“Before the crypt could reopen, masses of toxic lead dust from the fire had to be removed, ancient stones cleaned, ventilation systems vacuumed, lighting and interactive programs reorganized, molds eliminated and anti-COVID measures imposed. … The crypt celebrated the opening with an exhibition on the two 19th-century men who helped restore the 850-year-old medieval monument to greatness: the novelist Victor Hugo and the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc.” – Smithsonian Magazine
Tag: 09.09.20
Boris’s ‘Festival Of Brexit’ Is Now Accepting Proposals
“Critics have dubbed it a ‘festival of Brexit’ and pilloried it as a waste of £120m of public money, but the first plans for the festival of Great Britain and Northern Ireland … will officially launch on Wednesday. Using the working title Festival UK * 2022 organisers have opened applications for teams who wish to be commissioned to come up with ideas for the event.” (In fact, Theresa May first proposed the arts festival, but just about everyone associates it with Boris Johnson.) – The Guardian
Boris Johnson Announces Plan To Restart Performances By Testing Audience Members On Site
“Addressing a press conference at Downing Street on Tuesday, [the British prime minister] said, ‘Theaters and sports venues could test an audience, all audience members, one day and let in all those with a negative result, all those who are not infectious. Work places could be opened up to all those who test negative in the morning to behave in a way that was exactly as in the world before COVID.'” The scheme will be put to the test in October in Salford, near Manchester. – Variety
Michigan Opera Theatre Picks Yuval Sharon As Its Next Artistic Director
Sharon’s presence elevates MOT immediately to international relevance in the opera world and brings to Detroit the kind of innovative artistic leader unique among the city’s cultural institutions. His hiring is a bold but risky choice for a company with a largely conservative artistic profile that has historically lived on razor-thin financial margins and struggled to forge a post-DiChiera identity. – Detroit Free Press