The N.E.A. Really Isn’t “Welfare for Rich, Liberal Élites”
The New Yorker: Rich Benjamin
On a per-person, proportional basis, smaller and more rural states, such as Wyoming, Vermont, and Alaska, reap bigger benefits from N.E.A. funding than blue-state metropolises.

More Women in Ballet Must Go From Pointe to Power
The Clyde Fitch Report
Women must create, speak and ask questions to continue challenging the inequality that has for so long plagued the choreographic space.

Arts education key to audience development, report concludes
Arts Professional: Liz Hill
A research project into audience development practices across Europe has issued a set of recommendations and guides for cultural organizations.

Why Be Relevant?
Future Symphony Institute: John Kersey
An exploration into the ways in which an agenda has caused Western art music to abnegate its past, and in doing so, to render itself marginalized in comparison to popular music of chiefly African-American origin.

Claire Chase Wins This Year’s $100K Avery Fisher Prize
NY Times: Michael Cooper
Claire Chase, who founded the International Contemporary Ensemble, has given the premieres of more than 200 flute works, and was awarded a MacArthur "genius" grant in 2012, received a new accolade recently - the $100,000 Avery Fisher Prize

Sarasota Ballet Downsizes
Herald Tribune: Carrie Sideman
More than a third of the dancers who were under contract during the past season will not be returning, among them Edward Gonzales, promoted to principal status less than five months ago.

How a Brush With Death Changed the Next Conductor of St. Luke’s
NY Times: Michael Cooper
The Orchestra of St. Luke’s announced on Wednesday that Barnard Labadie would become its next principal conductor, succeeding Pablo Heras-Casado, who will become conductor laureate.

Gustavo Dudamel Tells Venezuelan Government ‘Enough Is Enough’
NY Times: Michael Cooper
Gustavo Dudamel, the star conductor, issued his strongest statement yet about the violent political unrest convulsing his native Venezuela, saying on Thursday that “we must stop ignoring the just cry of the people suffocated by an intolerable crisis.”

Photos: The Killing of a Violinist Sends Venezuelan Musicians Onto the Streets to Protest
UniVision
Members of Venezuela's internationally famous music education program, known as 'El Sistema,' joined a month-old wave of anti-government protests on Sunday. It took the death of 17-year-old musician Armando Cañizales for them to join to chorus of protests.

Video: A Violinist Protests on the Street in Venezuela
Venezuela sin Censura
Protest takes on a virtuosic feel, thanks to this amazing and courageous violinist.

Dudamel Dedicates Concert to a Slain Student in Venezuela
LA Times: Mark Swed
A group in the orchestra benches behind the stage unfurled a large Venezuelan flag, and shouts of “viva Venezuela” came from the balcony.

London Mayor’s Music Fund, 2017
MayorsMusicFund (video)
Offering progressive musical opportunities to children and young people. Find more about this inspiring program.

Kenyan Ballet Dancer Walks out of Nairobi Slum and On To The World Stage
CNN: Olivia Yasukawa
Joel Kioko found fame and his calling as Kenya's current ballet prodigy -- an internationally trained performer who was recently offered a full scholarship to the English National Ballet School.

Asian Audiences in the UK are ‘Turning Away from the Arts’
The Stage (UK): Giverny Masso
According to the findings, only 59% of people with an Asian background in the UK said they had engaged in the arts in the last year compared to 78% from the white and 70% from the black ethnic groups.

Catching up with the Real Vocal String Quartet
San Francisco Classical Voice: Lily O’Brien
“We are explorers and we just love music without boundaries,” says Irene Sazer, founder of the Real Vocal String Quartet (RVSQ). And that is a good description for a novel and innovative group that combines mostly original music with influences from classical, folk, pop, and jazz from all over the world, performing as a string and vocal quartet. Such an original combination — and it works.

Encore! How the New York Phil Became a Content Management Maestro
Diginomica: Chris Middleton
The New York Phil is deploying content management and archiving technology to create harmony with the paying public.

Can a New Domain Finally Bring the (fine) Art World Into the 21st Century?
Bloomberg: Katya Kazakina
By investing in the domain, .art, Ulvi Kasimov hopes to bring digital order to a market that can suffer from mystery, forgery, and an aversion to new technological tools.

How Sofar Sounds is redefining the Live Music Scene Around the Globe
CBS News
Sofar, or Songs From a Room, hosts unplugged gigs by emerging artists, reports CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti. It’s like the old days of open mic night at a cafe, but with a modern twist. Concert goers buy their tickets not knowing who’s performing or where the concert is being held – which could be in an office, someone’s living room, or a rooftop. Those attending get the location just days before.

The Most Calming Music for Dogs Ever Created
Digital Music News: Paul Resnikoff
Music has been scientifically proven to relax anxious dogs. But what if an artist specifically wrote calming music for dogs, not humans? The results were pretty amazing.