“Now a hale 81, Kevin Woods calls himself Ireland’s last leprechaun whisperer, a title that reflects the weekly conversations he says he still carries on with them. But he’s more precisely a leprechaun promoter, building a tidy business from books, merchandise and guided tours of (a) cozy leprechaun cavern.” - The New York Times
According to data released this year by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, recent art history graduates nationwide were more employed than computer science graduates, at a rate of 3% and 6.1%, respectively. - Hyperallergic
Since he returned to the White House, Trump has appointed himself chairman of the Kennedy Center, revived the Garden of Heroes statuary project, and pushed for more control over the Smithsonian, among other things. The allies he’s appointed to oversee these efforts don’t always have arts backgrounds or experience. - The New York Times
She says that on Saturday, following her next-to-last performance in Gypsy on Broadway, an audience member “snuck around and found me the way I had exited from the theater, followed me all the way home to where I was staying, came into the building,” and insisted that “they deserved an autograph.” - Entertainment Weekly
“His six decades in the business were peppered with highlights, including his touching portrayal of the transsexual Bernadette in 1994’s The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. … But it will be his portrayal of Zod in 1978’s Superman and its sequel Superman II that most people associate with Stamp.” - AP
Lockhart Saatchi was an “American-born collector of contemporary art and art writer who played a leading role in giving movements like Minimalism and Pop Art wide exposure in both Britain and the United States.” - The New York Times
Rajinikanth even worked briefly as a porter in his youth before checking bus passengers’ tickets. Now he’s Tamil-language cinema’s number-one superstar and one of the best-paid actors in Asia, with 170 film credits, 50,000 fan clubs and even a temple or two dedicated to him. - BBC (MSN)
“Besides (the 131-seat Tow Theater at Lincoln Center, he) funded a performing arts center at Brooklyn College; journalism programs at Columbia University and City University of New York; the Tow Center for Developmental Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering; and the Tow Youth Justice Institute in West Haven, Conn.” - The New York Times
By making the announcement of honorees himself, Trump is taking on the role of producer/showman, elevating the attention to the show, which has aired on CBS since its origin yet is hardly a ratings blockbuster. - Deadline
He became so ubiquitous that, as he put it in Interview magazine last year, “I was one of the artists that was blamed for the ’80s.” - The New York Times
“Mr. White had an immeasurable impact on the theatre industry through the Center, kickstarting the careers of countless playwrights, performers, directors, composers, and more.” - Playbill
For two decades, Ms. de Menil was a costume designer for the avant-garde theater director Robert Wilson, who died on July 31. An art collector herself, she was a patron of Willem de Kooning as well as the choreographer Twyla Tharp. She introduced the Los Angeles architect Frank Gehry to New York. - The New York Times
“Jordan was that rarest bird, a singer — a white singer, a ‘chick singer’ — who earned the trust and admiration of geniuses like Mingus and Parker. ‘Charlie Parker referred to her ‘million-dollar ears’ and other jazzmen would always include her in their exceedingly small list of real jazz singers,’ wrote Nat Hentoff.” - The Gig
Ric Grenell, a former Trump ambassador to Germany and longtime Republican attack dog, is “only occasionally at the Kennedy Center,” a source told CBS News. However, his alleged lack of presence at the Kennedy Center hasn’t stopped him from collecting a salary of $175,000, per tax records. - The Daily Beast
