What caught our eye this week…

OPERA
A reorganization plan appears to be in the works for San Diego Opera following a contentious board meeting, where several board members resigned including the chair, and community town meeting last night. The company’s final performance this past Sunday was an emotional event featuring a sold-out house, a candlelight vigil, and a lead singer kissing the stage following his curtain call. Meanwhile, the company’s singers will try to force arbitration over their contracts and speculation has begun about what might be done with the company’s scene shop…

CLASSICAL
The Minnesota Orchestra‘s annual Symphony Ball has been canceled after its co-chairs resigned saying the current climate at the embattled institution doesn’t lend itself to celebration. The event raises over $1 million annually for the orchestra…

DANCE
City University of New York has responded to a lack of affordable dance rehearsal space in the city with the CUNY Dance Initiative, backed by almost $300K in foundation grants. The Initiative will provide rehearsal and performance space at its campuses in all five boroughs…

THEATRE
The Tony Award race for Best Musical has a wide open field for the first time in ages…

Unlike many businesses, Seattle-area theatres are not afraid of a $15 minimum wage…

LITERATURE
Legendary Columbian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez dies at his Mexico City home at the age of 87…

FUNDING
Los Angeles makes slow but real progress in freeing up $7.5 million in public arts funding from a sea of red tape…

VISUAL
Tired of your San Francisco apartment? Looking for a change? Live in this museum…

Got an item we missed? Email, tweet, or Facebook us…

What caught our eye this week…

OPERA
Drama over the potential closure of San Diego Opera continues. The company’s staff and chorus sang for their future to the San Diego City Council, though the final decision rests with the opera’s board  whose chair now says she wants to save the company. Meanwhile, the American Guild of Musical Artists, which represents the singers, has asked the National Labor Relations Board to freeze the company’s assets and Opera America has weighed in with transition suggestions…

The latest labor talks at the Metropolitan Opera have gotten off to their most contentious start in decades complete with emails about bedbugs in the men’s dressing rooms…

THEATRE
After much community protest and an overwhelming display of support at a local forum, Timberlane High School‘s administrators reversed their decision to cancel the 2015 production of Sweeney Todd. The Plaistow, NH school will perform the PG-rated “school edition” as well as produce an “alternative production” for those not comfortable with the Sondheim musical…

Not so fortunate are the students of the University of South Carolina Upstate who won’t be seeing Leigh Hendrix‘s comedy piece How to Be a Lesbian in 10 Days or Less which the university canceled when state legislators accused it of “recruiting…aberrant behavior.” The show was to have been featured as part of the university’s Bodies of Knowledge conference. Hendrix has posted a video response…

FUNDING
A committee in the Massachusetts state house of representatives has proposed a 54% cut ($11 million to $5 million) to funding for arts, humanities & sciences. Representative Cory Atkins has introduced an amendment to restore the funding with 102 representatives co-signing to date…

VISUAL
The battle over Detroit Institute of Art‘s collection continues with a group of creditors proposing several billion-dollar bids to sell off all or some of the museum’s collection as part of the city’s attempts to emerge from bankruptcy. A Detroit Free Press columnist ain’t having it…

The takeover and restructuring of the Corcoran Gallery in DC is more complex and drawn out than expected…

From the international crime & punishment desk, a fugitive manages to become finance chief of a Czech museum, stealing 1/3 of its annual budget…

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