Good morning
The Met Opera’s $200 million Saudi deal is dead — Riyadh walked from an arrangement that would have sent the company to perform three-week February seasons at the new Royal Diriyah Opera House in exchange for badly needed funding (The New York Times). It’s the highest-profile casualty in a day full of cultural institutions renegotiating the political and financial terms of their existence. (Question: why did the Met announce the deal before it was signed?)
The EU cut €2 million from the Venice Biennale over Russia’s inclusion (AP), and the Biennale’s own jury announced it won’t consider nations whose leaders face ICC crimes-against-humanity charges — effectively removing Russia and Israel from top-prize contention (ARTnews). Berlin’s Modern opening slid another eight months into 2030 thanks to moisture damage and microbial contamination (ARTnews). Berlin’s culture chief resigned over the irregular distribution of €2.6 million in antisemitism funds (The Guardian). Warner Bros. shareholders rejected David Zaslav’s $800M+ merger parachute — by 82%, in a non-binding vote (Deadline). Nicholas Hytner’s Bridge Theatre is exploring a sale (The Stage).
Against that: Arkansas Public TV landed a $3 million challenge grant conditional on staying with PBS (Arkansas Advocate) — a donor putting a price on institutional affiliation. And in Diacritical today, I look at LACMA’s new building and what museums are now for (Diacritical).
All of our stories below.
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