“Poet, writer and musician Joy Harjo — a member of the Muscogee Creek Nation — often draws on Native American stories, languages and myths. But she says that she’s not self-consciously trying to bring that material into her work. If anything, it’s the other way around.” – NPR
Tag: 06.19.19
Following Sexual Harassment Accusations, Stephen Lord Resigns As Michigan Opera Theatre’s Chief Conductor
One day after “allegations that he sexually harassed singers, pianists and conductors all over the country and used his position and prestige to silence them” were reported, Lord stepped down from both MOT and Opera Theater of St. Louis, where he was Music Director Emeritus. – Detroit Free Press
Remember Frances McDormand’s ‘Two Words: Inclusion Rider’? Hollywood Seems To Have Forgotten
More than a year after the 2018 Best Actress Oscar winner called for her colleagues to demand a rider to their contracts obligating producers and studios to diversify their crews, “it is hard to identify more than a handful of productions that have adopted the rider outright.” – The New York Times
At Versailles, Louis XIV’s Royal Chapel Gets Restoration
“The intricate work to clean and restore its extraordinary windows, statues and other features is being carried out under the strictest security measures to avoid any repeat of the fire that severely damaged Nôtre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in April.” – Yahoo! (AFP)
Leading Uighur Writer Dies At 70 After Detention In China’s ‘Re-Education’ Camps
Nurmuhammad Tohti was imprisoned in one of the camps, which are estimated to be holding up to one million ethnic Uighurs from China’s Xinjiang Province, from last November to this past March. Relatives say he was denied medication for heart disease and diabetes and was released only when completely debilitated. – The Guardian
Staff At Scotland’s Arts Funder Deemed Two Organizations ‘Unfundable’ — Then The Bosses Funded Them Anyway
The last-minute interventions were revealed as part of a (none-too-favorable) independent review of Creative Scotland’s operations and processes that followed a major controversy over funding decisions last year. – Arts Professional
The Best-Selling Romance Novelist’s Baroque Tale Of Her Husband Trying To Poison Her (Is It True?)
About five years ago, the lawsuit claims, her hair and teeth started falling out and she developed intense nausea, tremors, disorientation, bone loss, facial swelling, and a peculiar metallic taste in her mouth. Tests of her hair, blood, and nails appear to reveal that she’d had high levels of toxic heavy metals in her system, including lithium, barium, arsenic, and mercury. Her suit notes that her husband had taken out a hefty life-insurance policy on her and “stood to gain millions of dollars upon her demise.” – New York Magazine
Publishers Are Changing The Deals They Give To Libraries For Ebooks
“These days, the question driving the debate is whether publishers should sell ebooks to libraries at a higher price for a perpetual license, or at a lower price for a license that needs to be renewed,” with several major publishers moving from the former to the latter model. – Melville House
How to Attract Visitors to an “Esoteric” Exhibit
We’ve all seen museums do a lot of odd things in recent years in attempts to draw people into their galleries – cat video contests, crowdsourcing curatorial decisions, and so on. Some may have “worked,” in the sense that they did attract visitors – but generally only for the one exhibit or particular gesture of outreach. Instead, the Getty, with Book of Beasts, generally took the high road. No dumbing down, no “unicorn days,” no silly contests. – Judith H. Dobrzynski
Bravo De Salvo! Unpacking Donna’s Sudden Exit from the Whitney Museum’s Deputy Directorship
With less than two weeks’ notice, the Whitney Museum has announced that Donna De Salvo “has decided to leave” the museum where she served with great distinction for the past 15 years, in order to “pursue other interests.” Adding to the mystery of why this news was sprung on us so precipitously, Adam Weinberg, the Whitney’s director, enigmatically commented: “We wish her the best as she embarks on the next phase of her career.” – Lee Rosenbaum