AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Trump Officials Threaten To Withdraw All Aid If Smithsonian Doesn’t Drop “Ideological Agenda”
“Administration officials ‘cannot in good conscience continue to support the Smithsonian under current leadership,’” said a letter from a key policy director and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. “citing artifact loans, procurement assistance and discretionary grants as examples of federal support that could be at risk.” – The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
- Who decides what “best” even means?
Good Morning,
Tom Service asks a question the classical world mostly avoids: what does it mean to call the Berlin Philharmonic the best orchestra in the world, and how has the label survived a half-century of conductors, politics and technology? (The Guardian) The answer isn’t in the playing. It’s in who confers the title and why it sticks.
Reputation, it turns out, is a poor predictor of survival. Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences announced its closure Tuesday and got a rescue deal Wednesday (Philadelphia Inquirer) — 200 years of standing bought it exactly one news cycle. Georgia Ensemble Theatre, after 34 years, got no rescue and no announcement; the board simply went quiet (ArtsATL). A Louisville high school’s cancelled Ragtime drew a million views and Broadway’s attention before it got the district’s (Playbill). What decides who gets saved isn’t age or quality, it seems to be whether anyone with money or a megaphone is watching.
Boston Ballet had someone watching: an anonymous patron just wrote a $10 million check (People). Edinburgh’s arts groups will get their pay from tourists, through a visitor levy worth up to £50 million a year (The Stage) — the city finally billing the crowds for the culture that draws them.
Also: at 25, Adult Swim TV channel is thriving while the rest of cable dies, and even its own people can’t explain why (TheWrap).
All of our stories below.
- How Is Adult Swim Still Prospering When Most Cable TV Is Fading Away?
“It feels like a wicked joke that Cartoon Network’s late-night programming block — already an aberration when it launched in cable’s heyday in 2001 — is somehow thriving, … even as the rest of cable slowly slides into oblivion. Even the folks behind Adult Swim don’t really understand it.” – TheWrap (Yahoo!)
- What Replaced The World Trade Center Should Have Been So Much More
The twin towers were a product of their time, the mid-1960s, and what has replaced them is still, sadly, in too many ways a product of that same time. We have learned a lot about building cities since the World Trade Center went up, and we did not put nearly enough of that knowledge to use. – The New York Times
- Is The Berlin Philharmonic Really The Very Best Orchestra In The World?
Tom Service: “What does being the ‘best’ mean? And how and why have the Berliners acquired, and held on to, their globe-topping orchestral reputation for so many decades, through changes of conductor and personnel, political upheaval and technological transformation?” – The Guardian
ISSUES
- What Replaced The World Trade Center Should Have Been So Much More
The twin towers were a product of their time, the mid-1960s, and what has replaced them is still, sadly, in too many ways a product of that same time. We have learned a lot about building cities since the World Trade Center went up, and we did not put nearly enough of that knowledge to use. – The New York Times
- Americans Are Fascinated With Art Heists. Not So Much Fascinated By Art?
If you are a fictional character and you happen to be stealing art, odds are excellent that you’re in a heist movie. At this point, the genre is so famous, and mocked, that plumbing it for serious lessons about art and the art market may seem quixotic. – ARTnews
- Should Marc Chagall’s Famous Painting Be Taken Off The Ceiling Of The Paris Opera?
Perhaps surprisingly, that is possible: in 1962, the untitled work’s 24 canvases were glued to a plastic shell. Then that was installed on the dome of the Palais Garnier’s ceiling over the original 1869-71 mural by Jules-Eugène Lenepveu — whose great-great-great-great-grandnephew is now campaigning to have his relative’s work uncovered. – Artnet
- Thousands Of Japanese Are Moving A Historic Castle — Hauling It By Hand
In 2015, the fortified tower of Hirosaki Castle was moved, in one piece, about 260 feet from its old site to allow repairs to the compound’s outer walls. Now a horde of volunteers, working 80 at a time pulling ropes, are towing the tower back to its site, centimeter by centimeter. – AFP (Yahoo!)
- Director Of The Art Gallery Of Ontario To Depart After 10 Years
Within the Canadian art scene, Stephen Jost’s leadership has been polarizing. He has drawn praise for making a significant investment in modern and contemporary art at the AGO. But Jost’s tenure was also marred by controversy over the past few years. – ARTnews
MEDIA
- Trump Officials Threaten To Withdraw All Aid If Smithsonian Doesn’t Drop “Ideological Agenda”
“Administration officials ‘cannot in good conscience continue to support the Smithsonian under current leadership,’” said a letter from a key policy director and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. “citing artifact loans, procurement assistance and discretionary grants as examples of federal support that could be at risk.” – The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
- Thanks To New Tourist Tax, Edinburgh Arts Organizations To (Probably) Get 25% Increase In City Funding
“The distribution of funds raised by the Scottish capital’s new visitor levy, which is expected to raise up to £50m annually, has been the subject of intense debate in recent weeks. … (Organisations now) face a ‘deeply frustrating’ delay until the uplift is confirmed.” – The Stage
- US Government Agency Weakens Protections For Cultural Heritage Sites
Proposed federal rule changes would eliminate the requirement for public feedback and consultation with key parties like Tribal Nations and ultimately lead to the destruction of much of our cultural heritage. – Live Science
- A Deal To Save Philadelphia’s Academy Of Natural Sciences
The announcement comes one day after Drexel and the Academy said they would close the Academy’s museum effective Sept. 30 and that Academy CEO Scott Cooper would be stepping down immediately. Sept. 27 will be the last day the museum will be open to the public. – Philadelphia Inquirer
- Consider The Lowly Bollard
The posts come in many forms — retractable, rigid, ordinary, ornate, thick, thin. There are other objects that serve a similar purpose, including “sugar cube” barriers and hulking planters. At Lincoln Center, stylish, warped concrete blocks guard the square. – The New York Times
MUSIC
- Why There Are Fewer English Majors In Universities Today
The decline of the English major offers a lesson in what young people want. Teenagers in the 2020s have a spiritual thirst that is unmet by a curriculum without order and greatness and charm. A field without a bible like the Norton doesn’t satisfy them. – Portico Quarterly
- Bookshop.com Has Directed $50M To Indy Bookstores
The company launched in 2020 to offer shoppers a way of buying books online that supported independent bookstores and to divert sales away from Amazon and competing platforms. It operates both as a proprietary sales channel and offers affiliate sales for independent stores and influencers. – Publishers Weekly
- Oxford University Press Staffers Strike Over Offshoring
“Oxford University Press plans to offshore its financial operations department to EXL Services, which will provide the service from the (Indian) subcontinent. More than 30 Unite the Union members walked out on Tuesday over the plans, with the industrial action set to last until 11 September.” – BBC (Yahoo!)
- After 205 Years, The Saturday Evening Post Will Discontinue Its Hard-Copy Version
“The magazine’s January issue will be its last in print, according to Joan SerVaas, the president and publisher. In a letter to The Post’s 50,000 subscribers …, she attributed the decision to a combination of rising production costs, declining advertising revenue and shifting reader habits.’” – The New York Times
- Hong Kong’s Independent Bookstores Face Severe Pressure From Chinese Authorities
“(The shops), many of them tucked away … inside buildings, have long offered a refuge and a window to a freer world for some mainland Chinese readers seeking ideas suppressed at home. But these spaces now are under threat following a wave of bookseller arrests over alleged sedition under a 2024 national security law.” – AP
PEOPLE
- Trump Officials Threaten To Withdraw All Aid If Smithsonian Doesn’t Drop “Ideological Agenda”
“Administration officials ‘cannot in good conscience continue to support the Smithsonian under current leadership,’” said a letter from a key policy director and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. “citing artifact loans, procurement assistance and discretionary grants as examples of federal support that could be at risk.” – The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
- Who decides what “best” even means?
Good Morning,
Tom Service asks a question the classical world mostly avoids: what does it mean to call the Berlin Philharmonic the best orchestra in the world, and how has the label survived a half-century of conductors, politics and technology? (The Guardian) The answer isn’t in the playing. It’s in who confers the title and why it sticks.
Reputation, it turns out, is a poor predictor of survival. Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences announced its closure Tuesday and got a rescue deal Wednesday (Philadelphia Inquirer) — 200 years of standing bought it exactly one news cycle. Georgia Ensemble Theatre, after 34 years, got no rescue and no announcement; the board simply went quiet (ArtsATL). A Louisville high school’s cancelled Ragtime drew a million views and Broadway’s attention before it got the district’s (Playbill). What decides who gets saved isn’t age or quality, it seems to be whether anyone with money or a megaphone is watching.
Boston Ballet had someone watching: an anonymous patron just wrote a $10 million check (People). Edinburgh’s arts groups will get their pay from tourists, through a visitor levy worth up to £50 million a year (The Stage) — the city finally billing the crowds for the culture that draws them.
Also: at 25, Adult Swim TV channel is thriving while the rest of cable dies, and even its own people can’t explain why (TheWrap).
All of our stories below.
- How Is Adult Swim Still Prospering When Most Cable TV Is Fading Away?
“It feels like a wicked joke that Cartoon Network’s late-night programming block — already an aberration when it launched in cable’s heyday in 2001 — is somehow thriving, … even as the rest of cable slowly slides into oblivion. Even the folks behind Adult Swim don’t really understand it.” – TheWrap (Yahoo!)
- What Replaced The World Trade Center Should Have Been So Much More
The twin towers were a product of their time, the mid-1960s, and what has replaced them is still, sadly, in too many ways a product of that same time. We have learned a lot about building cities since the World Trade Center went up, and we did not put nearly enough of that knowledge to use. – The New York Times
- Is The Berlin Philharmonic Really The Very Best Orchestra In The World?
Tom Service: “What does being the ‘best’ mean? And how and why have the Berliners acquired, and held on to, their globe-topping orchestral reputation for so many decades, through changes of conductor and personnel, political upheaval and technological transformation?” – The Guardian
PEOPLE
- Trump Officials Threaten To Withdraw All Aid If Smithsonian Doesn’t Drop “Ideological Agenda”
“Administration officials ‘cannot in good conscience continue to support the Smithsonian under current leadership,’” said a letter from a key policy director and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. “citing artifact loans, procurement assistance and discretionary grants as examples of federal support that could be at risk.” – The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
- Who decides what “best” even means?
Good Morning,
Tom Service asks a question the classical world mostly avoids: what does it mean to call the Berlin Philharmonic the best orchestra in the world, and how has the label survived a half-century of conductors, politics and technology? (The Guardian) The answer isn’t in the playing. It’s in who confers the title and why it sticks.
Reputation, it turns out, is a poor predictor of survival. Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences announced its closure Tuesday and got a rescue deal Wednesday (Philadelphia Inquirer) — 200 years of standing bought it exactly one news cycle. Georgia Ensemble Theatre, after 34 years, got no rescue and no announcement; the board simply went quiet (ArtsATL). A Louisville high school’s cancelled Ragtime drew a million views and Broadway’s attention before it got the district’s (Playbill). What decides who gets saved isn’t age or quality, it seems to be whether anyone with money or a megaphone is watching.
Boston Ballet had someone watching: an anonymous patron just wrote a $10 million check (People). Edinburgh’s arts groups will get their pay from tourists, through a visitor levy worth up to £50 million a year (The Stage) — the city finally billing the crowds for the culture that draws them.
Also: at 25, Adult Swim TV channel is thriving while the rest of cable dies, and even its own people can’t explain why (TheWrap).
All of our stories below.
- How Is Adult Swim Still Prospering When Most Cable TV Is Fading Away?
“It feels like a wicked joke that Cartoon Network’s late-night programming block — already an aberration when it launched in cable’s heyday in 2001 — is somehow thriving, … even as the rest of cable slowly slides into oblivion. Even the folks behind Adult Swim don’t really understand it.” – TheWrap (Yahoo!)
- What Replaced The World Trade Center Should Have Been So Much More
The twin towers were a product of their time, the mid-1960s, and what has replaced them is still, sadly, in too many ways a product of that same time. We have learned a lot about building cities since the World Trade Center went up, and we did not put nearly enough of that knowledge to use. – The New York Times
- Is The Berlin Philharmonic Really The Very Best Orchestra In The World?
Tom Service: “What does being the ‘best’ mean? And how and why have the Berliners acquired, and held on to, their globe-topping orchestral reputation for so many decades, through changes of conductor and personnel, political upheaval and technological transformation?” – The Guardian
THEATRE
VISUAL
- There’s A Difference Between Celebrating Innovation and Trying To Understand It
Journalist Nicholas Carr called the online world “the shallows” for the way it erodes concentration. But the paradox is that its depthlessness arrives as immersion. – The Walrus
- She Who Controls The Logistics…
- Why Letting AI Do Our Writing Is A Bad Idea
The act of writing is an act of thinking, and to automate our paragraphs is to populate our screens with words without filling our minds with the ideas necessary to conceive of them. – Derek Thompson
- How Our Gamification Culture Kills The Spirit Of Play
The entire architecture of digital life – with its algorithmic feeds, frictionless production and the ambient expectation that we should be consuming or optimising at all times – nudges us towards chasing outputs rather than generating meaning. – Aeon
- What I Learned From China’s Robot Games
For the first hour or so, I found the Robot Games enthralling. What can robots already do, and where do they still fall short? Which robot will manage to crawl under an obstacle, and which will pitifully get stuck? But after a while, I suddenly realized that I had grown deeply bored. – Yascha Mounk