AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- “What if JFK had not been assassinated? People talk about: What would have been the impact in Vietnam? What interests me is: What would have been the impact on the American arts?”
- Half the artists, twice the valuation
Good Morning,
Pace Gallery is cutting 50 artists and 50 staff — about half its roster — and with them, the idea that mega-gallery expansion was the art market’s future (The New York Times). Also this week, Suno, the AI music-generation company, more than doubled its valuation to $5.4 billion (The Hollywood Reporter). Capital available for culture is relocating — out of representing artists, into simulating them.
Colorado passed a landmark law letting artists protect their rights by incorporating (The Colorado Sun). All eleven Edinburgh festivals want to build a common ticketing platform — shared infrastructure instead of eleven competing box offices (The Guardian). And Chicago launched a new fund for emerging theater companies, the layer of the field that usually gets crumbs (WBEZ).
Sad news: Marjane Satrapi, whose Persepolis changed what comics could carry, has died at 56 (Deadline). And in London, this year’s Serpentine Pavilion is — finally — actually serpentine (The Guardian).
All of our stories below.
Doug
- Venues In England Are Scared To Program South Asian Dance: Arts Council Report
Managers of smaller venues fear that they would lose too much money presenting unfamiliar performers in an unfamiliar genre, said the report, which also flags the lack of university- or conservatory-level training in South Asian classical dance forms in England. – Hyphen (UK)
- Gary Dunning
My introduction of Gary Dunning at New England Conservatory’s Commencement ceremony on Sunday May 17, 2026. He received an honorary degree.
Let me speak of Gary Dunning who has spent decades reminding Boston — and reminding this country, demonstrating — that the arts are not a luxury. They are a lifeline.
Gary Dunning has led one of Boston’s most admired cultural institutions for 15 years — first as president and executive director of the Celebrity Series of Boston, and most recently as the guiding force behind its transformation into Vivo Performing Arts.
By the way, this afternoon, I have something unusual… It’s annoying actually. I have — it’s rare — I have a split personality. Or, perhaps, there’s a Gary Dunning whisperer here? The guy’s aware, it seems, of all the artists that have been presented in Boston during Gary Dunning’s years here.
You bet I am. And I will just lead off with Andras Schiff (who played the piano right here on this stage), and Richard Goode (right here on this stage), and Isaak Perlman, and Renée Fleming, and…Fritz Kreisler, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Maria Callas…
OK, but wait a minute, those last three names — Rachmaninoff? — that must have been a long time before Gary Dunning arrived.
Where was I? I’m back, to tell you that before he was in Boston, Gary Dunning served as executive director of the American Ballet Theatre, the Houston Ballet, and New York’s Big Apple Circus. Decades of service to the arts. Decades of showing up for artists, for audiences — and for communities that often feel the stage isn’t for them.
Also, you know, in Boston, he presented Maurizio Pollini, and Deborah Voight, and David Sedaris, and Joshua Bell.
Ok. I believe it.
Under Gary Dunning’s leadership, the Celebrity Series launched the Debut Series, created Stave Sessions, that bring contemporary music to unexpected places. The Neighborhood Arts program was built, bringing free performances to many in this city.
And when Gary Dunning realized that his organization’s name was an obstacle to its mission — the word “celebrity” was getting in the way — he didn’t wait for someone else to fix it. He oversaw a complete rebranding, launching Vivo Performing Arts just this past January. That’s a mark of a leader: knowing when to build.
Any more from the whisperer?
Well, he presented Chick Correa, and Herbie Hancock, and the Berlin Philharmonic.
Yeah, ok. Gary Dunning’s done a lot. He led a capital campaign that tripled his organization’s net assets. He championed equity, and accessibility. He introduced more than 350 first-time featured acts — artists making debuts in Boston.
Gary Dunning said: “Whether on a stage or in a neighborhood park, live performance is what we do, and the place where creativity comes alive.”
Boston has been alive because of Gary Dunning. President Kalyn, it is my honor to present Gary Dunning for the honorary degree — Doctor of Music.
- A Frequent Book-Prize Juror Explains How These Awards Actually Work
Rebecca Makkai has judged six major awards in the past eight years (a pace she does not recommend), and she shares some things she’s learned that she thinks most people don’t realize. For instance, she explains, the process is both purer and more random than you’d guess. – SubMakk
ISSUES
- Pace Gallery Cuts 50 Artists, 50 Staff
“The whole art gallery art system became too big, too commercial, too impersonal and too corporate,” Marc Glimcher, the chief executive, said in an interview this week. – The New York Times
- Why Trump’s Arch Is So Wrong
Triumphal arches are thuggish. They’re the architectural equivalent of a domestic abuser standing, arms crossed, legs athwart, in front of the bedroom door. I prefer the democratic, American tradition of modest, respectful, open-air monuments. – The Atlantic
- Monet Heirs Case Against Wildenstein Allowed To Continue
The complex case revolves around a 2004 transaction, in which Monet’s great-nephew agreed to relinquish a rare Monet painting depicting the artist’s father, Adolphe, to the internationally renowned Wildenstein gallery, in exchange for several paintings of lesser value. – ARTnews
- Venice Biennale Artists Protest Awards Inclusions
More than 100 artists are threatening legal action against the Venice Biennale Foundation for ignoring their demands that the foundation withdraw their names from consideration for the “Visitors’ Lion” awards at the current edition over the inclusion of national pavilions by Israel and Russia. – ARTnews
- They’re Going To Extraordinary Lengths To Move The Bayeux Tapestry To London Safely
After two dry runs with facsimiles, France’s culture ministry is confident that the fragile 900-year-old textile will be fine. They’ve developed an ingenious container contraption to absorb all shocks on the roads, and the date and details of the transport are a closely-guarded secret. – BBC (Yahoo!)
MEDIA
- All 11 Edinburgh Festivals Propose A Common Ticket Platform
The festivals involved in the plan, including the main international festival, will soon invite bidders to investigate how to merge the ticketing operations and data of all 11 events, which in 2024 sold nearly 4m tickets in total. Others include the book festival and the film festival. – The Guardian
- Colorado Passes Landmark Law: Artists Can Now Protect Their Rights By Becoming Corporations
“Senate Bill 133 creates Colorado Artist Companies, or A Corps, a new subset of limited liability corporations that guides artists through the complexities of setting up a business while ensuring they retain creative control over their work, which can include everything from songs, paintings and poems, to less obvious output, like creative coursework.” – The Colorado Sun
- The New School Makes Some Painful Cuts
The New School will employ 65 fewer full-time faculty members in the fall than it did last year, Kessler said. Based on the most recent federal data, that reduction would amount to roughly 36 percent of its 2024 full-time faculty work force. – Chronicle of Higher Education
- Trump Administration’s Plans To Cancel Student Loans For Almost All College Arts Programs
Yale University’s master’s programs in visual arts and music would fail. Harvard University’s master’s degree in museum studies would fail. The Juilliard School’s undergraduate and graduate programs in music would fail. – The New York Times
- Report: Australian Arts Participation At Highest Level Ever
More Australians are attending live arts events and festivals, with 2025 the highest level of attendance recorded. While some art forms have seen shifts back towards more frequent pre-COVID-19 attendance patterns, others have not fully recovered. – Creative Australia
MUSIC
- A Frequent Book-Prize Juror Explains How These Awards Actually Work
Rebecca Makkai has judged six major awards in the past eight years (a pace she does not recommend), and she shares some things she’s learned that she thinks most people don’t realize. For instance, she explains, the process is both purer and more random than you’d guess. – SubMakk
- A Story Of Gay Life In Early America
The two women lived openly as a same-sex couple from 1807 to 1851 in Weybridge, VT, where they ran a successful tailoring business. Despite some local misgivings, they were largely accepted. Neighborhood children apprenticed with them, and Sylvia served as a deacon in the local Congregational Church. – ArtsFuse
- A New Wave Of Women’s Ragebait Lit
“These books may have inspired more than their share of hot takes … but the conversations around them allow us to question where we are and what our feminist ideals have become … (now that) so many of the problems that felt like they were somehow close to being solved … have become drastically worse.” – Harper’s Bazaar
- Minnesota Star Tribune To Cut 65 Jobs, Explore Going Fully Nonprofit
“The Star Tribune employs 495 people and cuts will be made across every department. The newsroom has just under 200 journalists and will decline to 175 while remaining one of the largest between the coasts. Just last year, 125 employees were laid off when the company … closed its … printing plant.” – The Minnesota Star Tribune
- Okay, Here’s How The Publishing Business Really Works
Nobody would patronize a best-seller–only shopping mall kiosk called We Bet We Have That Book You Want, even though best-sellers are most of what anyone buys. People want to walk into stores with lots of books which they have no interest in even looking at. – Republic of Letters
PEOPLE
- “What if JFK had not been assassinated? People talk about: What would have been the impact in Vietnam? What interests me is: What would have been the impact on the American arts?”
- Half the artists, twice the valuation
Good Morning,
Pace Gallery is cutting 50 artists and 50 staff — about half its roster — and with them, the idea that mega-gallery expansion was the art market’s future (The New York Times). Also this week, Suno, the AI music-generation company, more than doubled its valuation to $5.4 billion (The Hollywood Reporter). Capital available for culture is relocating — out of representing artists, into simulating them.
Colorado passed a landmark law letting artists protect their rights by incorporating (The Colorado Sun). All eleven Edinburgh festivals want to build a common ticketing platform — shared infrastructure instead of eleven competing box offices (The Guardian). And Chicago launched a new fund for emerging theater companies, the layer of the field that usually gets crumbs (WBEZ).
Sad news: Marjane Satrapi, whose Persepolis changed what comics could carry, has died at 56 (Deadline). And in London, this year’s Serpentine Pavilion is — finally — actually serpentine (The Guardian).
All of our stories below.
Doug
- Venues In England Are Scared To Program South Asian Dance: Arts Council Report
Managers of smaller venues fear that they would lose too much money presenting unfamiliar performers in an unfamiliar genre, said the report, which also flags the lack of university- or conservatory-level training in South Asian classical dance forms in England. – Hyphen (UK)
- Gary Dunning
My introduction of Gary Dunning at New England Conservatory’s Commencement ceremony on Sunday May 17, 2026. He received an honorary degree.
Let me speak of Gary Dunning who has spent decades reminding Boston — and reminding this country, demonstrating — that the arts are not a luxury. They are a lifeline.
Gary Dunning has led one of Boston’s most admired cultural institutions for 15 years — first as president and executive director of the Celebrity Series of Boston, and most recently as the guiding force behind its transformation into Vivo Performing Arts.
By the way, this afternoon, I have something unusual… It’s annoying actually. I have — it’s rare — I have a split personality. Or, perhaps, there’s a Gary Dunning whisperer here? The guy’s aware, it seems, of all the artists that have been presented in Boston during Gary Dunning’s years here.
You bet I am. And I will just lead off with Andras Schiff (who played the piano right here on this stage), and Richard Goode (right here on this stage), and Isaak Perlman, and Renée Fleming, and…Fritz Kreisler, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Maria Callas…
OK, but wait a minute, those last three names — Rachmaninoff? — that must have been a long time before Gary Dunning arrived.
Where was I? I’m back, to tell you that before he was in Boston, Gary Dunning served as executive director of the American Ballet Theatre, the Houston Ballet, and New York’s Big Apple Circus. Decades of service to the arts. Decades of showing up for artists, for audiences — and for communities that often feel the stage isn’t for them.
Also, you know, in Boston, he presented Maurizio Pollini, and Deborah Voight, and David Sedaris, and Joshua Bell.
Ok. I believe it.
Under Gary Dunning’s leadership, the Celebrity Series launched the Debut Series, created Stave Sessions, that bring contemporary music to unexpected places. The Neighborhood Arts program was built, bringing free performances to many in this city.
And when Gary Dunning realized that his organization’s name was an obstacle to its mission — the word “celebrity” was getting in the way — he didn’t wait for someone else to fix it. He oversaw a complete rebranding, launching Vivo Performing Arts just this past January. That’s a mark of a leader: knowing when to build.
Any more from the whisperer?
Well, he presented Chick Correa, and Herbie Hancock, and the Berlin Philharmonic.
Yeah, ok. Gary Dunning’s done a lot. He led a capital campaign that tripled his organization’s net assets. He championed equity, and accessibility. He introduced more than 350 first-time featured acts — artists making debuts in Boston.
Gary Dunning said: “Whether on a stage or in a neighborhood park, live performance is what we do, and the place where creativity comes alive.”
Boston has been alive because of Gary Dunning. President Kalyn, it is my honor to present Gary Dunning for the honorary degree — Doctor of Music.
- A Frequent Book-Prize Juror Explains How These Awards Actually Work
Rebecca Makkai has judged six major awards in the past eight years (a pace she does not recommend), and she shares some things she’s learned that she thinks most people don’t realize. For instance, she explains, the process is both purer and more random than you’d guess. – SubMakk
PEOPLE
- “What if JFK had not been assassinated? People talk about: What would have been the impact in Vietnam? What interests me is: What would have been the impact on the American arts?”
- Half the artists, twice the valuation
Good Morning,
Pace Gallery is cutting 50 artists and 50 staff — about half its roster — and with them, the idea that mega-gallery expansion was the art market’s future (The New York Times). Also this week, Suno, the AI music-generation company, more than doubled its valuation to $5.4 billion (The Hollywood Reporter). Capital available for culture is relocating — out of representing artists, into simulating them.
Colorado passed a landmark law letting artists protect their rights by incorporating (The Colorado Sun). All eleven Edinburgh festivals want to build a common ticketing platform — shared infrastructure instead of eleven competing box offices (The Guardian). And Chicago launched a new fund for emerging theater companies, the layer of the field that usually gets crumbs (WBEZ).
Sad news: Marjane Satrapi, whose Persepolis changed what comics could carry, has died at 56 (Deadline). And in London, this year’s Serpentine Pavilion is — finally — actually serpentine (The Guardian).
All of our stories below.
Doug
- Venues In England Are Scared To Program South Asian Dance: Arts Council Report
Managers of smaller venues fear that they would lose too much money presenting unfamiliar performers in an unfamiliar genre, said the report, which also flags the lack of university- or conservatory-level training in South Asian classical dance forms in England. – Hyphen (UK)
- Gary Dunning
My introduction of Gary Dunning at New England Conservatory’s Commencement ceremony on Sunday May 17, 2026. He received an honorary degree.
Let me speak of Gary Dunning who has spent decades reminding Boston — and reminding this country, demonstrating — that the arts are not a luxury. They are a lifeline.
Gary Dunning has led one of Boston’s most admired cultural institutions for 15 years — first as president and executive director of the Celebrity Series of Boston, and most recently as the guiding force behind its transformation into Vivo Performing Arts.
By the way, this afternoon, I have something unusual… It’s annoying actually. I have — it’s rare — I have a split personality. Or, perhaps, there’s a Gary Dunning whisperer here? The guy’s aware, it seems, of all the artists that have been presented in Boston during Gary Dunning’s years here.
You bet I am. And I will just lead off with Andras Schiff (who played the piano right here on this stage), and Richard Goode (right here on this stage), and Isaak Perlman, and Renée Fleming, and…Fritz Kreisler, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Maria Callas…
OK, but wait a minute, those last three names — Rachmaninoff? — that must have been a long time before Gary Dunning arrived.
Where was I? I’m back, to tell you that before he was in Boston, Gary Dunning served as executive director of the American Ballet Theatre, the Houston Ballet, and New York’s Big Apple Circus. Decades of service to the arts. Decades of showing up for artists, for audiences — and for communities that often feel the stage isn’t for them.
Also, you know, in Boston, he presented Maurizio Pollini, and Deborah Voight, and David Sedaris, and Joshua Bell.
Ok. I believe it.
Under Gary Dunning’s leadership, the Celebrity Series launched the Debut Series, created Stave Sessions, that bring contemporary music to unexpected places. The Neighborhood Arts program was built, bringing free performances to many in this city.
And when Gary Dunning realized that his organization’s name was an obstacle to its mission — the word “celebrity” was getting in the way — he didn’t wait for someone else to fix it. He oversaw a complete rebranding, launching Vivo Performing Arts just this past January. That’s a mark of a leader: knowing when to build.
Any more from the whisperer?
Well, he presented Chick Correa, and Herbie Hancock, and the Berlin Philharmonic.
Yeah, ok. Gary Dunning’s done a lot. He led a capital campaign that tripled his organization’s net assets. He championed equity, and accessibility. He introduced more than 350 first-time featured acts — artists making debuts in Boston.
Gary Dunning said: “Whether on a stage or in a neighborhood park, live performance is what we do, and the place where creativity comes alive.”
Boston has been alive because of Gary Dunning. President Kalyn, it is my honor to present Gary Dunning for the honorary degree — Doctor of Music.
- A Frequent Book-Prize Juror Explains How These Awards Actually Work
Rebecca Makkai has judged six major awards in the past eight years (a pace she does not recommend), and she shares some things she’s learned that she thinks most people don’t realize. For instance, she explains, the process is both purer and more random than you’d guess. – SubMakk
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Are The Arts Simply Incompatible With Right Wing Government?
A belief that what is good will be paid for by consumers, and that the state should stand back and play as small a part as possible. Applying this to the arts means that they are not a public good but instead a sector that should be shaped by market principles, competition, and measurable returns. – The Big Idea
- Study: Humans Need “Semantic Knowledge” To Innovate
The research demonstrates that our “semantic knowledge”, the internal cognitive map of how concepts connect and apply to one another, is the absolute precondition for meaningful invention. – Neuroscience
- We Need Artists To Collaborate With AI
Machine learning represents a seismic shift, both in society and in the arts, and we need storytellers, artists, teachers and thinkers in this space to help determine the direction of that shift and help us navigate this unfamiliar territory. – The Guardian
- The World Is Becoming Automated Around Us. Are Humans Losing Autonomy?
Computers talk to computers, producing information to train computers to sound more like humans or to better engage them. Humans type into the box, scroll, and wait. – The Atlantic
- Oakland Creatives Are Having A (Possibly Long Overdue) Heck Of A Year
“The Town has seen its homegrown talent reach new levels of success on the global stage, from figure skater Alysa Liu earning Olympic gold in Milan to filmmaker Ryan Coogler winning four Oscars for his blockbuster Sinners and R&B powerhouse Kehlani receiving two Grammy Awards.” – San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
