AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Win the case, lose the institution
Good Morning,
A federal judge ruled Thursday that DOGE’s cancellation of more than $100M in NEH grants was unconstitutional (AP) — a win, and a largely moot one. While the case worked its way through court, the administration eliminated more than half the NEH staff, terminated 97% of grants, and fired 22 of 26 advisory board members (Chronicle of Higher Education). The ruling feels beside the point.
The same pattern surfaces in PEN America’s new report on book bans, which finds nonfiction titles are now being removed at twice last year’s rate — activism and social movements the most-targeted theme (The Hill, The Guardian). The legal wins are real. The action is happening upstream of them.
The Venice Biennale is staging its own version. Several major pavilions — Austria, Belgium, Egypt, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea — closed Friday in protest of Israel’s participation (The New York Times). And Hyperallergic reports that the Israeli pavilion artist threatened jurors with personal liability lawsuits days before they all resigned — institutional pressure that didn’t require winning anything in court.
Elsewhere: Chicago Sinfonietta, founded in 1987 specifically to develop diverse talent, is pausing operations until 2027 (WBEZ). Pulitzer-winning critic Manuela Hoelterhoff has died at 77 (The New York Times). And David Attenborough turns 100 — still here, still narrating (AP).
All of our stories below.
- David Attenborough, Everyone’s Favorite Nature TV Host, Is Now 100
“(He’s) the man who has brought frolicking gorillas, breaching whales and tiny poisonous frogs into living rooms around the world for more than 70 years. … Attenborough has illuminated the beauty, ferocity and sometimes downright weirdness of nature in a hushed melodic voice that conveys his own awe at what he is witnessing.” – AP
- America’s First Baroque Dance Company Is Now 50
“While early music enjoyed a strong following (since) the 1970s, historical dance needed help catching up — and the New York Baroque Dance Co., founded in 1976 by Catherine Turocy and Ann Jacoby, was seminal in jump-starting research, performance styles, and popularity.” – Early Music America
- Claim: Figuring Out Consciousness Isn’t Difficult
Amid the current cultural backlash against progressive ideas, today’s debate on consciousness reflects our human fears of belonging to the same family as inanimate matter and losing our dear, transcendent souls. – Noema
- How Gawker Reshaped Our Media Landscape
Gawker, which shut down 10 years ago this August, was guilty of lapses in judgment — former staffers interviewed for this story admit as much. It could be withering, puerile and gratuitously nasty. But, at its best, it rebelled against media piety and the growing, often indiscriminate power of the digital world. – The Hollywood Reporter
ISSUES
- More Mayhem At Venice Biennale: Artist Strike Closes Several Pavilions
“The Biennale was disrupted on Friday morning as some of the major artists at this year’s event shuttered their exhibitions in protest over Israel’s participation. … Some of the buzziest exhibitions at this year’s event, including those by artists representing Austria, Belgium, Egypt, Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea, were shut.” – The New York Times
- Is This Why The Venice Biennale Jury Resigned En Masse?
The jurors had clearly stated, a few days before they quit, that they would not consider the entrants from Russia and Israel. The Israeli artist in the event then threatened lawsuits, and the Biennale warned jurors that they could be personally liable for damages. – Hyperallergic
- What Iran’s Absence From The Venice Biennale Means
Iran’s withdrawal is less a sudden decision than the result of converging geopolitical and economic pressures that are reshaping both the global art world and Iran’s place within it. – The Conversation
- Brandywine Conservancy Announced $100M Expansion
The Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art on Wednesday announced a $100 million expansion plan to open a second museum building, create a 325-acre campus, and a nature preserve with 10 miles of trails. – Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
- Living In A Gaudi Masterpiece
Imagine that you live in an enormous, beautiful apartment designed by one of the world’s most admired architects in the most expensive street in Spain and for which you pay a derisory rent, with the right to live there until you die. – The Guardian
MEDIA
- Portland, OR Has An Arts Tax. Now It’s Time To Reform It
“Without this much needed arts tax reform, including indexing it to inflation, we risk losing the very institutions that make Portland vibrant, and we also risk losing the next generation of arts lovers by failing to sustain arts education in our schools.” – KATU
- How Trump Took Over The NEH
A little over a year later, after the Department of Government Efficiency eliminated more than half of the NEH staff and tried to terminate 97 percent of its grants, Trump fired all but four members of the 26-person advisory board, called the National Council on the Humanities. – Chronicle of Higher Education
- Judge Rules DOGE’s Cancellation Of NEH Grants Was Unconstitutional
“The Trump administration’s cancellation of more than $100 million in humanities grants to scholars, writers, research groups and other organizations was unconstitutional, and the Department of Government Efficiency had no authority to end the funding, a federal judge in New York ruled on Thursday.” – AP
- Transcending Boundaries: What Is The Ministry Of Awe?
What is the Ministry of Awe? “Is it an art gallery?” she asked rhetorically. “Is it a theater? Is a museum? Is it a dream? It’s none of those and all of those and it doesn’t matter exactly what it is because there’s no one right way to experience it.” – The New York Times
- As City Of San Diego Prepares To Slash Arts Funding, County Sets Up $2.75 Million Program
This despite the fact that the San Diego County government is facing a budget cliff of its own, just as the city is. – The San Diego Union-Tribune (MSN)
MUSIC
- Is Substack The New Book Tour?
Some experts say Substack’s rise fits into a longer arc in publishing, one shaped by the early wave of self-publishing tools like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and Smashwords in the late aughts. Those platforms opened the door for self-published authors, but didn’t solve the marketing problem. – Fast Company
- Report: Twice As Many Books Banned This Year From Libraries And Classrooms
PEN America’s report released Thursday called “Facts & Fiction: Stories Stripped Away by Book Bans” found that 3,743 unique titles were removed from school libraries and classrooms between July 2024 and June 2025. This included 1,102 nonfiction titles. – The Hill
- U.S. Book-Banners Step Up Attacks On Nonfiction: Study
“PEN America analysed the 3,743 unique titles removed from school libraries and classrooms in the (2024-25) July to June period and found that over 1,100 or 29% were non-fiction, more than double the year prior. The most common theme in the banned non-fiction books was activism and social movements.” – The Guardian
- A Manifesto From The Battle Front Of French Literature’s Latest Culture War
“A publishing house is not meant to be a propaganda machine. It is a place where conflict, doubt and nuance can, and should, coexist. … Grasset’s authors rarely agreed on much, but as the letter of protest we signed said, we have had — and still have — a common enemy: authoritarianism.” – The New York Times
- “The Devil Wears Prada” And The Rise And Fall Of Chick Lit
“Before it was a movie, Lauren Weisberger’s The Devil Wears Prada, published by Broadway Books in 2003, marked the absolute high point of that once-ubiquitous genre. … Soon after the success of the novel, chick lit started to fall apart,” with dedicated imprints long since discontinued. – Publishers Weekly
PEOPLE
- Win the case, lose the institution
Good Morning,
A federal judge ruled Thursday that DOGE’s cancellation of more than $100M in NEH grants was unconstitutional (AP) — a win, and a largely moot one. While the case worked its way through court, the administration eliminated more than half the NEH staff, terminated 97% of grants, and fired 22 of 26 advisory board members (Chronicle of Higher Education). The ruling feels beside the point.
The same pattern surfaces in PEN America’s new report on book bans, which finds nonfiction titles are now being removed at twice last year’s rate — activism and social movements the most-targeted theme (The Hill, The Guardian). The legal wins are real. The action is happening upstream of them.
The Venice Biennale is staging its own version. Several major pavilions — Austria, Belgium, Egypt, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea — closed Friday in protest of Israel’s participation (The New York Times). And Hyperallergic reports that the Israeli pavilion artist threatened jurors with personal liability lawsuits days before they all resigned — institutional pressure that didn’t require winning anything in court.
Elsewhere: Chicago Sinfonietta, founded in 1987 specifically to develop diverse talent, is pausing operations until 2027 (WBEZ). Pulitzer-winning critic Manuela Hoelterhoff has died at 77 (The New York Times). And David Attenborough turns 100 — still here, still narrating (AP).
All of our stories below.
- David Attenborough, Everyone’s Favorite Nature TV Host, Is Now 100
“(He’s) the man who has brought frolicking gorillas, breaching whales and tiny poisonous frogs into living rooms around the world for more than 70 years. … Attenborough has illuminated the beauty, ferocity and sometimes downright weirdness of nature in a hushed melodic voice that conveys his own awe at what he is witnessing.” – AP
- America’s First Baroque Dance Company Is Now 50
“While early music enjoyed a strong following (since) the 1970s, historical dance needed help catching up — and the New York Baroque Dance Co., founded in 1976 by Catherine Turocy and Ann Jacoby, was seminal in jump-starting research, performance styles, and popularity.” – Early Music America
- Claim: Figuring Out Consciousness Isn’t Difficult
Amid the current cultural backlash against progressive ideas, today’s debate on consciousness reflects our human fears of belonging to the same family as inanimate matter and losing our dear, transcendent souls. – Noema
- How Gawker Reshaped Our Media Landscape
Gawker, which shut down 10 years ago this August, was guilty of lapses in judgment — former staffers interviewed for this story admit as much. It could be withering, puerile and gratuitously nasty. But, at its best, it rebelled against media piety and the growing, often indiscriminate power of the digital world. – The Hollywood Reporter
PEOPLE
- Win the case, lose the institution
Good Morning,
A federal judge ruled Thursday that DOGE’s cancellation of more than $100M in NEH grants was unconstitutional (AP) — a win, and a largely moot one. While the case worked its way through court, the administration eliminated more than half the NEH staff, terminated 97% of grants, and fired 22 of 26 advisory board members (Chronicle of Higher Education). The ruling feels beside the point.
The same pattern surfaces in PEN America’s new report on book bans, which finds nonfiction titles are now being removed at twice last year’s rate — activism and social movements the most-targeted theme (The Hill, The Guardian). The legal wins are real. The action is happening upstream of them.
The Venice Biennale is staging its own version. Several major pavilions — Austria, Belgium, Egypt, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea — closed Friday in protest of Israel’s participation (The New York Times). And Hyperallergic reports that the Israeli pavilion artist threatened jurors with personal liability lawsuits days before they all resigned — institutional pressure that didn’t require winning anything in court.
Elsewhere: Chicago Sinfonietta, founded in 1987 specifically to develop diverse talent, is pausing operations until 2027 (WBEZ). Pulitzer-winning critic Manuela Hoelterhoff has died at 77 (The New York Times). And David Attenborough turns 100 — still here, still narrating (AP).
All of our stories below.
- David Attenborough, Everyone’s Favorite Nature TV Host, Is Now 100
“(He’s) the man who has brought frolicking gorillas, breaching whales and tiny poisonous frogs into living rooms around the world for more than 70 years. … Attenborough has illuminated the beauty, ferocity and sometimes downright weirdness of nature in a hushed melodic voice that conveys his own awe at what he is witnessing.” – AP
- America’s First Baroque Dance Company Is Now 50
“While early music enjoyed a strong following (since) the 1970s, historical dance needed help catching up — and the New York Baroque Dance Co., founded in 1976 by Catherine Turocy and Ann Jacoby, was seminal in jump-starting research, performance styles, and popularity.” – Early Music America
- Claim: Figuring Out Consciousness Isn’t Difficult
Amid the current cultural backlash against progressive ideas, today’s debate on consciousness reflects our human fears of belonging to the same family as inanimate matter and losing our dear, transcendent souls. – Noema
- How Gawker Reshaped Our Media Landscape
Gawker, which shut down 10 years ago this August, was guilty of lapses in judgment — former staffers interviewed for this story admit as much. It could be withering, puerile and gratuitously nasty. But, at its best, it rebelled against media piety and the growing, often indiscriminate power of the digital world. – The Hollywood Reporter
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Claim: Figuring Out Consciousness Isn’t Difficult
Amid the current cultural backlash against progressive ideas, today’s debate on consciousness reflects our human fears of belonging to the same family as inanimate matter and losing our dear, transcendent souls. – Noema
- How Our Machines Are Getting In The Way Of Art
From the original, nineteenth-century form popularized by Balzac, Zola, and Stendhal to the “lyrical” variant of today, the verisimilitude that realism pursues—not just lifelikeness, but worldlikeness—is meant to convince us the novel is, for want of a better term, natural. – Boston Review
- Study: Using AI Could Make You Lazy And Dumber
Some participants were given access to an AI assistant capable of solving the problem autonomously. When the AI helper was suddenly taken away, these people were significantly more likely to give up on the problem or flub their answers. – Wired
- What Research Tells Us About How Memory Works
The idea of photographic memory is simple and powerful: Experience is captured objectively, stored completely and retrieved perfectly. See it once, keep it forever. There’s just one problem. There’s no scientific evidence it exists. – The Conversation
- In An AI Economy, Human-Made Becomes Luxury Good
We don’t value human creations solely for their beauty or their price tag. We also value them because they embody deliberate labour and expertise. – The Conversation
