The 45-year-old Slovakian maestro, currently music director of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and for seven years chief conductor of Italy's national radio orchestra in Turin, will take up the post upon Andrés Orozco-Estrada departure at the end of next season. - Houston Chronicle
It's the largest donation in the Smithsonian Institution's history, and $70 million of it will go toward the museum's ongoing renovation, while the remaining $130 million will fund a new education center. - AP
Arguably the most prestigious division of the Penguin Random House conglomerate, Knopf has been without a leader since Mehta, who held the job for 32 years, died in late 2019. The new boss is Jordan Pavlin, whose current title at Knopf is editorial director. - The New York Times
The New South Wales state government announced $75 million (Aus) in funding to compensate arts organizations that have had to close their doors again. - Limelight (Australia)
ANA pushes the sector further towards a policy model where it delivers ‘returns on investment’ via quantifiable targets. It’s a form of technocratic neoliberalism wildly out of touch with the current COVID-cum-post-COVID reality. - ArtsHub
"Many people working in culture have been forced to take a time out of the day-to-day and reflect on the big stuff. And there is no bigger stuff than the environmental crisis." - BBC
Dubbing is a brilliant tool for film censorship. Sound films began to appear in the early 1930s, a time when many countries were falling under the sway of totalitarian regimes. - The Conversation
The contemporary art world is, more often than not, represented as a ridiculous shell game in which empty provocation is propped up by canny marketing and rampant financial speculation. - ARTnews
His baton technique was, er, idiosyncratic; he couldn't conduct complex meters; he could be cruel. And after 44 years as music director, seemingly everyone was relieved to see him retire. Yet he and the Philadelphia Orchestra became worldwide legends together. - Classical Voice North America
Almanacs are an anomaly in the 2021 literary landscape, a choose-your-own adventure of print culture. So much of reading, especially online, is about seeking: looking for a fact, an image, a bit of information. - Los Angeles Review of Books
"EdiliziAcrobatica's team has rock-climbed up and abseiled down some of Italy's most significant historic monuments. … Suspended from ropes, the acrobatic technicians can perform a whole range of tasks, from the waterproofing of roofing to welding." - Apollo
Matthew Gardiner takes over the 32-year-old company, which operates two performance spaces in Arlington’s Village at Shirlington, at a tumultuous inflection point. - Washington Post
The kinetic, flamboyant, arm-waving dance style was born in the Black and Latino gay nightclubs of L.A., spread via the TV show Soul Train, faded away after the 1980s, and found a long-term home in East Asia. - The Guardian
