“The contests appear to be designed for virality, with young competitors often demonstrating exaggerated versions of popular TikTok dance moves for the audience. Outrageousness seems to be the point of these battles, which have no apparent criteria, judges, or rules. Instead, contestants compete for crowd reaction and are rewarded with attention.” - CNN (MSN)
In one moment, you see children playing on the grass, and you are genuinely moved. In the second moment, you see the children playing, and you think how nice it would be to be moved. The latter is the substance of kitsch. - 3 Quarks Daily
The play, titled Odysseus, Maeotis (an ancient name for the Sea of Azov), is performed by a mix of professional actors and active-duty soldiers. Says serviceman Daniil Mireshkin, who plays Odysseus. “This combination of myth and modernity allows us to … understand just how critical the question of return is.” - AP
In one chat that I share with literary friends, we sometimes joke that after we’re all dead, if historians try to unearth our correspondence, they will find only this sprawling, years-long museum of absurdities. - The New Yorker
As research, including my own, into this breadth of ancient media production has developed over time, one theme has emerged again and again: as theatrical performance grew into a cultural staple, it was accompanied by the fear that just as art imitates life, so art could overcome reality itself. - The Conversation
The beloved librarian and host of the kids’ TV show reboot, Threets made news earlier this week when he said on social media “I am not okay” and checked into a psychiatric hospital. Now he has revealed some details of how he’s been suffering and what his diagnoses are. - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
Big, established names are using it to make more money. Non-stars say the number of jobs has plummeted and that they are being tricked into training their replacements. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
“It was very woke,” Dan Scavino explained. “It was by the gentleman who did Obama’s portrait. And it was aesthetically terrifying.” Strong words for a group portrait of four fully dressed, largely expressionless sitters in front of a background adorned with flowers. - The New York Times
The fight about these priceless works — where they should remain and who can have access to them — is really a battle over cultural patrimony and national sovereignty, and it’s one the Mexican government seems to have forfeited. - The New York Times
“One of the most distinctive features of Schlemm’s career” — which ran from the 1940s to the 1990s — “was the evolution of her voice and repertoire. Having begun with lyric soprano roles, she gradually moved into dramatic soprano and mezzo-soprano territory, while becoming particularly admired for her abilities as a singing actress.” - Moto Perpetuo
“Many contributors, especially prominent politicians or CEOs, employ speechwriters or hire a Beltway writing shop,” he wrote. “How different is that from using AI to streamline an essay?” - The Atlantic
“She says her translation methods have become more sophisticated and that enough time has passed for her to see some flaws in her work. … The new edition will be longer, she says, and will better reflect the differing social worlds of Homer’s poem.” - AP
The platinum necklace with 673 diamonds, originally made for Egypt’s royal family and reportedly worth more than $4 million, was taken in a smash-and-grab at Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts. But at least the thieves paid for their tickets. - AFP (Yahoo!)
“In what came as a bolt from the blue to many, Powerhouse Parramatta staff were told on Thursday afternoon that chief executive Lisa Havilah would stand aside while an investigation (by the New South Wales state government) into governance and procurement practices at the museum is completed.” - Limelight (Australia)
“We are writing to let you know,” said AFM Local 6 in a statement, “that the musicians of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra will not be able to perform on Opening Night, September 12, unless management has reached a fair contract with us before then.” - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
“Portrait of Catrina Hooghsaet (1657) is ‘one of the artist’s most exceptional later works’ says the government. The painting, which (is valued at £71 million and) has been in the UK since the mid-18th century, was sold at Christie’s in a private sale last year.” - The Art Newspaper
“A judge on Thursday expressed skepticism about the Kennedy Center’s intention to return President Donald Trump’s name to the historic performing arts venue by early next month, challenging the board’s insistence on moving forward even in the face of a court ruling that blocked and reversed a previous effort.” - AP
In one moment, you see children playing on the grass, and you are genuinely moved. In the second moment, you see the children playing, and you think how nice it would be to be moved. The latter is the substance of kitsch. - 3 Quarks Daily
In one chat that I share with literary friends, we sometimes joke that after we’re all dead, if historians try to unearth our correspondence, they will find only this sprawling, years-long museum of absurdities. - The New Yorker
In some cases, you need to make it (ever-so-slightly) harder for people to sign up for the program to help them feel like it’s worth the effort, suggests research forthcoming in Management Science. - Harvard Business Review
If we fail to think through and delimit the role of AI in our lives, we risk undermining the intelligibility of our own guiding cultural concepts, and thus initiating a period in our own society of which it may someday be possible to say that “nothing happened.” - The Point
A massive volcanic eruption in AD536 has led historians to describe it as the “worst year to be alive”. Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia were plunged into darkness for 18 months. Temperatures in the summer months fell by 1.5˚C to 2.5˚C, initiating one of the coldest decades in the past two millennia. - The Conversation
Perceiving, experiencing and thinking are inherently embodied activities. The body is not just a physical object, it is a living organism that is in constant flux. It is also part of the social, cultural and material world. - Nature
“A judge on Thursday expressed skepticism about the Kennedy Center’s intention to return President Donald Trump’s name to the historic performing arts venue by early next month, challenging the board’s insistence on moving forward even in the face of a court ruling that blocked and reversed a previous effort.” - AP
“The next big gust tore the tarp from our shade structure. I scrambled to secure the flapping tent walls, using water jugs and costume bags as weight. Above the screaming wind, I heard poles clanging as neighboring camps were blown to smithereens. Then, in a lull, I heard a faint voice. ‘Help!’” - The...
The figures are growing. Live performance attendance has increased by 1.2 million since 2022, to the highest figures ever. Around three quarters of those surveyed had attended a live performance or festival in 2025. - ArtsHub
The law, Texas Senate Bill 12, would fine business owners up to $10,000 for hosting “sexually oriented performances”; performers would face up to a year in prison. The judge reaffirmed his ruling from three years ago that the law was an overly vague infringement on free speech. - The Texas Tribune
“Without those efforts,” wrote administration attorneys in a court filing, “the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River.” - The Guardian
“The anger is running high across Finistère, where local populations swell to triple their normal size every summer, and heatwave conditions in the south of France have added to the influx this year. … Hostile messages have been scratched on car doors, and holidaymakers from Paris have had insults hurled at them on the street.” - The...
“We are writing to let you know,” said AFM Local 6 in a statement, “that the musicians of the San Francisco Opera Orchestra will not be able to perform on Opening Night, September 12, unless management has reached a fair contract with us before then.” - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
“It was an innovation with a carrot and a stick for the artists who benefited from the extra exposure. ... But the offering also came with a carrot for consumers … and the corresponding stick was particularly ugly.” - Tedium
In many ways, YOLA was the glory of the “¡Bienvenido Gustavo!” Bowl program 17 years ago, and it proved even more so for the goodbye Gustavo, or more accurately “hasta pronto,” see you soon. - Los Angeles Times
Cultural significance and institutional stability are not the same. Even the most renowned orchestras depend on funding, infrastructure, audiences and collective bargaining agreements. When they lose elements of this institutional backbone, it can imperil even the strongest orchestra. - Washington Post (MSN)
“The Los Angeles-based improviser and former The Late Late Show With James Corden bandleader, who headlined San Francisco's Downtown First Thursday party earlier this year, was taken off the Northern California festival bill … following a recent investigation into allegations involving the comedian and musician's relationships and drug use.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
“The trumpets of the pharaoh Tutankhamun!” booms the BBC announcer. A short intake of air and then — the blare of a trumpet which for more than 3,000 years had lain silent inside the boy-king’s tomb. - CNN
“It was very woke,” Dan Scavino explained. “It was by the gentleman who did Obama’s portrait. And it was aesthetically terrifying.” Strong words for a group portrait of four fully dressed, largely expressionless sitters in front of a background adorned with flowers. - The New York Times
The fight about these priceless works — where they should remain and who can have access to them — is really a battle over cultural patrimony and national sovereignty, and it’s one the Mexican government seems to have forfeited. - The New York Times
The platinum necklace with 673 diamonds, originally made for Egypt’s royal family and reportedly worth more than $4 million, was taken in a smash-and-grab at Vienna’s Museum of Applied Arts. But at least the thieves paid for their tickets. - AFP (Yahoo!)
“In what came as a bolt from the blue to many, Powerhouse Parramatta staff were told on Thursday afternoon that chief executive Lisa Havilah would stand aside while an investigation (by the New South Wales state government) into governance and procurement practices at the museum is completed.” - Limelight (Australia)
“Many contributors, especially prominent politicians or CEOs, employ speechwriters or hire a Beltway writing shop,” he wrote. “How different is that from using AI to streamline an essay?” - The Atlantic
“She says her translation methods have become more sophisticated and that enough time has passed for her to see some flaws in her work. … The new edition will be longer, she says, and will better reflect the differing social worlds of Homer’s poem.” - AP
AI has both clarified what we should be doing when we teach writing and made it much harder to teach writing than in the days prior to the technology’s existence. - InsideHigherEd
A cyber attack on one of the country's major publishing distributors has left bookshops and authors struggling to fill their shelves in the lead-up to their busiest trading period. - ABC Australia
“The employee worked at Amazon’s VGT3 warehouse, which is housed in the same facility as LAS8, where Amazon operates its print-on-demand business. … The Amazon employee I talked to described what that operation looks like from the warehouse floor.” - 404 Media
The question driving these opening pages is not: “What does it mean to live a good life?” or “What do we owe to people?” or “What can be saved from the ravages of time?” The question I hear is: “Have I impressed you yet?” - Devon Halliday
Big, established names are using it to make more money. Non-stars say the number of jobs has plummeted and that they are being tricked into training their replacements. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
“The Odyssey,” an adaptation of Homer’s epic poem from Christopher Nolan, has surpassed “Deadpool & Wolverine” to become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. - Washington Post
The effort secures the future of the more than 100-year-old facility and is just another investment by Steves in the local community over the past year. - KING 5
“Among creatives who spoke to TheWrap in the past week, skepticism still abounds that the studio could make good on such a lofty goal. ‘In the old days at Warner Bros. they released almost that many movies, but I don't know if the marketplace can bear that,’ said one veteran producer.” - TheWrap (MSN)
“In the era of streaming, binge-watching is easier than ever. So, it seems potentially incongruous that appointment viewing — watching a television show when it first airs — is so capable of seizing the collective attention of viewers. But fandom is a powerful force, and appointment viewing has tamed the beast into something fearsome.” -...
“The contests appear to be designed for virality, with young competitors often demonstrating exaggerated versions of popular TikTok dance moves for the audience. Outrageousness seems to be the point of these battles, which have no apparent criteria, judges, or rules. Instead, contestants compete for crowd reaction and are rewarded with attention.” - CNN (MSN)
Rachael Gunn, the middle-aged Australian breaker who went viral worldwide after coming dead last in the 2024 Olympics: “It’s part of society now, if you end up online, people are going to rubbish you, but maybe we need to reframe it as a badge of honor that you’ve actually done something interesting.” - CNN...
“Pandora … was the first woman, an Eve-like figure, created from clay and given by Zeus to Epimetheus, unbeknownst to him, as a punishment for his brother Prometheus giving humans fire. ‘One of the things I was really driven by was the fact that she was an agent of change,’ says Barton.” - The...
For dancers over 40, retirement is close. A new company, WINNDance, is challenging that assumption, and it’s launching with a roster of names that most companies would kill for. - Gramilano
“Fluency in a variety of movement techniques — including street dance, acrobatics and, especially, parkour — allows these dancers to shape seemingly unbounded interactions with their environments. Is that chain-link fence asking to be hurdled with a flip? Could those four stories of scaffolding become a creative jungle gym?” - The New York Times
The idea is that most people access ballet through a story ballet - often, even usually, Nutcracker, but also Sleeping Beauty. It was, simply, time for a refresh - including 268 new costumes. - PBS
The play, titled Odysseus, Maeotis (an ancient name for the Sea of Azov), is performed by a mix of professional actors and active-duty soldiers. Says serviceman Daniil Mireshkin, who plays Odysseus. “This combination of myth and modernity allows us to … understand just how critical the question of return is.” - AP
As research, including my own, into this breadth of ancient media production has developed over time, one theme has emerged again and again: as theatrical performance grew into a cultural staple, it was accompanied by the fear that just as art imitates life, so art could overcome reality itself. - The Conversation
“In less than a month (at the Volksbühne), the pool has become a window to the rising power of right-wing online media outlets in Germany, underscored debates over who has the right to cool off in public, … and revealed fundamental changes in Berlin’s working class.” - The New York Times
The generally inoffensive nature of these selections seems to reveal an agency that has trimmed its sails (not only financially) and ceded ground to conservative demands in order to survive. - American Theatre
“There's an entire team at work behind the scenes and a good-natured actor who doesn't mind flames, sweating and being unable to use his hands for the entire run time (of Beauty and the Beast). Making it work is a show unto itself.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
Over the next 50 years, until its sudden closing in 2006, the playhouse earned a reputation as one of the leading regional theaters in the country, producing a mix of classic and new plays, many of them hits and some flops. - Miami Herald
The beloved librarian and host of the kids’ TV show reboot, Threets made news earlier this week when he said on social media “I am not okay” and checked into a psychiatric hospital. Now he has revealed some details of how he’s been suffering and what his diagnoses are. - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
“One of the most distinctive features of Schlemm’s career” — which ran from the 1940s to the 1990s — “was the evolution of her voice and repertoire. Having begun with lyric soprano roles, she gradually moved into dramatic soprano and mezzo-soprano territory, while becoming particularly admired for her abilities as a singing actress.” -...
“Tenacious, obsessive and, in the eyes of her critics, relentlessly self-promoting, she became a pop-culture fixture, making brightly colored, instantly recognizable paintings, sculptures and installations that were exhibited at major museums and made her one of the world’s top-selling contemporary artists.” - The Washington Post (MSN)
“Though Curry would forever be the face that launched a thousand Time Warp dances …, he (was) far more than a one-trick pony over a career that spanned more than a half-century.” His roles ranged from Pennywise the Clown (Stephen King’s It) to Mozart (Amadeus, Olivier and Tony nominations) to King Arthur (Spamalot). -...
Gao Zhen, 70, who with Gao Qiang is known for statuary of Mao Zedong such as the “Miss Mao” series of drag sculptures and a firing squad of seven Maos aiming at Jesus, has been sentenced to three years' imprisonment under a law passed years after the works were made. - The Guardian
Following stints as assistant concertmaster of the Met Opera Orchestra and Vancouver Symphony, he took up period instruments in the 1970s and became North America’s first major soloist on Baroque violin. He was an influential teacher; virtually every period violinist in North America at some point studied with him or his students. - Violinist.com
The Vice President of Marketing & Audience Development is a key member of the senior leadership team responsible for executing statewide strategies and organizational goals.
The Department of Theatre and Dance at UC San Diego http://theatre.ucsd.edu invites theatre artists to apply for a tenured faculty position within the Ladder Rank
Theater, dance, and live music artists: how is generative AI affecting your work, income, and creative practices? SMU DataArts and artist Annie Dorsen want your voice in the first survey of its kind. Anonymous, open to all roles and career stages, through Sept 8, 2026. Take it here
“Thieves in Spain have raided the Treasure of Villena – a stunning collection of Bronze Age gold artefacts that has been described as the most important prehistoric trove in Europe – in the latest high-profile smash-and-grab heist on the continent.” - The Guardian
“Tenacious, obsessive and, in the eyes of her critics, relentlessly self-promoting, she became a pop-culture fixture, making brightly colored, instantly recognizable paintings, sculptures and installations that were exhibited at major museums and made her one of the world’s top-selling contemporary artists.” - The Washington Post (MSN)
“Though Curry would forever be the face that launched a thousand Time Warp dances …, he (was) far more than a one-trick pony over a career that spanned more than a half-century.” His roles ranged from Pennywise the Clown (Stephen King’s It) to Mozart (Amadeus, Olivier and Tony nominations) to King Arthur (Spamalot). -...
“Without those efforts,” wrote administration attorneys in a court filing, “the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River.” - The Guardian
In a tellingly worded statement, the union president said, “This groundbreaking agreement offers unprecedented artistic collaboration through all aspects of the artistic process. … It is also an innovative and transformative path forward for American orchestras, involving players as never before in the process of artistic decision making and planning.” - WBUR (Boston)
“Known for her curvy physique, massive blond wigs and skin-tight outfits that served her self-deprecating wit, she was among the most beloved personalities in music and beyond — the rare celebrity whose appeal transcended generations, geography and politics.” - AP
Though the union didn’t answer questions — and management press releases can be pressure tactics of their own — the extension seems like a good sign as “the BSO announced Sunday that a ‘ratification vote’ is in the offing.” - Boston Globe
Why do teachers get so many pedestals - and so, so many opportunities for abuse? “Being perpetually curious is hard work. Grappling with an unruly instrument and the infinite subjectivity of music is extremely hard work.” - The New York Times
The contract expires at midnight tonight (Sunday, August 23). That’s not to say there will be a strike, but the musicians are supportive of a potential strike, which would be the first in the BSO’s history. - WGBH
Wow, OK, way to be just obviously evil. “The printed book is destroyed in the process. The logo of the Amazon team that works at this warehouse, called VGT3, is a dinosaur, brandishing its teeth and with a book in its hands." - 404 Media
A Nick Jonas concert “reminded me of an obscure phrase coined by a 19th-century sociologist – Émile Durkheim’s ‘collective effervescence.’ … Individuals who are normally preoccupied with their personal concerns get swept up into a kind of electric, communal intensity.” - The Guardian (UK)
