Philadelphia Ballet Breaking Ground On North Broad Street Expansion

From a vantage point looking northeast from Broad Street, a rendering of Philadelphia Ballet's newly expanded dance center as it will appear when finished. A dance studio is shown in the glass box atop the structure. Varenhorst Architects

Philadelphia Ballet is finally getting a long-delayed front door on the burgeoning northern leg of the Avenue of the Arts.

The company expects to hold a groundbreaking next month on an expansion of its North Broad Street headquarters that will more than triple its current space with a suite of dance studios, offices, a new black box theater, and other public areas. The $34 million project builds onto the ballet’s current low-slung building to create a five-story facade on Broad Street with glassed-in studios visible on the top floor.

A rendering of "Studio F" on the top floor of Philadelphia Ballet's future addition to its North Broad Street headquarters. Varenhorst Architects

Completion of the 43,000-square-foot addition, expected in spring 2024, caps a plan the ballet envisioned when the company acquired its site on Broad near Callowhill Street in 2007.

The expansion of facilities at the city’s major dance organization will put it on par with those of peer companies across the country, says Philadelphia Ballet executive director Shelly Power.

“We are bursting at the seams,” said Power of current facilities. Square footage will go from 15,000 to 58,000, with the number of studios nearly doubling to seven and a half.

“At least we’ll be with the national average,” says Power. “We’re the last [major] company to really have a building that lets us grow a school, do community engagement, to have a black box.”

A space in the Philadelphia Ballet's expanded facility can be used either as a small black box theater or a rehearsal studio. Varenhorst Architects

The expansion promises to add to the already blossoming street life of this stretch of Broad north of City Hall. Plans call for the ballet’s facade to be fronted with streetscape furniture and a video billboard to catch the eyes of passersby.

“We could be showing what’s going on in the studio, we could be showing a clip of Swan Lake,” says Power. “I think it’s just going to enhance North Broad.”

The building project is part of a larger plan to return the company to growth mode after a difficult period. The pandemic forced the cancellation of The Nutcracker, the ballet’s reliable cash cow, in 2020. Fund-raising for the expansion proved tougher than expected.

The building project and related strategic plan are, in many ways, a validation of recommendations made in 2013 by arts consultant Michael Kaiser, who was brought in to diagnose the company’s organizational ills.

“You don’t get healthy by shrinking,” Kaiser advised at the time. “I said to them, ‘Think big.’ "

Now, the ballet is. The strategic plan calls for increasing the number of productions and boosting the number of dancers in the company. This season there are 50 dancers, up from 43 in 2021-22 and on the way to a goal of 54. The company also expects to vastly increase the number of students in its school.

“I expect it to double if not triple,” says Power. “We expect to get up around 500.”

A gathering space is shown in a rendering of Philadelphia Ballet's expanded dance center on North Broad Street just south of Callowhill Street. Varenhorst Architects

Since 2017, the design of the facilities expansion has evolved to rebalance the public function of the building with dancer-only spaces. A public gathering area will host events like dancer meet-and-greets and book readings. An artists’ wall is expected to host exhibitions. Parents will be able to have coffee there while waiting for students to come from classes and rehearsals.

“This is quite different than the plans they were looking at in past iterations mainly because they were so focused on the dancers,” said Power. “But we really expanded because we wanted to focus on the community and become a hub for the area where people could come and see things, experience things and be a part of it.”

“It’s going to change the dynamics of the whole company,” said Philadelphia Ballet Peter Dobrin artistic director Angel Corella, citing the prospect of closer contact between the public and dancers. He also said improved facilities would strengthen the company’s ability to attract and retain dancers.

“Our dancers are getting offers all the time,” he said.

With the company's former name still on the current building in the background, Philadelphia Ballet artistic director Angel Corella and executive director Shelly Power stand on the site of the North Broad Street addition.Read more CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

In addition to the new black box theater and rehearsal studios, the project will provide administrative offices, physical therapy facilities for dancers, and a cyber school classroom.

The $34 million budget — 60% of which is already raised from private donors and state government — will also cover renovations of the existing building, which opened in 2012.

The addition has not yet been named for a donor, Power said.

Nearly all of the spaces in the new building will be multipurpose. Chief among them is the first-floor black box theater designed to be reconfigured in 30 minutes from theater to a rehearsal space of a size the ballet does not currently have.

“It’s bigger than the Academy [of Music] stage. [Now], when they’re doing Swan Lake, literally, they’re in the hallway waiting to run in as a corps. Here, they can fit the whole company in, they can actually have people seated watching the rehearsal. And then it turns into a performance space.”

Looking toward North Broad Street across the site where the Philadelphia Ballet's expanded facilities will be built. CHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

Power also sees the space’s potential for building relationships with donors and audiences.

“You can have free performances, you can have young kids come in for a 45-minute show, and then you get to be right on top of the dancers.”

When dancers call children up from the audience and demonstrate live by saying, “Let’s lift you, let’s turn you,” that’s real engagement, says Power.

“That’s where you win your fans for the future.”

Source: https://www.inquirer.com/, Peter Dobrin

Matisse In The 1930s Coming October 20, 2022–January 29, 2023 To The Philadelphia Museum Of Art

By 1930, Henri Matisse had achieved significant international renown, yet he found himself in a deep creative slump. The turning point came in the fall of that year with a commission to decorate the main gallery of the Barnes Foundation, then located in a suburb of Philadelphia. The resulting monumental mural, The Dance (1930–33), turned Matisse’s artistic practice around.

Matisse in the 1930s explores changes in the artist’s work across multiple formats, including easel and decorative painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, and the illustrated book. The exhibition also addresses the methods of working that renewed Matisse’s style, as well as his modern renderings of mythological themes from antiquity, his depictions of female models in the studio, and his partnership with his studio manager and model, Lydia Delectorskaya.

2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway Philadelphia, PA 19130 215-763-8100

https://philamuseum.org/

Travelore News: London’s Tube Lines Hit By Strike, Day After Rail Walkout

LONDON (AP) — A strike by London Underground workers brought the British capital’s transit network to a grinding halt on Friday, a day after a nationwide walkout by railway staff. Another rail strike is scheduled for Saturday as the U.K. endures a summer of action by workers demanding pay increases to offset soaring food and energy price hikes.

No subway trains were running on most of London’s Tube lines because of the strike over jobs, pay and pensions by members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union, operator Transport for London said.

“It is going to be a difficult day,” said Nick Dent, TFL’s director of customer operations. “We’re advising customers not to travel on the Tube at all.”

There was also continuing disruption above ground as trains started to run again following Thursday’s strike by thousands of railway cleaners, signalers, maintenance workers and other staff. Only about a fifth of trains ran during the 24-hour walkout, the latest in a series of strikes on Britain’s railways.

“We’re very sorry that people are inconvenienced,” said RMT union General Secretary Mick Lynch. “We’re ordinary men and women that want to do our jobs and provide a service, but when you’re being cut to pieces by an employer, and by the government, you’ve got to make a stand.”

Transit unions accuse Britain’s Conservative government of preventing train companies — which are privately owned but heavily regulated — from making a better offer. The government denies meddling, but says rail companies need to cut costs and staffing after two years in which emergency government funding kept them afloat.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Times Radio that “it’s a kick in the teeth” to the public for unions “to turn round after we provided 16 billion pounds of support for the railways and go ‘Right, well, the next thing we’re going to do is go on strike.’”

More public- and private-sector unions are planning strikes as Britain faces its worst cost-of-living crisis in decades. Postal workers, lawyers, British Telecom staff and port workers have all announced walkouts for later this month.

Garbage collectors and recycling workers in Edinburgh, Scotland, began an 11-day strike on Thursday, warning that trash will pile up in the streets as tourists flock to the city for the Edinburgh Fringe and other arts festivals.

U.K. inflation hit a new 40-year high of 10.1% in July, and the Bank of England says it could rise to 13% amid a recession later this year. The average U.K. household fuel bill has risen more than 50% so far in 2022 as Russia’s war in Ukraine squeezes global oil and natural gas supplies. Another increase is due in October, when the average bill is forecast to hit 3,500 pounds ($4,300) a year.

Midtown Manhattan Office Tower Swaps In Jean-Georges Restaurant After Booting Daniel Humm Over Vegan Focus

A rendering of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s upcoming restaurant at 425 Park Avenue. Foster + Partners/425 Park Avenue

Hot off the heels of Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s long-in-the-works Tin Building resurrection, the New York Post reports that the renowned chef and restaurateur will be taking over the sprawling, bi-level restaurant at the base of the new Midtown office tower at 425 Park Avenue, between East 55th and 56th streets. The space was originally supposed to be helmed by Eleven Madison Park chef Daniel Humm, but the real estate company behind the tower broke ties with Humm after the chef said he’d only build a vegan restaurant. Vongerichten’s restaurant at 425 Park Avenue — with soaring, 25-foot-high ceilings and a 1,000-square-foot show kitchen — is slated to open sometime in late 2023.

Source: https://ny.eater.com/

Latin America's 50 Best Restaurants Set To Return On November 15th In Mérida, Yucatán

MÉRIDA, Yucatán — Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022, sponsored by San Pellegrino & Acqua Panna, will return on Tuesday, Nov. 15 to a regular list and an in-person awards ceremony — the first full gathering of Latin America’s gastronomic community since 2019. Previously held in Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Argentina, the awards program will return to Mexico in 2022 with a new home here in Mérida in collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism of the State of Yucatán.

Chefs, restaurateurs, media and gourmands will gather in the cultural and gastronomic capital of Mexico’s southeast region for the pinnacle of the year’s culinary calendar to celebrate the richness and diversity of Latin American cuisine. An exclusive events program hosted throughout Mérida will culminate in the awards ceremony on the evening of Nov. 15. Three special award announcements will precede the live program, including Latin America’s Best Female Chef Award on Sept. 20, the Icon Award on Oct. 11 and the American Express One To Watch Award on Oct. 25.

Despite the toll Covid-19 took on the region’s restaurant sector, 50 Best will celebrate more dining venues than ever before with the announcement of an inaugural list of 50 more restaurants ranked 51st to 100th best in Latin America. The 51-to-100 list will be announced on Nov. 3, shining a much-deserved spotlight on a greater number of hospitality establishments and the diverse culinary cultures of the region.

“We are very excited to bring as many people as possible together from across Latin America once again in 2022,” said William Drew, Director of Content for Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants. “We look forward to celebrating more restaurants, teams and culinary talent than ever, as well as experiencing the vibrant city of Mérida and exploring the gastronomically diverse region of Yucatán. At the same time, 50 Best aims to foster collaboration, inclusivity and discovery, and help drive positive change in the hospitality sector.”

Michelle Fridman, Tourism Minister of Yucatán, called it “an honor” for the state to host Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants 2022. “The Yucatán is home to one of the best gastronomy scenes, and as we start our celebration of a year of Yucatecan cuisine, we are thrilled to show the world’s greatest chefs our culinary offer,” she said.

The 50 Best organization’s role in promoting restaurants and showcasing culinary talent remains more important than ever, continuing to support the hospitality sector by inspiring diners to seek out exciting gastronomic experiences.

New York Law Will Require Museums To Disclose Works Looted By Nazis

New York governor Kathy Hochul on August 10 signed legislation that will require museums in the state to publicly acknowledge whether a displayed work has passed through Nazi hands. The signing ceremony took place at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York. According to the new law, any exhibited artwork that “changed hands due to theft, seizure, confiscation, forced sale, or other involuntary means” during World War II and the run-up to that conflict must be accompanied by a wall label or placard detailing its history. New York law already requires works of this nature to be recorded in the Art Loss Register, the world’s largest private database of stolen art. The legislation does not apply to works seized in other contexts, by other parties in other eras.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo: Bill Gracey/Flickr.

Recent years have seen a number of cases in which heirs have sued New York museums in attempts to recover works—among them three paintings by George Grosz that reside in the Museum of Modern Art and Pablo Picasso’s The Actor, 1904–05, previously owned by Jewish collectors Paul and Alice Leffmann and which now hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art—they claim were looted or sold under duress during the Nazi regime. In both of those cases, the museums were allowed to keep the works, in part due to the statute of limitations.

The bill was introduced by State Senator Anna M. Kaplan. “During the Holocaust, some 600,000 paintings were stolen from Jewish people not only for their value, but to wipe our culture and identity off the face of the Earth,” said Kaplan in a statement. “Today, artwork previously stolen by the Nazis can be found hanging in museums around New York with no recognition of the dark paths they traveled there. With the history of the Holocaust being so important to pass on to the next generation, it’s vital that we be transparent and ensure that anyone viewing artwork stolen by the Nazis understand where it came from and its role in history.”

The new law is one of several aimed at raising awareness of the Holocaust, broadly seen as increasingly necessary, as the event recedes into history and living memory of the tragedy fades. Hochul also signed legislation authorizing the commission of education to conduct a survey regarding instruction on the Holocaust, and a law requiring the state superintendent of financial services to maintain and update a list of financial institutions that waive wire transfer or processing fees associated with Holocaust reparations payments.

Source: https://www.artforum.com/

Royal Caribbean Joins Norwegian In Eliminating COVID Vaccine Requirement For Some Cruise Ships

Royal Caribbean has become the second cruise line to drop its COVID vaccine requirement for some sailings, following Norwegian Cruise Line, and after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eliminated its COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships in July.

The COVID-19 Program for Cruise Ships was a voluntary program that provided recommendations to the cruise industry on COVID safety measures such as testing and vaccinations.

Royal Caribbean's vaccination change will go into effect on Sept. 5. On this date, COVID vaccinations will no longer be required for all passengers on cruises from Los Angeles; Galveston, Texas; New Orleans, Louisiana; and also, from a European homeport.

However, passengers looking to get off the ship in the Grand Cayman will need to be fully vaccinated, while those looking to get off in Greece or Spain will need to take a COVID test, Royal Caribbean said.

Royal Caribbean will continue to require vaccinations to board its ship for those passengers 12 and older prior to Sept. 5 and also for certain other cruise ports until further notice.

The cruise line said on its website that it is working with local governments in the Eastern Caribbean on vaccination requirements for more destinations, adding, "We want to ensure a great experience going ashore at these ports, for guests of any vaccination status, while meeting local health regulations. We'll have more info in the coming days."

Unvaccinated Royal Caribbean passengers will still be subject to COVID testing for boarding depending on their sailing, while vaccinated passengers will only need a COVID test on cruises that are six nights or longer unless their destination warrants otherwise. European requirements for COVID testing requirements have remained unchanged.

Royal Caribbean has also changed the COVID vaccination policy on its subsidiary Celebrity Cruises, which will also begin on Sept. 5 for all unvaccinated passengers. Travelers can now sail on cruises departing from the U.K, Europe, with the exception of Iceland, and Los Angeles, without having to be fully vaccinated.

The news that Royal Caribbean eliminated its COVID vaccination requirement for some cruises comes just days after Norwegian Cruise Line announced that it would drop its COVID vaccine requirement on Sept. 3 for all passengers 12 and older with proof of a negative COVID-19 test. No additional protocols or testing requirements will apply for younger guests.

Norwegian's COVID policy change also applies to its Regent Seven Seas and Oceania cruise brands.

By Dawn Geske, https://www.ibtimes.com/