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The Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) presented $3.8 million at their annual Grants Banquet held at The Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, Calif. The evening was hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Talent who accepted grants on behalf of nonprofit organizations included Arnold Schwarzenegger, Taron Egerton, James Corden, Kerry Washington, Ali Wong, Regina Hall, Rob Lowe, Jamie Bell, Ramy Youssef, Corinne Fox, Sistine Stallone, Camila Morrone, Renée Zellweger, Eva Longoria, Sacha Baron Cohen, Jon Favreau, Justin Hartley, Ben Platt, Beanie Feldstein, Josh Lucas, Julia Butters, and Taika Waititi.

Opera Saratoga's Artistic and General Director, Lawrence Edelson announced today updated casting and additional events to be featured as part of the company's 2019 Summer Festival, beginning May 25th, 2019 and running through July 14th, 2019.  In addition to the three previously announced productions of The Daughter of the Regiment, the world premiere of Ellen West, and Hansel and Gretel, Opera Saratoga will present a new series of master classes; a community symposium on

Hailed as "one of the great amateur choruses of our time (New York Today) for its "full-bodied sound and suppleness (The New York Times)," The Dessoff Choirs today announced its 2019-20 season. The Dessoff Choirs celebrates its 95th season with performances of choral masterworks by both 20th century luminaries and today's most innovative composers. In addition to Dessoff's popular holiday concerts, the season features the New York premiere of Craig Hella Johnson's Considering Matthew Shepard, a reprise performance and CD release of Margaret Bond's The Ballad of the Brown King, and the Faure Requiem in the original 1893 version. (The complete season schedule is below.)

Murder! Mischief! Comedy! Original music highlights this hilarious and terrifying tale of America's first serial killer and an infamous murder at the 1893 World's Fair. It's Ben Asaykwee. it's Amanda Hummer, it's gruesome, it's thrilling, it's hysterical, and has an Indianapolis connection! What more could you ask for?

The Statue of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island opened to the public today following a dedication ceremony presented by The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. The ceremony featured performances by Tony Award Nominee Laura Osnes, Tony Award Nominee Lilli Cooper and Javier Muñoz. They paid tribute to Irving Berlin by performing some of his iconic songs including 'God Bless America,' 'Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor,''Shaking the Blues Away,' and 'Blue Skies' to celebrate the opening of this new museum.

The Statue of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island opened to the public today following a dedication ceremony presented by The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. The ceremony featured performances by Tony Award Nominee Laura Osnes, Tony Award Nominee Lilli Cooper and Javier Muñoz. They paid tribute to Irving Berlin by performing some of his iconic songs including "God Bless America," "Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor,""Shaking the Blues Away," and "Blue Skies" to celebrate the opening of this new museum.

ABC announced today that the network has picked up a new iteration of the classic variety show “Kids Say the Darndest Things,” hosted and executive produced by comedic superstar Tiffany Haddish. The hilarious reimagined format showcases a mix of in-studio segments and taped pieces from across the country, all set in front of a live studio audience. The series will capture Haddish's unique voice and sensibility as she interacts with real kids – and their innocently entertaining points of view. “Kids Say the Darndest Things” will air Sundays at 8:00 p.m. EDT during ABC's fall prime-time schedule, providing a solid three-hour block of family-fun programming, starting with “America's Funniest Home Videos” at 7:00 p.m. EDT and continuing with “Shark Tank” at 9:00 p.m. EDT.

 One of America's first serial killers, con artist, bigamist, "Beast of Chicago," and "The Murder Hotel," what do these words have in common? They all have an association with the cold-blooded murderer, Herman Webster Mudgett, better known as H.H. Holmes. When it was announced that a musical about H.H. Holmes was to premiere on April, the musical gained much attention as many people anticipated the final product. The new musical produced by Double K Film & Theatre Company, known as THE CASTLE sent out their first batch of invitations to the "Murder Hotel" on April 15th.

Chicago Magic Lounge, Chicago's home for close-up magic, continues its Artist-In-Residence series with Sean Masterson's Timeless Magic, Wednesdays at 7:30pm starting June 26, 2019. Tickets for all Chicago Magic Lounge shows are available at the box office, (312) 366-4500 or online at chicagomagiclounge.com.

Actor/Conductor Damon Gupton guest hosts an upcoming episode of the hit NPR weekly music program From the Top, airing nationally during the week of May 6 on participating stations and by podcast. The episode, which features America's best young classical musicians, was taped before a live audience at Interlochen Center for the Arts in March 2019. On the broadcast, Mr. Gupton interviews the young musicians, all students at the Interlochen Arts Academy, and conducts a performance by the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra. He is joined by Co-Host/Pianist Michelle Cann and Interlochen Arts Academy OrchestraConductor Leslie Dunner. For more information, visit: https://www.fromthetop.org/show/nprs-from-the-top-interlochen-mi/

The Walter W. Naumburg Foundation presents Cellist LEV SIVKOV, winner of the 2015 Naumburg cello competition, on Tuesday, April 23, 2019, at 7:30pm in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall.  Sivkov, a native of Russia currently lives in Switzerland where he is principal cellist of the Zurich Opera Orchestra. Sivkov will be joined by fellow Russian, pianist/composer Nikita Mndoyants, who in 2016 was named winner of the Cleveland International Piano Competition.  A program highlight includes the world premiere of a Naumburg commission, Alter Ego, by the award-winning composer

Join Utah Symphony's next Masterwork Series concert for an adventurous night with Dvorak's New World Symphony at Abravanel Hall on March 29 & 30, 7:30PM. Utah Symphony Music Director Thierry Fischer will conduct the concert with award-winning Guest Cellist Alban Gerhardt. Works by Rossini, Dutilleux, and Dvo k are included in the program, which imaginatively describe the feeling of exploring a new world. Tickets, priced from $18 to $69 ($15 for students), are available for purchase through www.utahsymphony.org or by calling (801) 355-2787.

Chicago Opera Theater's Orli and Bill Staley Music Director Lidiya Yankovskaya and Stefan Edlis and Gael Neeson General Director Ashley Magnus today announced the plans for the company's 47th season, to include productions of two exciting contemporary operas, a Chicago premiere by Rachmaninov, and the company's second world premiere commission. Yankovskaya will conduct each of these Chicago Opera Theater (COT) productions.

The Sylvan Winds announce the opening concert of the 2019 Spring Season celebrating music, art, and history. Performing in important cultural and historic New York City buildings, the ensemble creates imaginative and informative programs that reflect the environs of each space.

Ashley Wheater, The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet, proudly announces an impressive 2019-2020 season featuring a Chicago premiere from Northern Ballet Artistic Director Cathy Marston, along with a Chicago premiere from Tony Award-winning choreographer and New York City Ballet Resident Choreographer Justin Peck, plus the return of an audience favorite by choreographer Yuri Possokhov, and Christopher Wheeldon's holiday classic The Nutcracker. The Joffrey Ballet begins its 64th season with Marston's modern re-telling of Jane Eyre, October 16-27, 2019, followed by Wheeldon's magical holiday classic The Nutcracker, November 30-December 29, 2019. For its winter engagement, the Joffrey presents a mixed repertory program that includes the Chicago premiere of Peck's acclaimed The Times Are Racing, the Chicago premieres of Mono Lisa and The Sofa by Israeli choreographer Itzik Galili, Wheeldon's Commedia, and Bliss!, a new work from Stephanie Martinez, winner of the Joffrey's 2015 Winning Works choreographic competition, February 12-23, 2020. Closing the season is the return of Possokhov's Don Quixote, April 22- May 3, 2020, which received its world premiere in Chicago in 2011.

In a concert inspired by adventure and Spanish exoticism, the Columbus Symphony will perform the Spanish Flamenco Festival at the newly renovated Palace Theatre on March 1 and 2. The auditorium of the 1926 historic venue received a six-month, $2.5 million facelift, and was reopened to the public in November 2018. Guest conducted by John Axelrod, musical director of the Royal Seville Symphony Orchestra, the program will feature local flamenco star Griset Damas and the Flamenco Company of Columbus. The full program includes Turina's Danzas fantasticas, Falla's La Vida Breve: Danse Espagnole No. 1, and concludes with the enchanting, rhythmic vitality of Dvo?ak's richly melodic New World Symphony (Symphony No. 9).

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced repertory and casting for the Company's 97th Season, opening Friday, September 6, 2019, with a gala performance of Charles Gounod's Romeo and Juliet (Rom o et Juliette) starring tenor Bryan Hymel and soprano Nadine Sierra in Op ra de Monte-Carlo Director Jean-Louis Grinda's production. In keeping with the Company's time-honored tradition, the new season will be inaugurated with San Francisco Opera Guild's elegant, signature benefit and celebration, Opera Ball 2019.

Porchlight Music Theatre continues its "lost" musicals in staged concert series with Porchlight Revisits Can-Can, music and lyrics by Cole Porter and book by Abe Burrows with direction by Adrian Abel Azevedo, musical direction by Linda Madonia and choreography by Shanna VanDerwerker.  Porchlight Revisits Can-Can is presented for three performances-only Wednesday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, March 7 at 2 p.m. and  7:30 p.m. at The Ruth Page Center for the Arts, 1016 N. Dearborn Street. Two-show discounted subscriptions and single tickets for $37 are available at porchlightmusictheatre.org or by calling the Porchlight Music Theatre box office at 773.777.9884.

New Philharmonic's immensely popular New Year's Eve program returns to ring in 2019 with three concerts at the McAninch Arts Center (MAC) Monday, Dec. 31, 2018 at 2, 5:30 and 9 p.m.

Peninsula Players Theatre, America's oldest professional resident summer theater and Door County's theatrical icon, is thrilled to announce its 84th season performing June 18 through October 20, 2019. Nestled along Door County, Wisconsin's scenic shore, the award-winning acting company of Peninsula Players has been enthralling generations of audiences in its 600-plus seat, all-weather pavilion since 1935, presenting hundreds of pre-Broadway tryouts, world premieres, classic dramas, comedies and musicals.

WTTW, as a part of the yearlong Art Design Chicago initiative, is developing a new four-part documentary series and website in partnership with the Terra Foundation for American Art.

The Joffrey Ballet's critically acclaimed reimagined classic, The Nutcracker, by Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, returns to open the holiday season at the historic Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, in downtown Chicago at 50 East Congress Parkway, in 29 performances, December 1-30, 2018. 

Segerstrom Center for the Arts launches its 2018-2019 Chamber Series with the acclaimed Escher String Quartet on November 1, 2018 at 8:00 p.m. in Samueli Theater. Since its founding in 2005, the quartet has quickly garnered the reputation as one of the finest young string ensembles performing today. Their instrumental interplay, which combines technical precision with warmth and vitality, has reaped accolades nationally and abroad, and elicited invitations from Itzhak Perlman and Pinchas Zukerman to be the quartet-in-residence at their respective summer festivals. In a review, The Strad wrote, "…a level of individual technical precision and a collective musical purpose that is endlessly compelling … Sheer brilliance." Quartet members include Adam Barnett-Hart and Danbi Um, violins; Pierre Lapointe, viola; and Brook Speltz, cello.

WTTW, as a part of the yearlong Art Design Chicago initiative, is developing a new four-part documentary series and website in partnership with the Terra Foundation for American Art.