An avant-garde likes to present itself as insurgent and radical, yet the logic of the metaphor suggests that a new group will soon be coming along to replace it. Today’s avant-garde is always liable to congeal into tomorrow’s orthodoxy. - The Nation
Cineworld, which owns Regal Cinemas in the US and Cineworld and Picturehouse theatres in the UK, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in US federal court in Houston. The company will continue operations and expects to be reorganized by early next year. - AP
It is not just in war and sport that luck plays such a great part. In our interconnected global economy, every business operates in a high-variable environment. This is not new. - Psyche
"(He) was the cable news channel's lead anchor for two decades until his retirement in 2001. During his tenure, Shaw anchored major breaking news events, like the attempted assassination of President Reagan in 1981, the Tiananmen Square student revolt in 1989 and every presidential election." - The Hollywood Reporter
As Goethe later recalled in his autobiography, it was to the house that he owed his literary awakening. It was there, gazing at his family’s prints, that he had learned to love Italy, antiquity and nature; there that his passion for drama was first fired; and there that he wrote some of his most famous works. - History Today
Hobart Earle, who's currently helming the orchestra on a special visit to Berlin: "I never imagined that I would be a long-term music director. And I certainly never planned on being a music director in a time of war." - The New York Times
In announcing this shift, prize founder Scott Griffin said that Canadian poets are capable of competing on the world stage. “Yes, Canadians will not have this automatic prize each year. But in a sense, there is a statement here that’s saying Canadians can hold their own.” - The Globe & Mail (Canada)
"High-level (layoffs) are unusual for any established magazine, and they are unprecedented for National Geographic, which has enjoyed stable editorial leadership since its founding by the nonprofit National Geographic Society of Washington in 1888." - MSN (The Washington Post)
"After a decades-long, controversy-filled history of desperately wanting to play Fanny Brice, Lea Michele was finally in the role on Broadway. At the first performance, the audience was there to cheer on the greatest star, though you could put any part of that fervent sentiment in air quotes." - Vulture
Located on Benjamin Franklin Parkway just opposite the Rodin Museum and Barnes Foundation, Calder Gardens will include both a building (designed by Herzog & de Meuron) and landscaped outdoor spaces to display a rotating selection of Calder's mobiles and stabiles. - The Philadelphia Inquirer
"At a time when Philadelphia architecture rarely rises above the goal of extracting money from land, Calder Gardens promises to be a work of art itself. Ideas about Calder's creativity and Philadelphia's history are embedded in every detail. Yet the design is no mere intellectual exercise." - The Philadelphia Inquirer
Already there are famous mobiles and other pieces by "Sandy" Calder at the Museum of Art, PAFA, Federal Reserve Bank, and Free Library, plus major works by his father (the fountain in Logan Square) and grandfather (the statues on City Hall, including of William Penn on top). - The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Advanced scanning techniques revealed that beneath the plain white wall that makes the milkmaid's bright yellow and blue clothes stand out, Vermeer had originally painted extra details," including a wooden jug rack and a basket. - Yahoo! (AFP)
Not only does the new labor agreement include a 6.7% pay raise and restoration of benefits suspended when the pandemic arrived, the company formally committed to hiring an intimacy coordinator and allowing tights to match a dancer's skin tone. - The New York Times
It's hard to say just yet — partly because she's so new and partly because she has a reputation for changing positions on almost anything. But there are hints to be gleaned. One: she's talking about cutting taxes on rich people, so there will probably no increase in arts funding. - Artnet