The Judith Rothschild Foundation, which came under fire last month for failing to honor any of its 2009 grants aimed at raising interest in under-appreciated American artists, has started sending out checks, writes The New York Times.

The delay, which the sole foundation trustee Harvey S. Shipley Miller attributed to a serious accident he suffered last fall, prompted some recipients to complain to the New York State attorney general's office. One of the complainants, Natalie Edgar, of the Philip Pavia Trust, said she has gotten a promised $7,000, and the Sam Glankoff Collection received its $10,000 grant along with a note of apology from Mr. Miller.

In other arts news, lower-than-expected autumn ticket sales have dealt another blow to the strapped Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, the Times reports.

The cellist John Koen, chairman of the ensemble's players' committee, told the newspaper the weak sales made "a bad situation a little worse" but that the orchestra has raised more than half of a planned $15-million emergency fund aimed at bridging the current financial crisis.

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