Spoleto Festival Ends In Big Mess

This year’s Festival of Two Worlds was an artistic and box-office calamity. “Prior to a performance, musician- and stagehand-representatives read a prepared statement to the audience, explaining that they had not been paid for the festival’s entire six-week duration, and blaming all parties involved in funding the festival, including the Fondazione, the Associazione and the City. The following day, the stagehands refused to dismantle the on-site structures as scheduled, essentially calling a strike and preventing the next event in the ‘Spoleto Estate’ [Spoleto Summer] series, the Russian Army Ballet, from setting up.”