In 2000 it had fewer than 1,200 of them. By the end of last year there were nearly five times as many. Helped by a decision in 2008 to allow free entry to most government-run ones, visits have also soared. - The Economist
Despite some trepidation from the actors, the Royal Shakespeare Company is live-streaming for the public select rehearsals for the upcoming production of Henry VI Part One. "I'm intrigued by how much I've learned," writes Michael Billington — who wasn't more impressed than anyone else ever is by watching actors warm up but was fascinated by seeing the actors work...
Among the unconventional books that he took on when other publishers wouldn't were The Armies of the Night, the first of Norman Mailer's "nonfiction novels"; James Baldwin's Another Country (Baron let Baldwin stay in his country house while he finished it); and Report from Iron Mountain, an antiwar satire which he and editor E.L. Doctorow marketed as a secret,...
The unionization effort has created an uncomfortable moment for the writers at The New Yorker, who have the kind of jobs and influence every journalist wants but few attain. - The New York Times
"Switzerland's prestigious Béjart Ballet Lausanne company faces a probe as allegations of drug use, harassment and abuse of power raise the question why nothing apparently changed after an earlier investigation raised similar issues. … The Maurice Béjart Foundation announced the audit just a week after revealing that the affiliated Rudra Béjart ballet school had fired its director and stage...
"England was due to move to stage four of the government's roadmap out of lockdown on 21 June, when venues and events would be allowed to operate without capacity limits and the cap on guests at weddings would be lifted." But, as the country is seeing a new surge of COVID cases, many of the virus's Delta variant, reopening...
"From 2015 to 2019 US-based National Public Radio saw its podcasting revenue grow ten-fold. Things were tougher last year due to the pandemic, though NPR still managed a small amount of growth, but it's now bouncing back big time," with an estimated rise of 30% from last year. - World Association of News Publishers
"As self-evident and uncontroversial as the belief in equal access to information sounds within the noncommercial media sector itself, politically the concept always faced resistance. … Fast forward to 2021, and the origin of public broadcasting looks something like a social movement." - Current
"The Grand Palais Éphémère, the €40 million temporary building that will host the Fiac and Paris Photo art fairs in Paris while the Grand Palais undergoes renovation, is opening on Saturday on the Champ-de-Mars overlooking the Eiffel Tower." - Artnet
"The return of cruise ships, which caught many by surprise after the Italian government announced in March that they would be banned from the historic centre, has reawakened old divisions in Venice. … The argument has pitted the economy against the environment in a city where the pandemic has served as a sharp reminder for residents of just how...
"The Italian press has dubbed it the 'sack of RAI.' Investigators believe disgruntled former staff members stole a trove of artworks worth an estimated $30 million from the Italian public broadcasting company Rai over a period of decades." - Artnet
It’s enough for them to draw attention to an idea that is worth pursuing further—and an idea need not be true, well-justified given all our evidence, nor even believed by the scientist in order to pass that test. - Nautilus
Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire? Is this the title I’m asked to carry? I cannot think of anything I want less than to be a member of that empire. - The Guardian
It belongs to Alvin Hall, 68, a broadcaster, financial educator and author, who, through good timing, taste and a bit of luck, began collecting in the 1980s and has been able to buy masterpieces by artists whose work is now worth much more. - The New York Times
