“As a creative, I have really enjoyed creating her,” she says. “It’s been just like a writer creating characters. You fall in love with your characters when you’re writing them. It’s a wonderful process. It wasn’t like I just made her in a second, and that was it. You know, it took a long time.” - Variety

Music without instruments and lyrics without meaning. Endless reboots, sequels and superheroes in the cinema. After a burst of magnificent TV dramas in the noughties, every glitzy new show is hailed as a must-see when most are mediocre. The algorithm has vanquished imagination. - The Economist

 Of course, with mass production comes surplus and, then, refuse. We containerize actual trash because otherwise debris gets on everything else and makes everything less good. AI is, arguably, doing the same on the internet. It’s clear we think of a lot of AI as trash, though we’re not doing much to clean it up.  - Fast Company

Whether we like it or not, chatbots are here to stay. It’s not necessarily a problem, but it risks becoming one if people use chatbots in harmful ways. I’m going to help you avoid that. - Psyche

People with higher levels of dopamine are more likely to choose a harder task with a higher reward than an easier, low-reward task. Low dopamine doesn’t reduce focus, but it’s believed it provokes giving more weight to the perceived cost of an activity instead of the potential reward. - 3 Quarks Daily

As people embrace these transformative tools, they risk eroding capacities and experiences that embody values other than seamlessness and efficiency. - The Atlantic

The results from the three-year pilot were clear: artists were able to make work and less dependent on other government assistance, and every €1 in cost returned €1.39 in value to the Irish economy. Even so, the government, though it made the program permanent, is keeping it small-scale. - Novara Media (UK)

In the face of a revolutionary change that many educators believe will alter the career trajectories of school-aged kids and the instructional methods of their schools, a handful of districts across the country have responded with drastic measures to meet the moment. - Edutopia

 There are currently multiple class action lawsuits at various stages, as well as a Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit against the world’s largest concert promoter, Live Nation, which programs concerts at PPG Paints, Acrisure Stadium and PNC Park and owns the ticketing platform Ticketmaster. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Dec. 5 draw, the World Cup’s highest-profile pre-tournament event, was expected to be held in Las Vegas. Trump reportedly swooped in at the 11th hour to offer use of Kennedy Center performance spaces and other facilities, for free, for almost three weeks, requiring cancellation or postponement of scheduled events. - The Washington Post...

Temple, the Pennsylvania state university whose main campus is in North Philadelphia, will renovate Terra Hall, which had been a classroom building for the now-closed University of the Arts, and will move some of its art and music programs there starting in fall 2027. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

“Council members have declared city arts funding off limits for budget cuts next spring, even as they face a projected $111 million deficit. ... While the move falls far short of a long-unfulfilled council pledge known as ‘penny for the arts,’ council members said it’s a strong message.” - The San Diego Union-Tribune (MSN)

Researchers looked at data spanning a decade and involving more than 10,000 relatively healthy people, aged 70 and older, in Australia. People who listened to music most days slashed their risk of developing dementia by 39 percent compared with those who did not regularly listen to music, the study found. - Washington Post

There has already been a clear increase in the number of Japanese-style listening bars across the UK, but the visual arts trend is also harnessing sound system culture, which originated in Jamaica in the 1950s and was initially a cheap, democratic way for neighbourhoods to listen to the latest releases. - The Guardian

Grigorian and Brownlee took male and female singer of the year honors; Theater an der Wien is company of the year; Agnes Baltsa was recognized for lifetime achievement. The Dallas Opera’s women conductors’ institute was awarded for equal opportunity; Glimmerglass took the musical theatre category for Sunday in the Park with George. - Opera...

Is there a unifying theme around the kinds of music being written in the classical world that could indicate an “American style?” (And, as an aside, can we take pride or ownership as a nation in something if we can’t define it?) - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The 32-acre campus, designed by William Rawn Associates of Boston and HKS Architects of Orlando, will include an 1,800-seat concert hall, a 700-seat recital hall, and education center, rehearsal facilities, courtyards, and parkland with wetlands and water features. - Observer (Sarasota)

A staggering 97% of listeners cannot distinguish between artificial intelligence-generated and human-composed songs, a Deezer–Ipsos survey showed on Wednesday, underscoring growing concerns that AI could upend how music is created, consumed and monetized. - Reuters

Some four-fifths of the city’s roofs are covered in the lightweight, malleable, low-maintenance metal. Many of them now need replacing — to prevent leaks in more intense rainstorms and because high summer temperatures turn the rooms below them into ovens. Parisian artisans are finding ways to address these problems. - Smithsonian Magazine

Nigeria's stunning new Museum of West African Art (Mowaa) has found itself in the crosshairs of local power politics on the week it was supposed to - but failed - to open its doors to the public for the first time. - BBC (MSN)

In addition to staff furloughs and suspended or canceled programs, the 2018-2019 shutdown resulted in a loss of some $5 billion, according to the American Alliance of Museums. - NPR

For a decade, See Saw has reigned as the app for art world denizens, but the last year has seen the arrival of new apps and influencers — curator types, reviewers and spirit guides whose mission is to get you to discover art shows, exhibitions and events in New York, even internationally. - The New York Times

“The institution has announced an experimental art lending program that coincides with its new exhibition ‘Letters for the Future,’ created in collaboration with the artist-organized group Department of Transformation, which opened earlier this month.”  The effort mirrors an art lending initiative the library had in the 1950s and ‘60s. - Artnet

For some institutions, a ban on selfie-taking could be an operational choice, tied to staffing levels, available space, or the types of objects on display. - The Art Newspaper

"When we listen to audiobooks produced in the West, they have a Wakandan accent," said Eghosa Imasuen, executive director of Narrative Landscape Press in Lagos, Nigeria. "Nobody talks like that on the continent." - Publishers Weekly

“’The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher – August 6th 1983’ was published in The Guardian in 2014 and gave the title to Mantel’s collection of short stories that year. … Billed as a psychological thriller, the adaptation is by Alexandra Wood and will be directed by John Young at (Liverpool’s) Everyman Theatre in May.” - The Guardian

“Fans of the popular danmei same-sex romance genre, written and read mainly by straight women, say the Chinese government is carrying out the largest crackdown yet on it, effectively neutering the enjoyment. In the world of fantasy, danmei is relatively straightforward: Two men stand in for idealized relationships, from chaste to erotic.” - AP

In 1899, Charles Godfrey Leland published, with the help of Roma Lister, Aradia, or the gospel of the witches, which purported to record an ancient tradition of female-led sorcery in Italy. In the 1950s, “mother of Wicca” Doreen Valiente used the book to shape Wicca as it exists today. - The Public Domain Review

Bucknell University Press is on track to shut down by the end of this fiscal year. Demise of the press is raising broader questions about the future of university publishing as higher education institutions across the country face financial hardship and pressure to prove their return on investment to an increasingly skeptical public. -...

The company likens the feature, called Recaps, to a “previously on” segment at the start of episodes in a TV series. - The Verge

The BBC’s founding father, John Reith, set out what he saw as broadcasting’s true purpose. In the wake of a destructive global conflict, he believed it was radio that could draw out ‘everything that is best in every department of human knowledge, endeavour and achievement’.  - History Today

Not one of the 25 dramas and comedies that movie companies released in North American theaters over the past three months has become a hit, certainly not in the way that Hollywood has historically kept score. - The New York Times

“The BBC says it has apologized to President Donald Trump over an edited interview clip that suggested he encouraged violence ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. The news corporation also said it would not offer compensation in the wake of Trump threatening a $1 billion lawsuit over the edited video.” - Variety

The entertainment behemoth is increasing its spending on content to $24 billion for fiscal 2026. Does this mean more work for underemployed creatives? Actually, most of that spending will be on broadcast rights for sports. - The Hollywood Reporter

“In the space of a few months, a straightforward journalistic skill — editing tape for broadcast — has been behind a $16 million legal settlement, a network’s change in how it offers interviews ... and, now, the resignation of two top leaders at the BBC. The other common denominator: President Donald Trump.” - AP

More than almost any other children’s show, Sesame Street seemed to crack the code on how to simultaneously educate and entertain children. - The Guardian

Bad publicity, funding lost and regained, a change in leadership, “community trust,” and so on. - KERA (Dalllas)

“On Wednesday, Dallas City Council voted to grant $225,000 for cultural programming to (DBDT). Last year, $248,000 in funding was cut in response to (DBDT’s) settlement with the National Labor Relations Board. The agency found merit to dozens of unfair labor practice charges …, including the firing of dancers due to union efforts.” -...

“How? The answer in (one) case was Velcro-covered suits, … just one form of technology that dancers are using to simulate the effects of weightlessness here on Earth. But for some, the end goal is to experience a true lack of gravity by bringing dance to space.” - Dance Magazine

“As (Ruth) Childs carved her own path as a freelance dancer (in Europe), the specter of her aunt’s work loomed. It continued to deter her from making her own choreography, until it inspired her to try.” - The New York Times

And they kept right on dancing. - Radio New Zealand

The auditorium at Queens Quay had been called the Fleck Dance Theatre; early this year, the Harbourfront Centre, which manages Queens Quay, declined to renew the Fleck’s lease. Now the Toronto Stage Company will take over, presenting its own mainstage season there and making it available to dance organizations. - Ludwig Van

Bamako, a city of 3 million, is being squeezed by an Al-Qaeda-affiliated militia which has blocked fuel imports and made travel beyond the capital dangerous. Yet Bamakoans recently raised their spirits with a three-day festival celebrating puppetry, which has deep roots in Mali. - AP

The Muppets’ long-overdue Broadway debut is over almost as soon as it began, the show now closing this Sunday. It was originally scheduled to run until Jan. 18, 2026; instead, at the time of its closing, Playbill reports, it will have played just 20 preview performances and four regular ones. - The Daily Beast

“To succeed, critically and commercially, the stage version must balance the horror the novel describes with enough verve and spectacle to delight a discerning, CGI-attuned crowd. Are the odds in its favor?” Journalist Alexis Soloski visits the show at its purpose-built theatre in London. - The New York Times

The Last Ship flopped in its initial Broadway run in 2014-15. Sting has now revised the show, with new songs and a new director, and it will have nine performances at the Met this June after runs in Amsterdam, Paris, and Brisbane. - Playbill

Critic Zachary Stewart considers how the new immersive adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera (titled Masquerade), the drag-ball production of Cats (subtitled The Jellicle Ball), and director Jamie Lloyd’s unconventional revivals of Sunset Boulevard and Evita demonstrate how interesting the ALW shows we all thought were old chestnuts can still be. - TheaterMania

“I think theatre is a catalyst for change,” Sher said. “I don’t think you make theatre pieces to tell people how to change. We tell stories that express people’s ability to handle ambiguity, deal with problems, see conflicts and make decisions.” - New York Observer

“So we have to be a bit careful with that word, right? Because I do think words are important. And that word has been overused and applied to all sorts of things.” Q: “Which type of feminist are you?” “The kind that’s interested in equality under the law.” - AP

“Amid (Trump-era) turbulence, Nora Daley — who generally prefers to avoid the spotlight — has quietly built a reputation as one of the city’s most effective cultural brokers. … In recent years, that has meant retooling the state’s cultural arm, the Illinois Arts Council, where she led a full overhaul of grantmaking as board...

A Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award winner and Oscar nominee for the 1987 film Anna, in which she plays a great Czechoslovak actress trapped in New York’s avant-garde scene, she had over 260 roles in a decades-long career, from Andy Warhol to The Sting to 2006’s Factory Girl. - The Hollywood Reporter

“Parker leveraged his extensive experience in woodworking and guitar repair, along with his maverick streak, to build groundbreaking guitars that went on to be displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.” - The New York Times

Tindall’s The Fields Beneath: The History of One London Village “(1977) was a wonderfully discursive portrait of a community that Mary Shelley had described as an 'odious swamp’” - and it has never been out of print. - The New York Times

She began her carer in theatre and TV and first became widely known as troublemaking parlour maid Sarah on Upstairs, Downstairs. Her turn as the lonely housewife talking to the wall in the one-woman play Shirley Valentine won her an Olivier, a Tony, and, for the film adaptation, an Oscar nomination. - The Hollywood...