"Large majorities of Americans passionately uphold free speech as a cornerstone of democracy. But fewer of them are supportive of free speech when faced with specific controversial speakers or topics. Yet The First Amendment is not an à la carte menu." - The Conversation
Despite raising $500,000 in emergency funds, Aurora Theatre in Berkeley “has shed five full-time workers, including one co-managing director and its entire marketing and development teams.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
As freelance TV jobs disappeared, John Balson felt lucky to be working 18 hours a day, across three time zones. Then something happened that he couldn’t control, only document. - The Guardian (UK)
"Escape From Godot … is a play where audience members become participants, the game requiring patrons to hop on the dials and interact with props to propel the narrative forward. Puzzles are hidden in the script, ensuring that the players become actors and are in abstract communication with the performers." - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
Anna Dhody “is used to people associating her with the Mütter Museum, where she has been the face of the macabre medical history collection that contains more than 6,000 specimens. But a few months ago, she quietly left her post.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
"One by one, Metro Arts' Communications Manager Daryn Jackson, Public Art Manager Jessica Ingram, and Finance and Operations Director Christiana Afotey announced their resignations. The commissioners barely reacted. … That leaves the department without key staff members at a moment when the future of its grant programs is up in the air." - WPLN (Nashville)
“'We built a model on parity,’ says Sing Sing director Greg Kwedar. ‘Everyone on our movie, the core cast and crew — from the star of the film, all the way through — we all worked for the same rate. And we all collectively own the movie.’” - KCRW
After her zero-points performance in Paris went viral and spawned a thousand memes, a bunch of skeptics on social media — who ultimately submitted a rather ugly petition on Change.org — insisted that Rachael Gunn's presence as a competitor must have been the result of corruption. Well, it just isn't so, and here's why. - Vox
"Despite its budget deficits and a well-publicized falling out with acclaimed conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, the San Francisco Symphony is moving forward with plans for a full makeover of Davies Symphony Hall." (Which is to say, it submitted drawings to the city planning department before a deadline.) - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
"Technically, from the baton, how you beat, Bruckner is very easy. It’s not like Stravinsky’s Sacre or Mahler. … You have to understand that the tempo comes automatically if you understand the context in which it was written, the spirituality that was in the man and his music and to understand that spirituality." - Bachtrack
"In 2019, thieves infiltrated the Fort Knox–like vault at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and stole more than 4,300 diamonds that once belonged to the kings of Saxony." While some of the treasure is still missing, much of it was recovered when five suspects were arrested in December 2022 and later imprisoned. - Artnet
"Staff cuts at New York Public Radio, which operates news/talk WNYC-AM/FM, classical WQXR, WNYC Studios, New Jersey Public Radio, and the Gothamist online news publication, will affect 8% of the public media group’s workforce … (due to) a $10 million budget deficit." NYPR laid off 12% of its staff last September. - Inside Radio
He had a career both before and after as a musical-theater star, but from 1966 to 1981, he was emcee/straight man on one of the most beloved game shows in American TV history, a cross between tic-tac-toe and Laugh-In, with gifted comedians and the occasional major star as panelists. - The Washington Post (MSN)
Why was the museum without a director? Now that is a long story involving the Denver Art Museum, possibly questionable antiquities, and what seemed to some board members like a sudden, surprise firing. - Catalyst
