The American Federation of Musicians and Employers Pension Fund, set up for AFM's roughly 50,000 members in New York but underfunded for decades, was projected to become insolvent by 2034. The Federal funding, arranged by Sen. Schumer (D-NY), is part of President Biden's American Rescue Plan, passed in 2021. - The Hollywood Reporter
The French President's proposal to replace six 19th-century stained glass windows with contemporary works has been rejected by France’s National Heritage and Architecture Commission. Those six windows were created by architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc during his extensive renovation of the then-deteriorating medieval cathedral. - Artnet
"Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter said there isn’t a theme when selecting the honorees, but one often emerges organically. This year, that accidental theme is 'a reflection of American culture through its music and how music is used to create American culture.'" - The Washington Post (MSN)
"The initiative, (20 unrestricted grants of $50,000 each to disabled creative artists,) administered by United States Artists, named its inaugural class of fellows in 2020. … The second class was announced in 2022, and this is the last cohort in the program." - The New York Times
Kachka was one of the 115 staffers (roughly 20% of the newsroom) at the Los Angeles Times who were made redundant in January. Before going to California in 2020, he was the books editor at New York magazine, where he was a contributing editor for 14 years. - Publishers Weekly
On Wednesday, HBO, as well as its accompanying streaming service Max, earned 91 Emmy nominations, down from its massive haul last year (127), and trailing both Netflix (107) and FX (93) this year. - The New York Times
Taxonomy, the science of naming and classifying organisms, is the foundation for conserving disappearing plants and animals. Yet the field — often viewed as an archaic, dusty tradition that harks back to intrepid 19th-century botanists describing the plants of newly colonized lands — is dying. - The New York Times
The $4.2 billion facility in Queens will showcase the largest number of works of any New York airport by major figures from the United States. - The New York Times
Across the musical universe, country is cool again. This year, for the first time, the country festival Stagecoach sold out before its better-known mainstream counterpart, Coachella. - The Wall Street Journal
“The Bear,” about chefs under pressure at a Chicago restaurant, set a new record for nominations in a single year for a comedy. It has 23 nominations, beating out the previous record holder “30 Rock,” which had 22 nominations in 2009. - The Wall Street Journal
"For much of its history, the Western sports novel had been the stuff of inspirational boys’ tales, full of moral instruction and can’t-lose heroes. … But the twenty-first century, and specifically the past decade, have served as an even richer terrain for the literature of athletics." - Esquire
Meta has threatened to remove all news from Facebook in Australia if it is “designated” under the world-first News Media Bargaining Code, which has the power to force digital platforms to pay for the use of news on their platforms. - Press-Gazette
Cutting Ball Theater plans to cease operations at the end of 2024. In its 25 years, Cutting Ball has mounted a Strindberg marathon, a staged documentary about its Tenderloin neighbors, Gertrude Stein and Suzan Lori-Parks on the same bill, and … classics audiences couldn’t see anywhere else. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
The annual revenues of the “big five” commercial publishers – Elsevier, Wiley, Taylor & Francis, Springer Nature, and SAGE – are each in the billions, and some have staggering profit margins approaching 40%, surpassing even the likes of Google. - The Guardian
The youngsters who studied with Gene Medler at the North Carolina Youth Tap Ensemble remain devoted to him and his teaching methods for years after they graduate, and among his alums is Michelle Dorrance. One key is Medler's "student mind-set": he didn't start learning tap until age 27. - The New York Times
