Local and Industry News

Arts Activist Lewis "Mike" Eidson has proposed a $45 million plan to add a 750-seat theater to the planned 300-seat theater at the Coconut Grove Playhouse.

The Playhouse, which has been closed since 2006, is currently being leased by Miami-Dade County and Florida International University. Current plans call for the building of a 300-seat theater to house GableStage. Eidson believes there is support for a larger regional theater on the site, offering programming similar to what the Playhouse used to provide before it went bankrupt.

Delray Beach's Arts Garage is expanding into Pompano Beach. Arts Garage has received $236,000 from the Pompano Beach Community Redevelopment Agency for programing at the Bailey Contemporary Arts building in Pompano's Creative Arts District off of Atlantic Boulevard.

The Broward Cultural Council has four new members. The new members are Broward Public Schools educator Heather Brinkworth, Davie Vice Mayor Caryl Hattan, Carbonell Awards music director Caryl Ginsburg Fantel, and Ebonni Bryant.

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SoundCloud has announced a pilot program to share advertising revenue with artists. SoundClound, which is second only to YouTube in music streaming, has never paid any royalties to the rights holders of the music they stream on their website and in their apps. The new program, to begin with a select group that they hope to expand to all artists in the future, will show advertising alongside music, with a majority of ad revenue being paid to the artist. In the future, SoundCloud also plans to offer a subscription service for listeners who wish to listen without advertising.

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The Metropolitan Opera has reached agreements with its unions and avoided a lockout. Musicians will receive an immediate 3.5 percent pay cut and an additional 3.5 percent pay cut in six months, followed by a 3 percent raise in the fourth year of the agreement. This is far less than the 17 percent cut and changes to rules and benefits that management had originally demanded. In addition, the Met agreed to match labor cuts with administrative cuts, cut an additional $11.25 million in other expenses each year, and allow an independent analyst monitor its finances.

Former Palm Beach Opera general director Herb Benn has passed away at age 84. Benn, a lawyer by trade, oversaw the Opera's move from the West Palm Beach Auditorium to the Kravis Center, and the Opera's budget grew from $1.5 million to $4 million under his watch. 

Things are looking up for the Pittsburgh Symphony. A 2013 audit has revealed that the orchestra's annual fund rose from $7.1 to $12 million, its investments grew by $9 million, and that Heinz Hall rental income grew from $400,000 to more than $2 million. Overall, the orchestra's net assets rose $23.6 million in 2013.