Remember a couple of weeks ago when La Cieca called that NYT story about a potential strike at the New York City Opera “the scariest Friday news dump ever?”  Well, she was wrong, wrong, wrong.  The winner and new bone-chilling champion of all Friday news dumps just sneaked into the Times online. (Those of you with super-keen vision may be able to find it on page C-2 of tomorrow’s print edition.)

In brief: since last fall, City Opera has “raided its endowment of a total of $23.5 million” to pay off debt and to meet current payroll “and other needs.”  Toward the end of the Daniel J. Wakin piece is the casual observation that “…the company’s endowment now stands at $10.4 million.”

Yes, that’s right. NYCO has spent over two-thirds of its endowment — seven months before they open their doors for a two-week fall season.

“Arts, Briefly,” indeed.