Stéphane Lissner has been the superintendent/general director at the two most notoriously contentious companies in the world: La Scala and the Paris Opera. Now he's at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, financially stabilized after years of crisis, with the brief of bringing back artistic glory. Here he talks about the ingenious ways he's kept staffers working through...
From reducing waste and maximising urban greenery to collaboration and lobbying for change, solutions to reduce pressure on the planet are now taking centre stage. - Dezeen
It seems that, in many places, a multitude of vermin took advantage of the lack of traffic in museums during the pandemic to stage an invasion and, potentially, a delicious banquet. (Mmmm, priceless historic textiles!) A sharp-eyed conservator at the Getty in L.A. noticed an increase in noxious lepidopterae last April, early on — and so began the museum's...
While the "Combating Public Disorder Act" just signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis is most notorious for its provisions aimed at street protests (classifying blocking cars during a demonstration as rioting, protecting drivers who plow into a crowd of protestors from civil liability), it also makes the damaging of any "memorial" (defined as a marker that "honors or recounts the...
NPR will give listeners the choice to pay — via its own platforms, Apple, or Spotify — a yet-undetermined monthly fee in order to receive its podcasts without advertising sponsorship messages; the network will also make this option available to member stations for their podcasts. PRX will offer a $4.99 monthly subscription to podcasts it distributes via four channels...
"Unlike the cozy bookstore in your town, online booksellers don't choose each book they're offering. The role of curator — if it exists at all — has effectively been passed from seller to customer. Under this system, if a title attracts sufficiently convincing and public objections, that title is taken down from the website. … This feels like a...
"Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group, which emerged from Chapter 15 protection after a sale in November, announced on Wednesday that it is restarting four of its unique offerings, including O and Mystère. Most Cirque du Soleil shows have been dark in the U.S. since March 15, 2020." - Deadline
"As a record producer guided the reissue of vast swaths of the classic jazz canon, and … as a broadcaster helped build WBGO into the largest jazz radio station in the New York City area." - The New York Times
"Chloé Lopes Gomes filed a lawsuit in 2020 against the expiration of her temporary contract. She discriminated against because of the color of her skin. Now the State Ballet and the dancer have agreed to a court settlement: The ballerina will stay with the State Ballet for another year and receive a compensation payment of €16,000 ($19,240)." -...
In our pandemic world, casual conversation has been all but eliminated. The closest thing I get these days is saying “thank you” to a delivery person or greeting a grocery store clerk. Even then, I’m hesitant to linger—every unnecessary moment with a stranger feels taboo, every breath a hazard. And, now, in the absence of chit-chat, I feel isolated...
University of Chicago economist Richard Thaler and Harvard Law School professor Cass Sunstein popularized the term “nudge” in 2008, but due to recent advances in AI and machine learning, algorithmic nudging is much more powerful than its non-algorithmic counterpart. With so much data about workers’ behavioral patterns at their fingertips, companies can now develop personalized strategies for changing individuals’...
In that era, a Grammar was second only to a Bible as a necessary object in a God-fearing household. While the Bible provided moral instruction, the Grammar, as a guide to correct linguistic behavior, might shore up confidence and help one get ahead in the world. A pageant of pedants, both male and female, squabbled for their share of...
“Our research shows breaks are important, not just to make us less exhausted by the end of the day, but to actually improve our ability to focus and engage while in those meetings,” says Michael Bohan, senior director of Microsoft’s Human Factors Engineering group, who oversaw the project. - Microsoft Research
Jerry Saltz and Kenny Schachter team up to "test" the NFT market. "To be clear, NFTism doesn’t necessarily disrupt anything but rather presents a market alternative to the traditional gallery system. In the process, it ushered in a unexpected audience of crypto collectors, empowered a whole new generation of artists with easy access to that audience, and instilled the...
The 46-year-old Briton, who has continued to work remotely even as her big U.S. premieres planned for last year (Of Mice and Men at the Joffrey, Mrs. Robinson at San Francisco ballet) have been postponed, talks to Zachary Whittenburg about what she looks for in a story to tell, the unlikely novel she really wants to stage, and what...
