Stories

San Francisco Symphony Cancels Season Opener As Chorus Goes On Strike

"More than 150 musicians and patrons joined the Symphony Chorus, which formed a picket … in front of Davies Symphony Hall an hour and a half before the Verdi Requiem concert was scheduled to begin. Among the signs held by strikers, one read, 'No contract = No Chorus.'" - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

Frick Collection Names New Director As It Prepares To Return Home

The incumbent, Ian Wardropper, announced last year that he would be retiring in 2025 as the museum returns to its now-renovated Manhattan mansion home. Succeeding him will be Axel Rüger, currently director of the Royal Academy of Arts in London and previously head of Amsterdam's van Gogh Museum. - Artnet

New York Philharmonic Players Get 30% Raise In New Contract

"The deal with Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians calls for raises of about 15% in 2024-25, and 7.5% each in 2025-26 and 2026-27. Base pay will rise to $205,000 by the deal’s final season." - AP

Hans Haacke, The First Artist To Confront American Museums With Politics

Before Haacke, museums were considered … 'genteel and politically marginal.' Robber barons might have donated to them to enhance their social clout, but such cultural largess was seldom questioned. Today, though, …, Haacke’s work is more than just relevant — it’s prophetic." - T — The New York Times Style Magazine

The Slang Of The Victorian Era Was Surprising, Fresh

From the bizarre sense of humour apparent in their Christmas cards – depicting murderous frogs, mice riding lobsters, and even waltzing beetles – to the off-beat slang they used, the Victorians defy their stuffy reputation. There’s an absurdism in their language and witticisms that feels surprisingly modern. - The Conversation

Exploring The Biology Of Radical Self-Delusion

We all suffer from delusions, and we all, like Oedipus, use tricks of self-deception to keep ourselves from acknowledging truths about our lives. Yet understanding, or even describing, this everyday experience can seem like a fool’s errand. - Harper's

It’s A Brave Actor Who’ll Play Abraham Lincoln At Ford’s Theatre

Yet that's exactly what Scott Bakula will be doing when he assumes the title role in Herbert Mitgang’s 1979 solo play Mister Lincoln at the historic playhouse where the 16th President of the United States was assassinated. - The Washington Post (MSN)

Manhattan DA Returns $8.3 Million Of Looted Antiquities To Turkey

The objects in question were linked to several ongoing investigations, among them, a trafficking network that systemically looted the ancient city of Bubon in Turkey and trafficked the works to New York. - ARTnews

The Imperative For Museums To Evolve Into Something New

For museums questioning how to make a sustained and long-term impact, the key factor is access. How do we define the public we’re aiming to serve, and is the current definition sufficiently equitable and global? - The Art Newspaper

How New York’s Jam-Packed Fall For Dance Festival Gets Programmed

Stanford Makishi, vice president and artistic director of dance at New York City Center: "We literally have companies written on Post-it notes on a giant whiteboard, and we’re constantly moving around Post-it notes. It is the most low-tech way of programming that you could possibly imagine.” - Pointe Magazine

Broadway’s Signature Theatre Names A New Artistic Director

At Ars Nova, Emily Shooltz fostered the work of dozens of early-career playwrights the organization commissioned and developed for production, and over 100 others through the organization’s Play Group and roster of artist residency programs. - Playbill

UK Arts Organizations Are Rejecting Corporate Funding. A Risky Strategy?

Could these increasingly messy call-outs and protests, personal attacks on social media and public decouplings result in an already woefully underfunded arts sector destroying itself? - The Stage

San Francisco Symphony Facing Its Biggest Crisis Ever

The symphony believes one way to attract audiences is to showcase what few cities have, a one-of-a-kind performing arts scene, which also includes the ballet, the opera, the SF Jazz Center, and the Conservatory. - ABC7

How Robert Caro’s “The Power Broker” Has Remained An Important Book For 50 Years

"Half a century after its publication, (this) epic biography of urban planner and city-destroyer Robert Moses needs no revival. From the moment it was published, … (it) has never gone away. Its durability resembles that of Moses’s own prodigious creation, the redrawn arterial map of New York." - The New York Times Book Review

Ace Auctioneer: 14 Factors That Make Art Valuable

"I have put together a list of 14 criteria that convey financial value to a work of art. While the first point is emotional, all other points are actually rational." - Artnet

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