dogma. As oversimplification distorts communication, public trust in scientific fact has eroded. Could renewed ideas of objectivity be a way out? - Eurozine
