"An investigation into the clawback of Metro Arts grant funds intended for underserved artists (found) probable cause of discrimination. … Six people, including five artists who lost some or all of the grant money promised to them, filed formal Title VI complaints alleging that Metro Arts discriminated based on race." - The Tennessean (Yahoo!)
"The repertory theatre company, based in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., reported at its annual general meeting that cost escalations and attendance shortfalls led to it ending the fiscal year in the red, despite bringing in record operating revenues of $36.7-million thanks to its best fundraising efforts ever." - The Globe and Mail (Canada)
"As an actor, talk show guest and broadcaster, Mr. McCourt was a boisterous and entertaining counterpart to his more dour and literary-minded brother Frank, a high school English teacher whose 1996 memoir about growing up dirt poor in Ireland (Angela's Ashes) became a publishing phenomenon." - The Washington Post (MSN)
"Three Belgian climate activists who were previously sentenced to prison for a protest targeting … Girl with a Pearl Earring will no longer face any punishment for their actions, a Dutch court of appeal ruled on Monday. … (Their) protest took place in October 2022 at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague." - CNN
"Nile Rodgers, American songwriter and co-founder of the influential 1970s disco band Chic, and esteemed classical composer and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen won the 2024 Polar Music Prize on Tuesday. … Rodgers and Salonen will each receive prize money of one million Swedish kroner (about $95,000) in ceremonies in Stockholm." - AP
"The British label Chandos Records … has been acquired by Naxos Music Group founder Klaus Heymann. Chandos will continue to release recordings and worldwide distribution will be handled by Naxos. Chandos managing director Ralph Couzens, son of the label’s founder Brian Couzens, retains his role." - Limelight (Australia)
He played tennis with George Gershwin, who idolized him. He delighted in the American habits of his children, who, to the alarm of other émigrés, ran all over the house. He taught at U.S.C., at U.C.L.A., and at home, counting John Cage, Lou Harrison, and Oscar Levant among his students. - The New Yorker
Sara Fenske Bahat’s departure follows weeks of turmoil at the center. After artists Jeffrey Cheung and Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo alleged that YBCA prevented them from advocating for Palestine in additional projects for the Bay Area Now 9 exhibition, eight artists in the show altered their own artworks with pro-Palestine messaging. - Hyperallgeric
The Unesco convention defines intangible cultural heritage as: “Practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognise as part of their cultural heritage.” - The Conversation
Roberta Smith started freelancing for The New York Times in 1986, after writing for Art in America and The Village Voice, and after a semester at the Whitney Museum’s Independent Study Program. Before writing full time, she also worked at MoMA; with Donald Judd, the celebrated Minimalist; and at the Paula Cooper Gallery. - The New York Times
Streaming has grown to represent 84 percent of recorded music industry revenue, but that Spotify, the leading music streaming platform, only pays an average per-stream royalty of $0.003, meaning an artist must reach 800,000 monthly streams to equal a full-time $15/hour job. - The Hollywood Reporter
In 2022 alone, charities raised $749 million nationwide through so-called point-of-sale donations, a 24% jump from 2020, according to Engage for Good, which tracks this type of charitable giving. - NPR
Groups that could make music together - whether a simple drumbeat or a beautiful melody - were more cohesive, communicative, cooperative and defensive. Natural selection then embedded the capacity for music into our biology. - Psychology Today
A team at the University of Maryland (UMD) has received almost a million dollars from the US National Science Foundation (USNSF) to study the possible application of artificial intelligence to violin pedagogy. - Nightingale Sonata
“For a long time now, popular culture has been moving forward without a once-essential style accessory: the Gay Best Friend. We’re not supposed to mourn his absence; we’re not supposed to want him back. But I kind of do." - The New York Times
