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If We Can’t Make Our Exhibition For Women Only, Fine — We’ll Put Our Picassos In The Ladies’ Room

After a tribunal ruled that Tasmania's Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) may not restrict the conceptual art installation "Ladies Lounge" to "persons who identify as ladies," artist Kirsha Kaechele decided that "a few of the bathrooms in the museum could do with an update. Some Cubism in the cubicles." - CNN

Suffice It To Say Stephen Sondheim’s Auctioneer Did Not Understand Theatre Kids

“There was a customer on the phone who said something along the lines of 'Just throw out $20,000,' and reported to our staff member to shout that out into the room. And boy did it work, because the first time it came up, it stunned the room and silenced the room.” - Slate

Listening Through The Entire 21-Volume Catalog Of Composer George Crumb

Crumb’s “scores — created by hand and themselves works of art — are rife with exacting instructions to performers: how to thread paper between the strings of a harp, or how string players should use the thimbles on their fingers.” - The New York Times

Camille Claudel Had A Lot Going For Her, Until She Started Working With Rodin

"From 1882 to 1892 she was Rodin’s assistant, lover, muse, and, most importantly, co-creator. However, aside from assertions in pop culture, such as Bruno Nuytten’s impressive 1988 film Camille Claudel, their collaboration has yet to be widely acknowledged by the art world.” - Hyperallergic

Are The Famous Yellow Van Mobile Libraries Being Phased Out In The Scottish Highlands?

A fleet of ten is now seven, of which a majority “carry fewer books and have to be loaded and unloaded. librarian, whose yellow van did not return from the garage in April, said: 'I am worried that the mobile library service will fizzle out and die.’” - The Scotsman

Since Shari Redstone Killed The Merger, What’s Next, With Whom, For Debt-Laden Paramount Global?

"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

The Hidden Heroines Of The Harlem Renaissance: Black Librarians

"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

How The Friedman Sisters Found The Great Musical Hiding Inside Sondheim’s Most Notorious Flop

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

The Slow-Motion Heist Of Pre-Columbian Antiquities From A Fort Worth Storeroom

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

Swiss Museum Removes Monet, Van Gogh After Facing Up To Their Possibly Nazi Looted Pasts

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

People Are So Lonely, And Theatres Are In So Much Financial Trouble

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

Sacre Bleu! Why Are English-Language Books Filling Europe’s Bookstores?

"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

The Astoundingly Rapid Fall Of Conductor François-Xavier Roth

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

Folks In Portland, Maine Can’t Agree On Whether Or How To Expand The Museum Of Art

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)

Mitsuko Uchida Gets Testy With The New York Times (And Arguably Disses Her Colleagues)

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 Kind Of Job “Most Artistic Leaders Only Dream Of”

"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

San Francisco Symphony Board President And CEO Give Their First Interview Since Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Resignation

“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)

Faculty Sue Philadelphia’s University Of The Arts Over Abrupt Shutdown

"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)

Temple University Is Considering Merger To Save Philadelphia’s University Of The Arts

“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 Free Library Of Philadelphia Has A Much-Loved Author Events Program. Its Entire Staff Just Resigned.

"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)
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