“The eight-member Arkansas Educational Television Commission, made up entirely of appointees of the governor, announced … that it planned to disaffiliate from PBS effective July 1, citing annual membership dues of about $2.5 million it described as ‘not feasible.’ … PBS Arkansas is rebranding itself as Arkansas TV and will provide more local content.” - AP
More than 14.7 million seats were filled in 2024-25, according to the latest audience-demographics report from The Broadway League. Among other findings is that, yet again, the average ticket-buyer is a 41-year-old, college educated woman whose household income is over $275K a year. - Deadline
The 91-year-old acting legend, who has age-related macular degeneration, stopped performing because she can’t see her way around a set or read a script anymore. And she says, “I can’t remember what I’m doing tomorrow, I swear to you,” but can still remember quite a lot of Shakespeare. - The Guardian
Since 2020, well over a dozen novels have taken classical music as their setting. Of course, novels about classical music are nothing new. But what is notable about this recent surge in classical music fiction is that many of these texts center on a scathing critique of the industry itself. - Public Books
Well, because that person, Ian Potter, was extraordinarily generous, as his widow and his foundation continue to be. But when your sister gets angry because she was waiting for you at one Ian Potter Museum while you waited for her at another, you realize there must be a better way. - ABC (Australia)
Pittsburgh’s production has evolved its own traditions and superstitions. During some performances, performers pass a Heinz ketchup packet while onstage, like a hot potato. Whoever has it at the end loses. Another tradition: Dancers owe a dollar for every mistake. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The White House has explained the East Wing’s demolition as “renovation,” and the necessary prelude to a multimillion-dollar ballroom. This is the architectural equivalent of a celebrity-style makeover: a redo to admire as a luxury commodity, an old building rejuvenated, history erased. - The New York Times
The CPB is set to shut down after Congress approved President Trump’s request to rescind its funding. The Center for American Rights said the CPB shutdown should be used as an opportunity to reassign spectrum used by NPR and PBS stations to other entities. - Ars Technica
Verse was used as a political tool going back all the way to the Revolutionary War. Walt Whitman considered poetry to democracy, which “waits the coming of its bards … in the twilight of dawn.” And the connection of poetry to politics continues today with Joy Harjo and Amanda Gorman. - JSTOR Daily
Classical music’s survival instincts proved reliable. New leaders of L.A.’s arts institutions are bringing vitality to the region, empowering musicians and giving fans hope and optimism. - Los Angeles Times
After the Santa Monica Police Department responded to a call about an assault at a house around 9:20 p.m., officers found Sykes, 71, with critical injuries consistent with a stabbing, the authorities said in a news release. He was pronounced dead at the scene. - The New York Times
The National Ballet of Canada’s costumes, designed by Broadway mainstay Santo Loquasto, have absorbed a lot of wear, tear, and sweat over three decades. Here wardrobe chief Stacy Dimitropoulos, resident cutter Chris Read, and several company dancers talk about costume care and maintenance. - Toronto Life
For this set of compulsive users, AI has become a primary interface through which they interact with the world. The emails they write, the life decisions they make, and the questions that consume their mind all filter through AI first. “It’s like a real addiction.” - The Atlantic
In Hollywood, concern about whether Warner Bros. will remain a theatre-centered business is haunted by historical echoes of earlier seismic shifts in the movie business. It seems existential, perhaps portending the end of mainstream moviegoing. - The New Yorker
Every detail of the ceremony appeared to have been plucked from Trump’s mood board, an indelible blend of revanchist impulses and eighties camp. - The New Yorker
“The three-year licensing deal will let users generate videos using Sora, OpenAI’s short-form AI video platform, of more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar characters. ... ChatGPT will also be able to generate images of Disney’s multibrand licensed characters.” - The Wall Street Journal (MSN)
“According to data released ... on Wednesday, less than 13% of admissions in (2024-25) came from the surrounding New York suburbs, which was the lowest percentage on Broadway in 30 years. The demographic, which once made up 20% of the audience, has been trending down over the past few years.” - The Hollywood Reporter
And no, it’s not in Abu Dhabi. It will be in the south of the Netherlands, in the high-tech hub of Eindhoven. The new museum, planned to cover more than 3,500 square meters (37,673 square feet) near the city’s central railway station, is scheduled to open in six to eight years. - AP
Next September, the French contralto-turned-conductor will begin a four-year term as music and artistic director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo in Monaco. She succeeds Kazuki Yamada, music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the UK. - Moto Perpetuo
The Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building in Washington, D.C. contains perhaps the most important New Deal-era murals in the city — works by Philip Guston and Seymour Vogel as well as Ben Shahn’s monumental The Meaning of Social Security. The Trump administration is currently soliciting bids for the building’s demolition. - The New Republic
The White House has explained the East Wing’s demolition as “renovation,” and the necessary prelude to a multimillion-dollar ballroom. This is the architectural equivalent of a celebrity-style makeover: a redo to admire as a luxury commodity, an old building rejuvenated, history erased. - The New York Times
For this set of compulsive users, AI has become a primary interface through which they interact with the world. The emails they write, the life decisions they make, and the questions that consume their mind all filter through AI first. “It’s like a real addiction.” - The Atlantic
When these systems become dysfunctional, people who were once highly motivated can become pathologically apathetic. Whereas previously they might have been curious, highly engaged and productive – at work, in their social lives and in their creative thinking – they can suddenly seem like the opposite. - The Guardian
We are running out of intelligence tests that humans can pass reliably and AI models cannot. By those benchmarks, and if we accept that intelligence is essentially computational — the view held by most computational neuroscientists — we must accept that a working ‘simulation’ of intelligence actually is intelligence. - Nature
“Long before he became an unlikely political force, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani was just another 20-something trying to squeeze a laugh out of his Saturday improv class in Manhattan.” - The New York Times
Well, because that person, Ian Potter, was extraordinarily generous, as his widow and his foundation continue to be. But when your sister gets angry because she was waiting for you at one Ian Potter Museum while you waited for her at another, you realize there must be a better way. - ABC (Australia)
Every detail of the ceremony appeared to have been plucked from Trump’s mood board, an indelible blend of revanchist impulses and eighties camp. - The New Yorker
The Plaza Theatre had a star-studded opening in 1936, with the premiere of the Greta Garbo vehicle Camille. But it fell on hard times and closed in 2014. It has just reopened after a $34 million renovation and already has over 100 events scheduled, including classical, jazz, and film. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
At Lectures on Tap, “attendees hear thought-provoking talks from experts on wide-ranging topics such as Taylor Swift's use of storytelling in her music, how AI technology is being used to detect cardiovascular diseases, the psychology of deception and the quest for alien megastructures — all in a fun, low-stakes environment.” - Los Angeles Times...
“Dozens of Philadelphia artists across disciplines will present more than 30 original works, staged from late May to July 2026 in venues around Philadelphia, coinciding with the Fourth of July and FIFA World Cup matches as part of the city’s Semiquincentennial events.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
“Elon Musk responded with his trademark tact and professionalism by posting ‘Bullshit’ on X in response to the announcement.” Then “Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, accused the Commission of abusing an exploit to boost the reach of the announcement and responded by shutting down its ad account.” - The Verge
Since 2020, well over a dozen novels have taken classical music as their setting. Of course, novels about classical music are nothing new. But what is notable about this recent surge in classical music fiction is that many of these texts center on a scathing critique of the industry itself. - Public Books
Classical music’s survival instincts proved reliable. New leaders of L.A.’s arts institutions are bringing vitality to the region, empowering musicians and giving fans hope and optimism. - Los Angeles Times
Next September, the French contralto-turned-conductor will begin a four-year term as music and artistic director of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo in Monaco. She succeeds Kazuki Yamada, music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in the UK. - Moto Perpetuo
During the second intermission of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk on Wednesday evening, a very weak Chailly was taken to a Milan hospital and the third act was cancelled. The 72-year conductor, who has a history of heart disease, is in his last season as La Scala’s music director. - Gramilano (Milan)
I love to be surprised: to come across premieres and fresh interpretations that upend my expectations and open my mind to new possibilities. When I think about the past year, those are the moments that stuck with me most. - The New York Times
Korea’s classical music market remains chronically constrained. In an ecosystem dominated by private presenters, major international orchestras often need to schedule at least three concerts per visit to break even -- a scale of economics that leaves little room for profit and even less for broad public access. - Korea Herald
And no, it’s not in Abu Dhabi. It will be in the south of the Netherlands, in the high-tech hub of Eindhoven. The new museum, planned to cover more than 3,500 square meters (37,673 square feet) near the city’s central railway station, is scheduled to open in six to eight years. - AP
The Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building in Washington, D.C. contains perhaps the most important New Deal-era murals in the city — works by Philip Guston and Seymour Vogel as well as Ben Shahn’s monumental The Meaning of Social Security. The Trump administration is currently soliciting bids for the building’s demolition. - The New Republic
The judges praised Nnena Kalu's brightly coloured sculptures - which are haphazardly wrapped in layers of ribbon, string, card and shiny VHS tape - and her drawings of swirling, tornado-like shapes. Kalu, 59, is an autistic, learning disabled artist with limited verbal communication. - BBC
When 100 of the restituted sculptures were exhibited last month in Benin City, there was no high-tech security and the labels were on paper stuck to the walls. Meanwhile, the flashy new Museum of West African Art, built to house the bronzes, isn’t permitted to have or show them. - The New York Times
“Kalu, an autistic artist with learning disabilities and limited verbal communication, … (won) for her colourful drawings and sculptures made from found fabric and VHS tape, becoming the first artist with a learning disability to take home the £25,000 ($33,300) prize.” - The Guardian
This extraordinarily rich design is certainly assertive throughout, but it is completely in synch with the nature of an institution that has been collecting for 255 years, one that inevitably reflects the sprawling curiosity and a worldliness—or lack thereof—among generations of Princetonians. - James Russell
Verse was used as a political tool going back all the way to the Revolutionary War. Walt Whitman considered poetry to democracy, which “waits the coming of its bards … in the twilight of dawn.” And the connection of poetry to politics continues today with Joy Harjo and Amanda Gorman. - JSTOR Daily
“For the next fifty years, females of all ages both delighted and troubled him. He was not sure he ever understood them, but … he wrote about women time and time again.” - Literary Hub
One of the more common doomsday scenarios about social media goes something like this: an internet-addicted public, hooked on the dopamine hits of engagement and the immediate satisfaction of short-form video, loses its ability to read books and gets stupider and more reactionary as a result. - The New Yorker
US diplomats have been ordered to return to using the Times New Roman typeface in official communications, with secretary of state Marco Rubio calling the Biden administration’s decision to adopt Calibri a “wasteful” diversity move, according to an internal department cable seen by Reuters. - The Guardian
“‘Those who are creating the modern composition authentically are naturally only of importance when they are dead,’ Stein once wrote. Accordingly, she spent a good portion of her life making arrangements for her afterlife.” - The New Republic
“The eight-member Arkansas Educational Television Commission, made up entirely of appointees of the governor, announced … that it planned to disaffiliate from PBS effective July 1, citing annual membership dues of about $2.5 million it described as ‘not feasible.’ … PBS Arkansas is rebranding itself as Arkansas TV and will provide more local content.”...
The CPB is set to shut down after Congress approved President Trump’s request to rescind its funding. The Center for American Rights said the CPB shutdown should be used as an opportunity to reassign spectrum used by NPR and PBS stations to other entities. - Ars Technica
In Hollywood, concern about whether Warner Bros. will remain a theatre-centered business is haunted by historical echoes of earlier seismic shifts in the movie business. It seems existential, perhaps portending the end of mainstream moviegoing. - The New Yorker
“The three-year licensing deal will let users generate videos using Sora, OpenAI’s short-form AI video platform, of more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar characters. ... ChatGPT will also be able to generate images of Disney’s multibrand licensed characters.” - The Wall Street Journal (MSN)
So, how does the cinema experience fit into this time? Its key benefits are “immersion, spectacle, and shared experiences,” the Bain report highlights. “But this is at odds with people’s evolving consumption of media, which is increasingly short-form, interactive, and digital.” - The Hollywood Reporter
Presently, non-fiction filmmaking (in the form of docuseries) stands as a cornerstone of streaming economics, a format bolstered and degraded by an ever-growing demand for cheap, time-consuming content. - Stat Significant
Pittsburgh’s production has evolved its own traditions and superstitions. During some performances, performers pass a Heinz ketchup packet while onstage, like a hot potato. Whoever has it at the end loses. Another tradition: Dancers owe a dollar for every mistake. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The National Ballet of Canada’s costumes, designed by Broadway mainstay Santo Loquasto, have absorbed a lot of wear, tear, and sweat over three decades. Here wardrobe chief Stacy Dimitropoulos, resident cutter Chris Read, and several company dancers talk about costume care and maintenance. - Toronto Life
And he’s not going to be a rule-breaker, trying to revolutionize the art form: “There’s nothing wrong with organic movement. … There’s a reason why it’s attractive, in the way nature’s attractive. There’s an inbuilt idea of beauty, and you can play with that.” - The Guardian
Richard A. Freeman Jr. served on an interim basis for two seasons, including holding the company together through the turmoil following the firing of 10 dancers for attempting to unionize. - KERA (Dallas)
More than 14.7 million seats were filled in 2024-25, according to the latest audience-demographics report from The Broadway League. Among other findings is that, yet again, the average ticket-buyer is a 41-year-old, college educated woman whose household income is over $275K a year. - Deadline
“According to data released ... on Wednesday, less than 13% of admissions in (2024-25) came from the surrounding New York suburbs, which was the lowest percentage on Broadway in 30 years. The demographic, which once made up 20% of the audience, has been trending down over the past few years.” - The Hollywood Reporter
The beloved outdoor theater will replace all 11,000-odd seats and make structural improvements to protect against flooding, which caused serious damage after a torrential 2022 rainstorm. - St. Louis Public Radio
“The legendary festival, known for experimental and boundary-pushing theater, previously offered year-round programming before the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. In recent years, it has seen record-breaking audience growth, prompting producing director Nell Bang-Jensen to expand beyond the month of September.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
“Nussbaum, a highly respected culture writer who received a Pulitzer Prize for her television criticism, has been a member of the New Yorker writing staff since 2011. She takes over the position from Helen Shaw, who has left The New Yorker after being appointed chief theatre critic at The New York Times.” - Playbill
These writers create an environment in which characters can enter or exit the main storyline as if from a magic door. Audiences are cognizant of this portal, but they are encouraged to forget its existence when the drama ramps up, thereby allowing them to have their cake and eat it too. - Los Angeles...
The 91-year-old acting legend, who has age-related macular degeneration, stopped performing because she can’t see her way around a set or read a script anymore. And she says, “I can’t remember what I’m doing tomorrow, I swear to you,” but can still remember quite a lot of Shakespeare. - The Guardian
After the Santa Monica Police Department responded to a call about an assault at a house around 9:20 p.m., officers found Sykes, 71, with critical injuries consistent with a stabbing, the authorities said in a news release. He was pronounced dead at the scene. - The New York Times
A Grammy-nominee (for Leonard Bernstein’s Mass conducted by Marin Alsop) who moved smoothly between classical, musical theater, and gospel, Sykes was found dead in his home following a 911 call from his wife reporting an assault. His 31-year-old son Micah is in custody as the suspect. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
Christina Vassallo, 45, follows Paula Marincola, who retired in October after serving as the center’s first director, since 2008. After leaving the Fabric Workshop in 2023, Vassallo became director of the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati. - Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
“The Tony-nominated playwright and actor (was) released after spending three weeks in custody on suspicion of attempting to smuggle illegal drugs into the country. … (A) spokesman declined to say whether Mr. Harris had been charged.” - The New York Times
“Michaels sold an estimated 150 million books, including bodice rippers, family dramas and mysteries, according to Kensington Publishing, her longtime publisher. Her work has been translated into 20 languages.” And she started in her 40s. - The New York Times
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“The archives ... said that no curators of ‘The American Story’ were available to speak, citing staff departures that have left the institution with only two curators, neither of whom had a substantial role in the exhibition.” - The New York Times
“Long before he became an unlikely political force, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani was just another 20-something trying to squeeze a laugh out of his Saturday improv class in Manhattan.” - The New York Times
“The ‘Goldberg Variations’ was Gehry’s favorite work. He loved its otherworldliness and its worldliness. He loved its invitation to dance and to dream. He loved its astonishing sense of design, complex yet flowing with the ocean’s grace, its depth and its inviting surface.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
“What is the Kennedy Center now? For one thing, it’s getting a Trumpian revamp. He ordered new marble and the repainting of the exterior columns in austere white. Portraits of the first and second couples now hang in the center’s Hall of Nations.” - Washington Post (MSN)
“There is no escape in the Sphere. The walls are screens. The ceilings are screens. The floor, swooping underneath you at an impossible angle, is a screen, too.” - Slate
Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, and the Netherlands have all withdrawn from the 2026 competition. The Dutch broadcaster: "After weighing all perspectives, Avrotros concludes that, under the current circumstances, participation cannot be reconciled with the public values that are fundamental to our organisation.” - The Guardian (UK)
Hollywood. “At one point in the early 1990s, Stoppard earned $500,000 for a five-week stretch polishing various projects for Universal Pictures. … He seemed to have a particular fondness for dog movies, contributing to both Beethoven and 102 Dalmatians.” - The New York Times
“Based on the available evidence, the skills that future graduates will most need in the AI era—creative thinking, the capacity to learn new things, flexible modes of analysis—are precisely those that are likely to be eroded by inserting AI into the educational process.” - The Atlantic
"Playing an instrument well is phenomenally difficult. It takes a lifetime of arduous work and can become all-consuming, making it easy to forget that technical mastery is a means to an expressive end, not the goal. … In and of itself, it is uninteresting.” - The New York Times
Rooney says that “UK legislation may mean she cannot be paid royalties by her British publisher or the BBC because it could leave both at risk of being accused of funding terrorism.” The Irish writer has said that she intends her royalties to support the group Palestine Action. - BBC
“One of a select band of writers from any discipline to earn his own adjective – ‘Stoppardian’ – in the Oxford English Dictionary, he delighted in the most improbable juxtapositions.” He also shared a co-writing Oscar for Shakespeare in Love. - The Guardian (UK)
“Pick a film from either current releases or a curated archive, select a drink package for an extra $50 each, choose a 12-13 course gourmet meal off a seasonal menu for another $100 a head, and you have a ritzy night at the movies.” - The Guardian (UK)
