Why Debbie Allen And Nigel Lythgoe Decided L.A. Needed An International Dance Festival — And How They Put One Together In A Year

Los Angeles already had one dance festival, but Lythgoe, producer of So You Think You Can Dance, knew that if he hadn’t heard of it, it wasn’t getting enough publicity. So he and Allen created a big new one, and here he tells Jennifer Stahl how they did it. “Los Angeles has so much going for it dance-wise,” he says, “but we don’t sort of come together and show off.” – Dance Magazine

After More Than 30 Years, Eddie Murphy Is Doing Stand-Up Comedy Again

“Over the years, Murphy has teased fans with talk of a comeback, but this time, inspired by [his new movie, Dolemite Is My Name], he appears to mean it. He signed a deal with Netflix to put out a new special next year, and has a theater tour lined up, which means he could be in clubs working out jokes soon.” Jason Zinoman meets the star to talk about the reasons for his return and how he is and isn’t different from the megastar Murphy of the ’80s and ’90s. – The New York Times

Counting Error: British Museum Was In Fact Britain’s Most-Visited Last Year

The original statistics were 5,799,000 for Tate Modern and 5,709,000 for the BM in the financial year 2018/19. But the BM’s original figures for October-December 2018 appeared too low, and a later investigation suggested that 316,000 visitors had been missed by the counting system. Adding these means that the BM’s revised number for the financial year should be 6,025,000, comfortably beating Tate Modern. – The Art Newspaper

French Billionaires Actually Hand Over €300 Million They Pledged For Notre-Dame Restoration

A few months after public concerns arose about their delay, LVMH CEO Bernard Arnualt has signed a formal agreement with the Fondation Notre-Dame for the €200 million he pledged toward the cathedral’s restoration after the April 15 fire. François Pinault and his son François-Henri Pinault of the luxury goods company Kering will execute a similar contract for their €100 million donation next Monday. – The Art Newspaper

Saying Its Mosaic Façade Is ‘Irreplaceable’, Judge Blocks Sale And Demolition Of Philadelphia’s Painted Bride Art Center

A Philadelphia Orphans’ Court judge ruled that the sale — The Bride, the nonprofit that owns the center, had sold it for $4.5 million to a developer who planned to build condos on the site — would “all but ensure the destruction of what many individuals consider to be a true treasure.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer