When a fire gutted the bookstore Yu & Me, which founder Lucy Yu opened in New York’s Chinatown about 21 months into the pandemic - and a spate of anti-Asian violence - Yu had no idea how ridiculously much work was ahead. - The New York Times
Well, the president of the stagehands’ union, IATSE, claims there is. Talks ended on Saturday without any reaching any settlements - but the union says more talks are planned for next week. - Variety
The Festival of Pacific Arts and Culture, originally planned for 2020, is back - and “longtime collaborators playwright Alani Apio and artistic director Harry Wong III saw an opportunity to realize a shared dream 30 years in the making: to simultaneously stage all three plays in Apio’s The Kāmau Trilogy.” - American Theatre
Reality TV, that is: "In the 21 years the Outstanding Reality Competition category has existed, only five shows have ever won. … Moreover, only 17 shows have ever even been nominated.”- Vulture
Just ask BookTok. "Telling the internet that Harry Styles is your boyfriend is a fantasy. Telling the internet that Franz Kafka is your boyfriend — that is a thesis statement." - The New York Times
It’s bad. So “a coalition of nonprofit arts organizations in Rhode Island is calling on the state to use $18 million of the state’s $1.2 billion share of American Rescue Plan Act funding from Congress to help the arts industry recover from the pandemic.” - Boston Globe (MSN)
The school, which has seen a big drop in enrollment over the past five years, had not notified staff or students as of this afternoon and only alerted its accrediting agency on Wednesday, the first day of the summer term. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
Helen insisted that it was the poem’s shape—its form, the thing that made it look unlike any other type of utterance—that gave it meaning. In clear and elegant language, Helen proved this time and again across her 60-year career. - LA Review of Books
Before you start yours, consider this: What you think is riveting about your life might not seem so to others. As one publisher put it, too many submissions are “just the writer’s own story, which is ultimately boring.” - The Atlantic (MSN)
Music writers of 2024 have achieved a remarkable synchrony with consumers, such that, for the first time in living memory, the most popular musicians in the world also happen to be making the best music. And this consensus is doing bad things to the psychology of the otherwise intensely normal people who love them. - Defector
In Q1 2024 the share of audience demand in the US for foreign language shows was 13.6%, which is smaller than the share of demand for non-English shows in the past two years. - The Wrap
Dissatisfied with his paintings, he took knives and his own boots to them rather than send them to hotly anticipated Paris exhibitions, including one scheduled for 1907, which didn’t happen until 1909 for this very reason. - Artnet
That women directors are leading all three Shakespeare productions at the festival this season signifies an important shift for the company, which for decades favoured men over women for prestigious directorial opportunities. - Toronto Star
Rushil Ranjan of Orchestral Qawwali Project: "I find it astounding how much (they) can draw from 90 minutes of repertoire with just a three-hour rehearsal. Further, Indian Classical musicians in this country play at the highest standard. The wonderful thing is these musicians have grown up in each other’s orbit." - Classical Music (UK)
I am a jealous opera singer. When I’m in the audience of any opera production, at least once I’ll think to myself, “It could be me up there.” This statement is true: the opera industry is unjust and random. - Van
