At least for now, then, robots legally are things, not persons. But neither category quite fits. Instead, robots are outlaws: they lie outside the protection of the law, and their actions are not answerable to it. - The New Yorker

The battle for the role of AI in higher education this fall is being fought over when and where AI and other digital technologies should be used. This combat ignores the larger crisis: how can colleges verify that they are preparing students to become productive members of society in a digital age? - Post Alley

A half-century after poststructuralism broke out of Parisian lecture halls and stumbled into unexpected acclaim and vitriol in the English-speaking world, we now have enough distance from the culture wars of the 1980s and ’90s to look back on theory with clearer vision. Or so it would seem. - Hedgehog Review

‘Sceptic’ comes from the Greek skeptikos, meaning enquirer, and has a long and serious pedigree in philosophy. Yet, since the 1990s, the term has been hijacked by science-denial movements, giving us oxymorons like ‘climate sceptic’, ‘vaccine sceptic’, and ‘evolution sceptic’. - Aeon

The former chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entertainment group has obtained a near-£15m investment for his UK music tech startup that hopes to recreate classic concerts by manifesting musicians as digital avatars. - The Guardian

At the event, about workers’ rights and the upcoming Olympics in L.A., “protesters from the Fair Games Coalition — wearing Jedi robes and Jar Jar Binks masks and carrying lightsabers — rallied together outside the new museum.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

What with the ongoing battle over the Kennedy Center, Trump administration staffers are reportedly trying to find other spots to which his name could be added without legal wrangling. An MS NOW report said that among the places aides considered was the site of Lincoln’s assassination, a suggestion Trump himself angrily denies. - AlterNet

“Executive Director Matt Floca cited recent studies of roofing damage he says could harm pedestrians in a status report filed Wednesday evening. ... Floca has said the current shutdown is separate from the board’s decision" to close indefinitely, which requires the court's approval, "and was prompted by immediate safety concerns." - The Washington Post...

Four years into the ChatGPT era, colleges may be further from solving AI cheating than they were when it launched.  - The Atlantic

“The museum closure is part of new Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s attempts to rectify his predecessor, Viktor Orbán’s, control of state media and arts and culture entities. … (Culture minister Zoltán) Tarr said that the museum would reopen later this year ‘pending a review of the exhibition’s content.’” - ARTnews

Internal emails and documents obtained by The New York Times demonstrate the political capture of the institution by the whims of Mr. Trump, who at the start of his second term installed a board that made him chairman. Audiences and donors fled, and its finances cratered. - The New York Times

For years, the architecture of higher education quietly encouraged students to believe that the point of a class, and indeed of the entire college experience, was the credential. But if the grade is the goal, and a machine can get you the grade, the machine is not a shortcut; it’s just efficiency. - The...

“The organisation has reported … 8.3 million streams across BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds. Proms content generated 65.8 million views across BBC social media platforms. ... The Last Night of the Proms achieved 505,000 live plays, up 12% on 2025’s figure of 450,000, and in total 10.2 million users watched Proms broadcasts on television.”...

Money troubles aren’t new to the orchestra, but in the wake of the recent death of longtime benefactor Martha Ingram, “the organization does not have sufficient cash on hand to sustain operations at its current level. The Symphony's executive committee is developing a restructuring plan designed to stabilize the organization.” - Nashville Scene

The TSO closed its 2026 fiscal year with an operating surplus of approximately $34,000, thereby increasing its accumulated surplus to nearly $1 million—putting it in its strongest financial position ever. - Colin's Column

“Artistic planning involves putting together an organization's programming, both in the near term and the long term. Members of the artistic planning staff work with the organization's music director, guest conductors, visiting artists and their agents, as well as the orchestra's finance, marketing and philanthropy departments and donors.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

“When he was hired to costume back-to-back productions for the Met this season — something no designer has undertaken in decades — Montana Levi Blanco’s survival instincts kicked in. It would be virtually impossible ... to create 800 costumes from scratch given the time, energy and resources needed. So he wouldn’t.” - The New...

Attendance at the DOB has been disappointing in recent years; it was time for something different. Aviel Cahn, who became the company’s general director this year, is making major programming changes. His first new staging there is nothing less than Stockhausen’s Mittwoch aus Licht, complete with camel and helicopters. - The New York Times

When Kim and Jon Shirley visited Alexander Calder’s Mountains and Clouds (1976/1986) in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building, the stabile portion of the sculpture (the mountains) was there, but the mobile part (clouds) had been removed due to structural damage. Ten years and $10 million later, the clouds are back. - ARTnews

The decades-long effort got its final push with the bipartisan efforts of Congressman John Lewis of Georgia, a stalwart of the civil rights movement, and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas; the bill establishing the museum was signed by President George W. Bush in 2003. - The Smithsonian

“Yves Goldstein will leave (the new contemporary art museum) two days after its opening on November 28. He has spent a decade leading Kanal through the planning and renovation of its home in a massive Art Deco building, which formerly housed a Citroën garage, and navigating a partnership with the Centre Pompidou.” - Artforum

“The (Barnes Foundation) exhibit ‘Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America’ examines six renowned Japanese-American artists whose work defined modern American art and design in the mid-to-late 20th century — all of whom were severely impacted by mass incarceration” in wartime internment camps. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

“Alejandro Mario Yllanes was a protégé of Diego Rivera, who championed the bravery with which Yllanes made searingly political works. Yllanes … left little trace of his life after 1950, leaving a cache of paintings, engravings and documents in an apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.” - The New York Times

The fund “will provide resources for legal defense, public advocacy, and community action when historic places and the laws that protect them are under threat,” Brent Leggs, the trust’s president, said in an interview on Tuesday. - Washington Post

C'était ça ou mourir (It Was That Or Die) by Thélyson Orélien has sold over 35,000 copies and been hailed as a revelation in France’s literary mediasphere. On Monday, an anonymous X (Twitter) account claimed the AI-spotting software Pangram found that “this novel was written almost entirely by an artificial intelligence.” - Euronews

Many literary translators fear that if machine-assisted translation becomes the norm in book publishing, it could fundamentally change the nature of their profession. - Publishers Weekly

Today, bibliotherapy takes many different forms, from literature courses run for prison inmates to reading circles for elderly people suffering from dementia. Sometimes it can simply mean one-on-one or group sessions for “lapsed” readers who want to find their way back to an enjoyment of books.  - The New Yorker

Persistent provincial underfunding forced the Annapolis Valley Regional Library system to announce plans earlier this year to permanently close five of its ten libraries. Many are tired of—even enraged by—what they perceive as the government’s assault on culture, treaty rights, and the environment.  - The Walrus

Franzen used to think TV was the “enemy” of the serious novelist. But after the HBO series failed, he watched Breaking Bad, Nurse Jackie and Silicon Valley and loved them. In the age of social media, AI and the endless scroll, TV has started to look like a “friend”, he says now. - The...

“The Department (of Corrections) first proposed banning incarcerated people from receiving physical books last year in order to tamp down on drugs making their way into prisons. … (The focus will be shifted) to ban ‘misbehaving’ third-parties selling publications laced with drugs to incarcerated people.” - Arkansas Advocate

With an 11 am PT virtual hearing before Judge Martinez-Olguin widely viewed as a rubber stamping of the September 21 antitrust settlement and hence the mega-merger itself, the granting of Block the Merger’s move makes it almost certain the deal won’t be formally approved today. - Deadline

“These promises are extremely, exquisitely hard to enforce,” said Alvaro Bedoya, an antitrust lawyer, likening Paramount’s concessions to a pinkie promise. If Paramount fell short of its spending commitments, for instance, attorneys general would need to rely on the company’s own data to prove it, Bedoya said. - The Wall Street Journal

The general mood on both sides of the Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance aisles on Monday was shock and surprise over the sudden turn of events. - Variety

Such “boards” have been a part of other news-company acquisitions that have raised similar concerns about antitrust or editorial control. These boards’ effectiveness has been, to be generous, extremely limited. - The Atlantic

“NPR, PBS, several local public broadcasters and the Trump administration agreed in July to dismiss the last remaining claims in the consolidated cases. The move ends the litigation and leaves intact the court’s March decision permanently blocking key provisions of the executive order, which the administration did not appeal.” - Inside Radio

Paramount’s C-suite must have been popping bottles of champagne as the press office engines of the major studio and 12 state attorney generals typed up the settlement term boilerplate language of what ended up being a stern finger-wave to Ellison’s team. - The Hollywood Reporter

The “Dancehouse” will be part of the WestK Performing Arts Centre, opening next year in the West Kowloon Cultural District. The theater will be the new home of Hong Kong Ballet, which will be able to increase the length of its season. - South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)

The first dance created by the former New York City Ballet principal and Broadway star looks at the young man to whom Shakespeare addressed over 100 sonnets. The piece, Lord Chamberlain’s Men, imagines that he was an actor in the playwright’s company — and an inspiration for Romeo and Juliet. - The New York...

The kids have Ideas, too, like their dream roles: “I kind of want to be a rat. … I think a rat just is fun because it makes you laugh a lot.” - Boston Globe

Nicholas Dragga, currently executive director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, will take the same job at the Fort Worth-based company as of January 1. He succeeds Vanessa Logan, who stepped down in June 2025 to become managing director of Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut. - Fort Worth Report

“During Angelini’s (31-year) tenure as artistic director, Tulsa Ballet has grown from a well-regarded regional troupe — best known for its efforts to preserve the Ballet Russe traditions championed by its founders, Roman Jasinski and Moscelyne Larkin — into a versatile dance company that many critics consider among the best in the United States.”...

For four weeks, MoMA is turning its large second-floor atrium over to choreographer Sarah Michelson, who has made a piece titled “nowhere.” “At the forefront of ‘nowhere’”, writes Gia Kourlas, “is a question that only seems simple: What is a dance?” - The New York Times

“Over the last three decades, a growing cohort of theater artists across Latin America have … used journalism, documentary and memoir to explore the boundaries between fact and fiction while confronting their region’s troubled past and turbulent present in a genre known as Theater of the Real.” - T — The New York Times...

“As well as reducing standard rehearsal weeks from six to five days,” the new agreement “includes the reduction of the working week from 44 hours to 40 hours, meaning any performers and stage management working more than 40 hours in a week for NTS will receive extra pay.” - The Stage (UK)

“There are few places on this planet where we can simply be together and be present. I understand you like filming the curtain call – and it is kind of flattering in a way – but for anyone who is filming the show, please don’t, because it spoils it for the next group of...

“Four Titanique off-Broadway investors initiated an arbitration against the lead producer of the ‘splash hit musical,’ which has said it was defrauded by its former general manager and reported losing $3 million in its final 18 months.” - Broadway Journal

If these institutions were really facing an existential financial situation, “they’re acting commercial” wasn’t much of a fair, nor novel, accusation. The question soon turned to: Once commercial capital entered the nonprofit stream, whose risk did the nonprofit’s advantages reduce, and who captured the resulting value? - Jared Harbour

The Toronto production was “a Rosetta stone of funny people that featured then unknowns such as Martin Short, Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, Victor Garber and Paul Shaffer.” - The New York Times

“The landmark New York prosecution began nearly a decade ago with multiple accusers, but after retrials, mistrials, acquittals and appeals, it was whittled to a single victim: Miriam Haley, who … had worked briefly on the Weinstein-produced reality series Project Runway.” - AP

“Dolly Parton‘s longtime manager has filed for a restraining order against her nephew, who until being fired a week ago was her head of security, alleging that the family member is engaged in a campaign of coercion, extortion and violent threats that has terrified employees and associates of her management company.” - Variety

The inquest by the Greenville County, South Carolina Coroner’s Office ruled that the actress died accidentally from the toxic effects of fentanyl combined with Xanax, the muscle relaxant methocarbamol, and quetiapine, an antipsychotic. - The Hollywood Reporter

The book sold a reported 22,646 copies in its first week, landing it at #3 on The New York Times bestseller list. They are very low relative to the names involved. MrBeast has one of the largest communities with over 515 million YouTube followers. - Ben Liebmann (LinkedIn)

The actor, known for her ten years on New Tricks as well as the film Sexy Beast, was meeting her then-boyfriend’s parents, one of whom was an award-winning director. They left her alone in the room with the trophies. - The Guardian (UK)

“Do not whine to Kathy Griffin about cancel culture. She’s lived through it, not the version stand-up bros claim to have suffered during their latest Netflix specials.” - Salon