Monster Mash: Lockout at Sotheby’s; Oscar to James Earl Jones

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Enraged: Art handlers at Sotheby’s picketed outside the company’s New York headquarters after being locked out over a contract dispute. (Wall Street Journal)

Special honor: James Earl Jones is to receive an honorary Oscar to put on the shelf with his Emmy, Grammy and Tony awards. Oprah Winfrey is also to be an honoree. (Los Angeles Times)

Culture cash: The National Endowment for the Humanities has announced $40 million in grants, including $3.2 million for scholars, museums and documentary filmmakers in California. (Los Angeles Times)

Chopping block: The beleaguered New York City Opera is eliminating the position of music director, which is held by George Manahan. (New York Times)

Cultural diplomacy: Israel’s Museum on the Seam is actively courting Arab and Muslim artists. (Associated Press)

New hire: El Museo del Barrio in New York has named Margarita Aguilar as its new director. (Associated Press, via Wall Street Journal)

Public nudity: Officials arrested participants in a nude, site-specific piece of performance art on Wall Street. (New York Times)

Celebrating: Kathleen Marshall will direct the gala performance for the reopening of City Center in New York. (Playbill)

Teaming up: The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore has entered into a partnership with the Roemer and Pelizaeus Museum in Hildesheim, Germany. (Baltimore Sun)

Adults only: A tour through the new Museum of Eroticism in Moscow. (Los Angeles Times)

Also in the L.A. Times: Art critic Christopher Knight reviews Charles Ray’s ‘Boy With a Frog’ at the Getty Center.

-- David Ng

[Updated: A previous version of this post misspelled the name of Margarita Aguilar.]