1. OSCARS BOARD ANNOUNCES NEW RULES AND REGULATIONS FOR CAMPAIGNS AND AWARDS CATEGORIES: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Tuesday announced a slew of new rules and regulations for future Oscar campaigns and awards categories. The Hollywood Reporter: “Impacting the largest number of people will be a new policy—first reported by The Hollywood Reporter back in January—that requires studios, distributors and filmmakers to use "an Academy-approved mailing house to send sanctioned awards materials for eligible films to Academy members," whether that material is physical or digital. The mailing houses will be furnished with an official list of Academy members who have opted-in to received mailings, ensuring that members actually receive things that are intended for them, while also regulating the amount of material with which they are inundated. … Those involved with documentary feature contenders also will have some new things to consider moving forward. The Academy will now deem as Oscar-eligible any doc features that wins ‘a qualifying award at a competitive film festival ... regardless of any prior public exhibition or distribution by nontheatrical means.’ The list of fests and awards will be made available later this spring, but this is an unmistakable win for Netflix, the streaming giant that qualifies a host of documentary features each year, and now will—potentially—be able to do so without giving them even a token theatrical release if they pick up an award at a qualifying festival. When it comes to the Academy's music categories, things are likely to get a bit more cut-throat than ever earlier in the season, with the music branch announcing that it will announce a shortlist of 15 finalists for the best original score and best original song Oscars, as determined by a preferential ballot, in December. This means that more than a month before Oscar noms are announced, the vast majority of contenders for each of those awards will be eliminated.” https://bit.ly/2JosIpo
2. STUDY FINDS WOMEN GET FEWER SPEAKING OPPORTUNITIES THAN MEN AT ACADEMIC CONFERENCES: New research has revealed that women get fewer opportunities than men to speak at academic conferences. The Guardian: “While speaking at conferences is a key part of academic life, not only raising the profile of researchers but helping them to share ideas and find job and funding opportunities, the latest study confirms what many scientists have long suspected to be true: men give more talks than women. ‘Women are concentrated in these student and early careers stages and there are just fewer speaking opportunities at those career stages,’ said Dr Heather Ford, first author of the research from the University of Cambridge. Writing in the journal Nature Communications, Ford and colleagues examined the numbers of male and female scientists giving talks at the world’s largest geophysical conference: the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall meeting. The team scrutinized lists detailing short summaries of research submitted by scientists for meetings between 2014 and 2016. The team looked at whether the a scientist had been invited to provide an abstract, which often means the scientist will also be asked to give a talk, or whether instead the scientist had submitted an abstract and asked conference organizers to assign them either a talk or the chance to showcase their research with a poster of their results. The team also took note of the gender and career stage of the first author of the work—who is most likely to be giving the presentation—and, in the case of invited authors, who was issuing the invitations. The results reveal, overall, women spoke less than men, accounting for 29% of talks that had been assigned, and 27% of invited speakers. Indeed just over 41% of women who asked convenors to assign them either a talk or the chance to display a poster were asked to speak, compared to almost 45% of men.” https://bit.ly/2HtXMUd
3. STATE DINNER RUNS SMOOTHLY FOR TRUMP ADMINISTRATION: The Trump administration's first White House state dinner took place Tuesday without any major glitches, as it honored French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte. The event proved to be a success for First Lady Melania Trump, who oversaw the event's design. CNN: "Leading up to the state dinner, Trump spent weeks educating herself about the protocol and history of special White House occasions. The tradition of the state dinner dates back to the Grant administration in 1874, and this will be the 14th time the White House has hosted France for a state dinner, per the White House Historical Association. Every last detail for Tuesday evening's state dinner has been thoughtfully and carefully overseen by the first lady, who, unlike some of her predecessors, did not hire an event planner or other outside consultants for the event. Relying solely on her own research and aesthetic instincts, Trump crafted a cream and gold color scheme, with details spanning the patterns on the chair cushions to the honey with dessert made by bees in the White House hive. Each of her selections for the Macrons' visit was chosen with meaning behind it, down to the china (from the Clinton presidential era), flowers (white sweet peas and 1,200 branches of cherry blossoms), and menu (rack of lamb with accompanying Cajun-spiced jambalaya, with herbs from the White House Kitchen Garden). It shouldn't be a surprise that Trump wanted to take ownership of planning the dinner; her design background and experience in New York's social circles and entertaining at her multiple homes make her well-suited to set the stage for a diplomatic dinner party on a grand scale. Here, she clearly felt empowered by her personal expertise, something that has been relatively absent in most of her role to date as first lady." https://cnn.it/2KcFwjK
* INDUSTRY NEWS *
John Bibbo, president of Event Source, has been named president-elect of the American Rental Association, an international trade association that serves the equipment-rental industry. Bibbo assumed the role at the end of the Rental Show 2018, the association’s annual convention and trade show that took place in New Orleans in February.
* LOCAL NEWS *
COAST TO COAST: Women in the World, a summit launched by Tina Brown that organizes live journalism events, has launched an event series with the Wing—multi-purpose venues for women with locations in New York and Washington. The events at the Wing locations will take place later this year.
Kalahari Resorts and Conventions has named Tifani Jones corporate director of sales. Jones will oversee the sales teams at the company’s locations in Wisconsin Dells; Sandusky, Ohio; Pocono Mountains, Pennsylvania; and a forthcoming fourth location in Round Rock, Texas.
CHICAGO: The Music Institute of Chicago’s 2018 Anniversary Gala will take place May 21 at the Fairmont Hotel.
BCD Meetings & Events has launched Simple Meetings, a self-service online tool that gives users access to a global sourcing inventory and instantly book meeting space and guest rooms.
LAS VEGAS: The WVC Annual Conference will take place February 17-20, 2019, at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. After surveying more than 14,000 participants, organizers decided to shorten the event's duration by one day and push it to February, when room rates were more affordable.
LONDON: Teenage cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason will perform at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle May 19.
LOS ANGELES: Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle brand, Goop, will host the third In Goop Health wellness summit on June 9. This is the second time the event has come to Los Angeles; it also hosted a New York edition in January.
The 91st Academy Awards will air live on ABC February 24, 2019. Nominations will be announced January 22, 2019.
The Associates for Breast and Prostate Cancer Studies will host its annual Mother’s Day Luncheon & Boutiques at the Four Seasons Los Angeles Hotel at Beverly Hills on May 9.
For information on upcoming events in Los Angeles, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/losangeles
NEW YORK: FestForums, the bicoastal festival-industry conference, will host its New York edition May 3-4 at 225 Liberty Street.
The Trevor Project will honor Lena Waithe, Greg Berlanti, and Dominic Barton at TrevorLive New York, the organization’s annual fund-raiser taking place June 11 at Cipriani Wall Street.
Ben & Jack’s Steakhouse on Fifth Avenue will close May 1 due to a substantial increase in rent. The restaurant will focus on its flagship location on 44th Street.
For information on upcoming events in New York, visit Masterplanner: http://www.masterplanneronline.com/newyork
SAN FRANCISCO: Stark Reality Restaurant Group in Sonoma County is planning to reopen Willi's Wine Bar on October 9—one year after it was destroyed in the wildfires. The new location will be in Santa Rosa, and will feature a revamped menu with classic dishes alongside new small plates.
TORONTO: The 28th annual Inside Out Toronto L.G.B.T. Film Festival will take place May 24-June 3 at TIFF Bell Lightbox.
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With contributions from Claire Hoffman in Los Angeles and Beth Kormanik, Michele Laufik, and Ian Zelaya in New York.
BizBash Daily is the must-read digest of event industry news from BizBash.com.
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