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Oregon Shakespeare Festival Declares An Emergency, Says It Needs $2.5 Million To Save Season

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival announced a campaign Tuesday to raise $2.5 million to “save” the season set to begin later this month and said it was suspending its planning for 2024 as it seeks to stabilize its finances. - The Oregonian

The Court Ruling Throwing The Future Of Libraries Into Doubt

Look, if the ruling stands, it's a disaster. "Knowledge is too precious to be abandoned entirely to the whims of the profit motive." - The Atlantic

The Conflicting Complications Of De-Colonizing Classical Music

As Black and brown musicians, the question is not whether we can “solve” classical music’s issue with racism. Rather we wonder: Why do we try to change a world that isn’t ours? Under that: Can this be our world? And the trickier phrasing: Should it be? - Van

A Critic Makes The Rounds Of Immersive Art Shows

Adam Platt: "As you move from one pleasantly distracting set piece to another, pondering when to ingest the lemon-flavored edible in your pocket, it feels like playing hooky — a reprieve from the hushed, ponderous solemnity of the Establishment museums and galleries." - New York Magazine

John Kander, At Age 96, Has A New Show Opening On Broadway

Titled New York, New York — yes, after what he calls "that song," which he and Fred Ebb wrote but he's never liked — it differs substantially from the Scorsese-De Niro-Minnelli movie and has plenty of new material, including half a dozen songs with lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda. - The New York Times

Publishers, And Many Writers, Fight A Civil War Against A Massive Library

Both sides have a point, but both sides are also, let's say, a bit touchy. Why? "Coming out against libraries making books more accessible looks miserly, but so does protesting against authors getting paid what they deserve." Meanwhile, the publishers are the problem. - Wired

The Last Days Of Beckett’s, A New York Literary Salon

"The venue had the clandestine air of a speakeasy. Notice of its existence was passed along by word of mouth. Guests stuffed cash into a cardboard box marked 'donations' to receive canned Modelo from a fridge. There were readings, screenings and music shows." - The New York Times

Aesthetics As Data (Slave To Measurement?)

Where Quantitative Aesthetics is really newly intense across society—in art and everywhere—is in how social-media numbers (clicks, likes, shares, retweets, etc.) seep into everything as a shorthand for understanding status. - Artnet

Apple’s Classical Streaming App Has Arrived. So What’s Actually In It?

In August 2021, Apple purchased the classical-only streaming app Primephonic and immediately shuttered it, announcing that it would be reconfigured as an Apple product; 17 months later, that product has arrived. Here's a look at what's included in the new version — and what's missing. - Musical America

Something’s Terribly Awry With The “Creator” Economy

For the past few years, social-media platforms have used creator funds to lure content creators from their rivals with the promise of money to be made on top of the usual sponsorship dollars. But they seem more and more like empty PR stunts. - Variety

The Occult Nails Of A Roman Burial

The excavated imperial tomb also had extra bricks, slathered with lime, which isn't usual. The combination of nails, bricks, and lime "strongly implied the use of protective charms to keep the 'restless dead' from interfering with the living." - The New York Times

Composer Scott Johnson Has Died At 70

"His artistic breakthrough came with 'John Somebody,' a playfully inventive work for solo electric guitar with taped accompaniment, which he assembled from 1980 to 1982, and which, as performed regularly and recorded in 1986, won him considerable acclaim." - The New York Times

The BBC, Overwhelmed With Funding Offers, Pauses Its Closure Of The BBC Singers

When the BBC announced plans to close the UK's only full-time professional chamber choir right before its century mark, 140,000 people signed a petition - and alternative funders stepped in. - BBC

Florida School Principal Forced To Resign After Sixth-Graders Were Shown Michelangelo’s “David”

Hope Carasquilla was ousted from Tallahassee Classical School after several parents complained about the lesson in a Renaissance art class. (One parent called the sculpture "pornographic.") Carasquilla was the charter school's third principal since it opened in 2020. - HuffPost

This Is How Difficult It Is For International Artists To Get Into The US

The process is difficult even for organizations with strong financial and administrative support. For smaller companies with less funding, it is daunting. - Broad Street Review

Not OK: The UK Government’s Attack On The Arts Is Doing Damage

Watching these wounds being inflicted is painful. People who work in culture and the arts in this country are exhausted. The 30% cut to Arts Council England in 2010, when the now chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, was culture secretary, has done huge and long-term damage. - The Guardian

When Violence Damages Jerusalem’s Medieval Al-Aqsa Mosque, These Skilled Craftsmen Repair The Damage

"The artisans there — including a gold-leaf specialist, coppersmiths and wood carvers — fear that their meticulous work will be destroyed, as has happened in years past. Their frustrations have been intensified by the tighter control Israel has exerted over the compound in recent years, making repairs more difficult." - The New York Times

Vermeer Detective: His Captivating Theory About The Artist’s Daughter

Of course, I sometimes still had to weather the churning roil of his stream of consciousness. I won’t try to replicate his frenetic, perseverating mode of expression here. But when Binstock grows focused, and whenever he writes, he sets out his arguments with precision. - The Atlantic

In Our Distraction Maze, It May Be That Slower Art Becomes More Valuable

Paradoxically, we may come to want the things that we cannot have in an instant, that demand our time and patience before they will reveal all they have to offer: the art that demands that we slow down. - 3 Quarks Daily

Is The Internet Archive A Library, Or Is It A Publishing Scam?

Librarians argue that a lawsuit filed by four major publishers, should it succeed, "would jeopardize the future development of digital libraries nationwide. The Internet Archive is the most significant specialized library to emerge in decades." - Inside Higher Ed
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