Good Morning,
The Kennedy Center is dropping Tessitura, the nonprofit ticketing system the Met built, for Ticketmaster. While the deal was negotiated, then-president Richard Grenell sat on the board of Ticketmaster’s parent, Live Nation, which paid him $260,205 last year (NPR). Hmnnn.
A London firm offered an undercover BBC reporter a UK “Global Talent” visa as an artist for about £100,000, paintings from China and press reviews included. Nigerian critic Molara Wood found her byline on fake reviews of two applicants, whose visas are now being revoked (BBC).
Artnet, the auction-data company, is now art partner to Kalshi, a platform for betting on whether paintings beat their estimates. Its price data will settle the bets (ARTnews).
Britain is giving the National Theatre up to £15 million to bring shows, £10 tickets and backstage training to 100,000 young people across England (WhatsOnStage).
Gay Courter, 82, a best-selling American novelist, goes on trial in France over gold bars looted from a 1746 shipwreck off Brittany. A co-defendant once showed the gold on Antiques Roadshow, saying she found it off Cape Verde (ARTnews).
All of today’s stories below.