Columbia University Marching Band Disbands Itself For ‘A History Riddled With Offensive Behavior’

For 116 years, the ensemble (a term loosely applied, at least musically) has been both beloved and disdained for its un-march-like on-field scrambles; its sometimes witty, sometimes tasteless, always irreverent satirical routines; and its on-campus pranks. This week, more than 20 members voted “unanimously and enthusiastically” to shut the group down for its history of “sexual misconduct, assault, theft, racism and injury to individuals and the Columbia community as a whole.” (Some observers are hoping that this, too, is a prank.) – The New York Times

What The Arts Can Learn From The NBA’s Bubble

The NBA used theatricality to replicate the essence of a live game — fans cheering, sound effects, music — and gave viewers the opportunity to be visible to both the players and to themselves in the live performance space. As performing arts venues make decisions about the future, creating hybrid events that include virtual presence and audience recognition will be important for developing investment in their work. – The Conversation

Randall Kenan, Magical Realist Writer Of The American South. Dead At 57

“[He was] an award-winning gay Black writer whose fiction, set largely in a North Carolina hamlet similar to the one where he grew up, artfully blended myth, magic, mysticism and realism.” That village, a sort of Macondo, N.C., was called Tims Creek and, in Kenan’s fictional world, had been founded by a runaway slave named Pharaoh. – The New York Times

New Edition Of ‘Pride And Prejudice’ Prints Characters’ Letters In Period Handwriting

Naturally, each character’s script is different, modeled by a calligrapher on surviving correspondence from England ca. 1800 and matched to each individual letter-writer in the novel by project curator Barbara Heller. (Elizabeth Bennet’s handwriting is copied from that of Austen herself.)
Here’s how Heller went about it. – Smithsonian Magazine

Italy Appoints 13 New Museum Directors, With Emphasis On Homegrown Talent

The move is part of the Italian government’s drive to recruit so-called “super-directors” with experience of fundraising as well as scholarly credentials. Crucially this shift, which gave museums greater autonomy, was set in motion in 2015 under culture minister Dario Franceschini when the centrist government hoped to overturn the image of outdated bureaucracy associated with Italian institutions by appointing foreign museum chiefs. – The Art Newspaper

Planned Museum Near Taj Mahal Will Now Ignore Muslim Dynasty That Built It

“The museum was meant to showcase the arms, art and fashion of the Mughals, Muslim rulers who reigned over [much of] the Indian subcontinent from the 16th to the 18th centuries. But officials this week in Agra, home to the Taj Mahal — the world’s most famous example of Mughal-era architecture and India’s best-known building — had another idea: a complete overhaul of the museum so that it would instead celebrate India’s Hindu majority, leaders and history.” – The New York Times

La Maestra, A New Competition Specifically For Female Conductors

The event, operated by the Philharmonie de Paris concert hall and the Paris Mozart Orchestra, is taking place this week in the French capital. Conductor Marin Alsop, who is on the jury, talks with host Olivia Salazar-Winspear about why the competition is (still) necessary and the obstacles that women conductors still face, even as their prospects are finally starting to improve. (video) – France 24