In early 2017, Doug and Ashley Benefield moved to Charleston with ambitious, high-profile plans to create a top-level ballet company and school there — and over that year, the project gradually and messily fell apart. Now Ashley has been arrested near Bradenton, Florida and charged with shooting Doug during an argument; the couple had separated and were in an ongoing custody dispute over their daughter. – The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
Author: Matthew Westphal
UK Declines To Prosecute Royal Accused Of Sexual Assault By Curator Of Hay Festival Abu Dhabi
The Crown Prosecution Service won’t pursue the case of Caitlin McNamara, a Briton who was organizing the inaugural version of the Hay book festival’s satellite event in the UAE when, she says, she was summoned to a meeting at the villa of the Emirati official overseeing the festival (the country’s Minister of Tolerance) and he assaulted her. – The Guardian
Commercial Radio Is 100 Years Old. Where Can It Go From Here?
Kirk Miller: “Surviving 100 years is incredible. But I do wonder if it’ll make it through another 10, let alone 100. To get some outside perspective, I asked four people — two long-time DJs, a younger musician and a veteran music industry reporter — for their thoughts on commercial radio, both as it stands today and where it’s going.” – InsideHook
Can Performance Art Adapt To Social Distancing?
“As summer has given way to a fall and winter marked by increased social-distancing measures and further lockdowns, in-person performance art looks increasingly like it will be forced to transform again for the foreseeable [future]. As a medium built on intimacy and in-person connection, how, exactly, can it adapt? Those who know the genre best seem cautiously optimistic.” – Artnet
Candido Camero, Cuban Jazzman Who Transformed Conga Drumming, Dead At 99
“[He] began his career in Cuba at 14 and was still active past the age of 95. … His greatest innovation was to play more than one conga drum at a time, eventually settling on a setup of three congas, each tuned to a different pitch. He sometimes added bongos and other percussion instruments, creating a whirlwind of complex rhythms and sounds.” – The Washington Post
European Union Increases Its Culture Rescue Fund To $3.3 Billion
“The European Parliament and the European Council have finally agreed on an ambitious long-term recovery plan for its 27 member nations. The historic €1.8 trillion ($2.1 trillion) agreement, which was announced on November 11, will include a provision of €2.8 billion ($3.3 billion) to support the cultural field.” – Artnet
Have A Look Inside The Italian Police’s Vault For Stolen Art
A modest three-story building on the edge of Rome’s Trastevere district is where the Carabinieri Tutela Patrimonio Culturale keep thousands of artworks for as long as they are considered evidence in legal cases. Says one officer at the facility, “Usually, we give back the pieces a few days after seizing them. But some cases take longer, there are several counterclaims, and the objects stay here for years.” – Atlas Obscura
Colorado Springs Philharmonic Canceled Musicians’ Contract And Won’t Negotiate New One
The orchestra and its players worked out a contract in April, when the pandemic was still new. Management says it then kept the musicians on full salary through the summer but, with no ticket revenue coming in, can no longer pay anything and so canceled the agreement entirely. The musicians union says it offered numerous times to make further changes — even suggesting a switch from salaries to per-service fees until a full concert schedule resumes — but that all such offers were rejected. – KOAA (Pueblo/Colorado Springs)
How Theatre Audiences Have Responded To Digital Performances During The Pandemic: New Study
“Key findings of the study include that 43% of audiences for digital programming were new to the organization; that digital audience members who previously attended in-person events are paying higher ticket prices; that digital performances with multiple dates have higher revenue potential; that audiences for digital performances book their tickets closer to the performance date than in-person audiences did; and that 10% of digital audiences add a donation on top of the ticket price.” – American Theatre
Playwright Israel Horovitz, 81
The author of more than 70 scripts, “[he] enjoyed his biggest successes Off Broadway and in regional and European theaters” — he was reportedly the most-produced American playwright in France — “[notably] at the Gloucester Stage Company in Massachusetts, which he helped found in 1979. His plays gave opportunities to a number of young actors who went on to become household names. … [But his] career was tarnished by accusations by multiple women that he had sexually assaulted them.” – The New York Times