"Now, the future of the company that owns Paramount Pictures, CBS, Nickelodeon, MTV and Paramount+ is once again in question — with many of the players involved six months ago out of the picture, and some new names" — including potential buyers — "joining the fray." - The Hollywood Reporter
"Today, figures like Schomburg and … W.E.B. Du Bois are hailed as the founders of the 20th-century Black intellectual tradition. But increasingly, scholars are uncovering the important role of the women who often ran the libraries, where they built collections and — just as important — communities of readers." - The New York Times
Maria is a successful actor/singer/director in Britain, and Sonia is arguably London's leading producer. They've occasionally worked together before, but Merrily We Roll Along is their big passion project, which they did in England, Japan, and Boston before the New York production that just won four Tonys. - The New York Times
In 1996, a wealthy collector donated a trove of ancient Peruvian ceramics and textiles — items which had no clear provenance — to Texas Christian University, which turned out to be ill-equipped to handle them. By 2001, most of them had disappeared. - Texas Observer
Kunsthaus Zurich is finally facing up to the issue, that is: “There have long been suspicions about the provenance of works in the Emil Bührle Collection - named after a German-born arms dealer who made his fortune during World War Two by making and selling weapons to the Nazis.” - BBC
Can funding struggling theatre help solve our disconnect? Sarah Ruhl: "We are facing a public health emergency—and we need funding from the National Institutes of Health immediately. Let’s treat theatre as a proven method to stem the tide of debilitating isolation in this country.” - American Theatre
"As English fluency has increased in Europe, more readers have started buying American and British books in the original language, forgoing the translated versions that are published locally. This is especially true in Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands and, increasingly, Germany.” - The New York Times
It took about two days for this lavishly-praised maestro to lose or cancel all his future engagements, and he'll likely be fired from his positions. Yet why was Roth's behavior (sexting musicians) treated so much more harshly than, say, Gardiner's or Barenboim's (screaming and hitting them)? - Van
The museum's director, backed by the city council, thinks it'll take the amenities in a new $100 million building to attract visitors back to pre-COVID levels. Others think such a building doesn't belong in Portland's historic district and worry the museum can't afford to operate and maintain it. - The Boston Globe (MSN)
Q: "Tell me what excites you about the Ojai Festival." A: "You think I go to Ojai because I get excited? No. I go because there is music that I might want to do ..., and I might do it for the people who are involved." - The New York Times
"The support (Barry) Diller has pledged to Little Island’s programming, millions of dollars with no end in sight, is the kind most artistic leaders only dream of. (Zack) Winokur does not have to spend his days courting (funders) or securing residencies; instead, he can provide money and space." - The New York Times
“Last season, we were facing what would have been roughly an $11 million deficit on a roughly $80 million budget. … We’ve had a lot of conversation internally as we’ve been doing the planning for ’24-’25 and beyond, to make sure we understand what level of resources we have.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
"The plaintiffs — a group of professors, department heads and administrators — say the school did not give them 60 days' written notice of its plans for mass layoffs, as required under federal law. … The lawsuit could be just the first in a wave of messy court battles to come." - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
“I’m working with their chair to see if we can put this genie back in the bottle,” said Temple board chair Mitchell L. Morgan. “Can we somehow figure out some type of potential merger? If it’s a win-win, we are interested.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
"The former staffers said they offered their resignation due to what they described as a 'heartbreaking' work culture plagued by increasingly low morale over the past year, but they said their four-week notice was rejected and they were locked out of their emails by the afternoon." - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
The suddenly unaccredited school has 1150 students and 700 faculty - and a ton of real estate along the Avenue of the Arts. One student said, "At 2:47 p.m. on Friday I got an email asking me to apply for graduation, and at 6:03 the Inquirer posted the story that my school was closing.” - The New York Times
That’s the plan at the urban, fully blended into the city Portland State University, which is in the final stages of a design competition to “revitalize” Portland’s much-derided (mostly, but not only, by conservatives) downtown. - Oregon ArtsWatch
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
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)
While he's also angry that the concert started late, the arena was hot, and Madonna was lip-synching, his legal complaint says, "During the performance plaintiff was forced to watch topless women on stage simulating sex acts. Plaintiff felt like he was watching a pornographic film being made." - The Guardian
