Tax Advice: How The New Tax Law Affects The Arts

In my opinion as an artist, an accountant, and a citizen, the effects I outline below make a strong case for traditional protocols including a longer period for deliberation and public comment, befitting massive legislation. Tax changes can have serious ripple effects, which must be fully understood by institutions and the public before they are put into effect. This benefits everyone, regardless of political leanings; whether you’re donating to the Southern Baptist Convention or MoMA, nonprofits can’t function without your contributions.

Four More Years: National Symphony In DC Extends With Music Director Gianandrea Noseda

“One year into the conductor’s tenure as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, Gary Ginstling, the orchestra’s executive director, announced a four-year contract extension, through 2024-2025. Also announced was “an in-house digital media initiative, meaning that the NSO will record its own performances for streaming and for physical CD and DVD.”

How Google Made Us Lazy

While it has fingers in many pies, its search function is the thing that changed everything. There is virtually no fact that we can’t find out in a heartbeat, thanks to its all powerful engines. It is, of course, a double-edged sword since it killed lively pub debates. Virtually every disputed topic is now resolveable in the length of time it takes to take out a smart phone.

Belgium Investigates Another Ballet Abuse Scandal

Jan Fabre has all kinds of awards, honors, and money from the Belgian government, and he’s renowned for being a “boundary pusher” in dance. Perhaps some of those boundaries should have been left alone: “Eight former members of Mr. Fabre’s company signed an open letter to the magazine Rekto Verso accusing him of sexual harassment. The letter said 12 current or former members had also endorsed it anonymously. Mr. Fabre ran a company where ‘humiliation is daily bread,’ it said. The signees also accused Mr. Fabre of running a semi-secret project in which dancers were pressured to pose for provocative photos in exchange for off-the-books payments.”

The Met’s Been Around Since 1883, And It’s Just Now Commissioning Operas By Women

Yay? Yes, good: “The company has asked Missy Mazzoli to write an opera based on George Saunders’s ghostly novel Lincoln in the Bardo, and is planning to stage Jeanine Tesori’s opera Grounded, based on the George Brant play about a fighter pilot sidelined by pregnancy who goes into drone warfare. They are the first two women commissioned to write operas for the Met, which has only performed two operas by female composers in its history.”