Cuba Struggles With A Violin Shortage

“Before Cuba’s 1959 revolution, many students played violins, violas, cellos and bass from European workshops. After it, the Soviet Union provided violins and cellos, along with many other goods. Now, as Cuba struggles to revive its stagnant centrally planned economy, students must make do with violins from China that too easily pop strings and lose their tone.”

Met Museum Gets Serious About 20th-Century Art With New Lauder Collection

The group of 81 Cubist works – including works by Picasso, Braque, Léger, and Gris, and donated by Leonard Lauder last year – “marks a turning point for the Met that includes new curatorial hires, a planned renovation of its Lila Acheson Wallace Wing and an expansion into the building currently occupied by the Whitney Museum of American Art.”