AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Isabel Allende Entered Herself in a Contest under a Pseudonym
Good Morning,
Isabel Allende, 84, won Spain’s €1 million Premio Planeta by submitting a sequel to The House of the Spirits under the name Luz Ventura, with the title Los que faltan. She told those at the ceremony she had never entered a contest before because she didn’t want to come last (The Guardian).
Ana Mota, a senior at South Grand Prairie High in Texas, was cast as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors until the school board swapped in Frozen, citing the 2025 anti-DEI law, Senate Bill 12. Nobody has explained how a girl playing a male role violates it (Downstage Center, a theatre Substack).
TikTok permanently suspended the ad account of Bleecker Street, distributor of Alex Gibney’s documentary Musk, for “political content” just as the film expanded to 470 screens. It restored the account Sunday morning and called the suspension an error (The Hollywood Reporter).
Billy Joel, 77, is auctioning more than 70 of his motorcycles because his neurologist says every show he gives is like getting a concussion (The Hollywood Reporter).
Catharina van Hemessen, a sixteenth-century Flemish painter, signed her work, which kept it from being filed under her father’s name (The New York Times).
NBC’s The Sound of Music Live drew more than 18 million viewers in 2013, against an internal hope of 10 million (Variety).
All of today’s stories below.
- A New Collective In Portland Would Really Like To Provide A Living Wage To Theatre Workers
Possible? Maybe: “Davidson found sources for Puddletown’s business structure by looking backward, to the kind of cooperative arrangements used by first traveling commedia dell’arte companies to Shakespeare’s players, on down to late 19th and early [20th] century repertory troupes.” Its first show is free. – Oregon ArtsWatch
- The Art Bird News Outrage Cycle Continues, But Why?
If you have miraculously missed most of the Kelly Clarkson/small business/rudeness cycle, it’s back. The art bird at the center of the Brooklyn storm, once tagged at $15,000, now retails for $15 million. – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
- Recreating The Mona Lisa, By Plane
“Pilots looking to clock in flight hours and practice tricky turns can have a bit of fun by tracing the shapes of animals, words, phrases, or in Mr. McDaniel’s case, world-class art. Mr. McDaniel’s Instagram moniker is Pilot Picasso.” – The New York Times
- Lessons about Value and AI from the Digital Revolution
Twenty-five years ago the digital revolution rewrote the ways culture gets found, valued and paid for. The battles were fought in a series of skirmishes over disruptive technologies that remade the ways creative marketplaces were organized. AI is poised to do the same. So… lessons?
ISSUES
- The Art Bird News Outrage Cycle Continues, But Why?
If you have miraculously missed most of the Kelly Clarkson/small business/rudeness cycle, it’s back. The art bird at the center of the Brooklyn storm, once tagged at $15,000, now retails for $15 million. – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
- Recreating The Mona Lisa, By Plane
“Pilots looking to clock in flight hours and practice tricky turns can have a bit of fun by tracing the shapes of animals, words, phrases, or in Mr. McDaniel’s case, world-class art. Mr. McDaniel’s Instagram moniker is Pilot Picasso.” – The New York Times
- It’s A Good Thing This Artist Signed Her Paintings
Otherwise, they likely would have been described as her father’s work, or taken as simply someone from his atelier. – The New York Times
- London’s Art Market May Be Damaged But Small Galleries Are Sharpening Their Edge
Though Brexit and reforms to wealthy international residents’ tax arrangements have damaged the Britain’s art market, the depth and quality of London’s midsize and smaller gallery offerings still give the city’s art scene an edge. – The New York Times
- Opening Of New Brazil Pompidou Museum Delayed Until 2029
“The project is currently working toward an opening in 2029 and is in the technical preparatory stages for the bidding process,” a Pompidou spokesperson tells The Art Newspaper. – The Art Newspaper
MEDIA
- If We Force Chatbots Into Third Person, Will People Stop Thinking Of Them As Sentient?
Sherry Turkle: An AI is “really not afraid of death, it’s not afraid of illness, it’s not afraid of pain, it doesn’t love its children, and it doesn’t care if you kill yourself or make dinner.” – Wired
- During And After Protests, Gangs Spread Fires Across France
In Limoges, the city hall burned. At the actual protests, demonstrators “complained about inflation sent soaring over 3% by the war in the Middle East. Others slammed perceived police brutality in student protests that have gripped France over the past four weeks.” – Le Monde English
- TikTok Has Banned The Musk Documentary Advertiser From The Platform
Hunh: “Distributor Bleecker Street was informed Friday afternoon a ‘permanent suspension’ was coming regarding any ads it tried to buy, and the company was unable to do so shortly after.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- How Florida’s New College Was Neutered By DeSantis’ Culture War
The report shows that NCF, with about eight hundred students, had both the largest administrative personnel and the highest operating expenses of any public college in Florida. – n+1
- Kennedy Center’s New Artistic Director Has Been Working With Trump’s People There From The Beginning
Since April 2025, two months after Trump’s takeover, Rick Canny has been a senior adviser to the Center, which has now amended his consulting contract to appoint him artistic director “in a designated executive consulting capacity.” Memos indicate that Canny wants authority to make a lot of changes. – The Washington Post (MSN)
MUSIC
- Isabel Allende, Writing Under A Pseudonym, Wins A Major Literary Prize In Spain
“The prize is open to unpublished manuscripts, with the option of submitting under a pseudonym, and Allende entered under the name Luz Ventura, with the fictional title Los que faltan.” – The Guardian (UK)
- How Ukrainians Are Fighting Back Against Russia’s Destruction Of Their Books
“The Ukrainian response has been a renewal of patriotism and engagement with national culture, along with enthusiastic defiance: the queues outside bookshops that formed in response to … the destruction, the orders that flooded in for e-books, or customers content to wait months for physical copies.” – The Bookseller (UK)
- Why Are Scammers Targeting Book Authors?
I’m not the only author to have found myself stuck in a Zoom book club with fake readers. Countless writers with published books have been receiving invitations from reading communities that start to unravel after a basic Google search. – The Dial
- Writers Are Being Deluged With Scams, Even Though Most Don’t Have Much Money. How Come?
Because these scammers have hit on an M.O. to which writers are particularly susceptible, that’s why. And there are a lot of hopeful writers out there, so the scammers can ask for small amounts of money (making it look low-risk to the targets), and make bank on volume. – The Dial
- seriously? we’re writing in all lower case?
the stylistic choice to write in lowercase is a dead horse that’s been beaten, flogged, and beaten again—what my generation calls ran through. and yet, it’s having a moment. i had to investigate. – Wired
PEOPLE
- Isabel Allende Entered Herself in a Contest under a Pseudonym
Good Morning,
Isabel Allende, 84, won Spain’s €1 million Premio Planeta by submitting a sequel to The House of the Spirits under the name Luz Ventura, with the title Los que faltan. She told those at the ceremony she had never entered a contest before because she didn’t want to come last (The Guardian).
Ana Mota, a senior at South Grand Prairie High in Texas, was cast as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors until the school board swapped in Frozen, citing the 2025 anti-DEI law, Senate Bill 12. Nobody has explained how a girl playing a male role violates it (Downstage Center, a theatre Substack).
TikTok permanently suspended the ad account of Bleecker Street, distributor of Alex Gibney’s documentary Musk, for “political content” just as the film expanded to 470 screens. It restored the account Sunday morning and called the suspension an error (The Hollywood Reporter).
Billy Joel, 77, is auctioning more than 70 of his motorcycles because his neurologist says every show he gives is like getting a concussion (The Hollywood Reporter).
Catharina van Hemessen, a sixteenth-century Flemish painter, signed her work, which kept it from being filed under her father’s name (The New York Times).
NBC’s The Sound of Music Live drew more than 18 million viewers in 2013, against an internal hope of 10 million (Variety).
All of today’s stories below.
- A New Collective In Portland Would Really Like To Provide A Living Wage To Theatre Workers
Possible? Maybe: “Davidson found sources for Puddletown’s business structure by looking backward, to the kind of cooperative arrangements used by first traveling commedia dell’arte companies to Shakespeare’s players, on down to late 19th and early [20th] century repertory troupes.” Its first show is free. – Oregon ArtsWatch
- The Art Bird News Outrage Cycle Continues, But Why?
If you have miraculously missed most of the Kelly Clarkson/small business/rudeness cycle, it’s back. The art bird at the center of the Brooklyn storm, once tagged at $15,000, now retails for $15 million. – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
- Recreating The Mona Lisa, By Plane
“Pilots looking to clock in flight hours and practice tricky turns can have a bit of fun by tracing the shapes of animals, words, phrases, or in Mr. McDaniel’s case, world-class art. Mr. McDaniel’s Instagram moniker is Pilot Picasso.” – The New York Times
- Lessons about Value and AI from the Digital RevolutionTwenty-five years ago the digital revolution rewrote the ways culture gets found, valued and paid for. The battles were fought in a series of skirmishes over disruptive technologies that remade the ways creative marketplaces were organized. AI is poised to do the same. So… lessons?
PEOPLE
- Isabel Allende Entered Herself in a Contest under a Pseudonym
Good Morning,
Isabel Allende, 84, won Spain’s €1 million Premio Planeta by submitting a sequel to The House of the Spirits under the name Luz Ventura, with the title Los que faltan. She told those at the ceremony she had never entered a contest before because she didn’t want to come last (The Guardian).
Ana Mota, a senior at South Grand Prairie High in Texas, was cast as Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors until the school board swapped in Frozen, citing the 2025 anti-DEI law, Senate Bill 12. Nobody has explained how a girl playing a male role violates it (Downstage Center, a theatre Substack).
TikTok permanently suspended the ad account of Bleecker Street, distributor of Alex Gibney’s documentary Musk, for “political content” just as the film expanded to 470 screens. It restored the account Sunday morning and called the suspension an error (The Hollywood Reporter).
Billy Joel, 77, is auctioning more than 70 of his motorcycles because his neurologist says every show he gives is like getting a concussion (The Hollywood Reporter).
Catharina van Hemessen, a sixteenth-century Flemish painter, signed her work, which kept it from being filed under her father’s name (The New York Times).
NBC’s The Sound of Music Live drew more than 18 million viewers in 2013, against an internal hope of 10 million (Variety).
All of today’s stories below.
- A New Collective In Portland Would Really Like To Provide A Living Wage To Theatre Workers
Possible? Maybe: “Davidson found sources for Puddletown’s business structure by looking backward, to the kind of cooperative arrangements used by first traveling commedia dell’arte companies to Shakespeare’s players, on down to late 19th and early [20th] century repertory troupes.” Its first show is free. – Oregon ArtsWatch
- The Art Bird News Outrage Cycle Continues, But Why?
If you have miraculously missed most of the Kelly Clarkson/small business/rudeness cycle, it’s back. The art bird at the center of the Brooklyn storm, once tagged at $15,000, now retails for $15 million. – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
- Recreating The Mona Lisa, By Plane
“Pilots looking to clock in flight hours and practice tricky turns can have a bit of fun by tracing the shapes of animals, words, phrases, or in Mr. McDaniel’s case, world-class art. Mr. McDaniel’s Instagram moniker is Pilot Picasso.” – The New York Times
- Lessons about Value and AI from the Digital RevolutionTwenty-five years ago the digital revolution rewrote the ways culture gets found, valued and paid for. The battles were fought in a series of skirmishes over disruptive technologies that remade the ways creative marketplaces were organized. AI is poised to do the same. So… lessons?
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Creating Art In A Time Of International And Creative Crisis
Elif Shafak’s latest book “arose out of our own historical moment, which Shafak has dubbed ‘The age of three As: Angst, Anger and AI.’” – The Guardian (UK)
- Bernie Sanders: Let’s Not Let Big Tech Dictate The Future Of Humanity
If these were the fantasies of teenage boys obsessed with science fiction, we could laugh them off. They are not. These are the foundational beliefs of the most powerful people in the world, who are mobilizing trillions of dollars to turn them into reality. – The Atlantic
- Is Their A Limit To Human Knowledge? Or Do We Keep Moving The Goalposts?
Are certain questions closed to the human mind? Are there truths about the world that we can never know? – Aeon
- Yes, Reading Has Changed. Adapt.
“We have everything we need to be happy,” the hero of Fahrenheit 451 observes, “but we aren’t happy.” Maybe that’s the ultimate lever to pull: the growing awareness that our devices are exhausting and eroding us. – The American Scholar
- We’re Losing Our Skills As We Lean Into Technology
We have fallen into habits that are steadily deskilling the human body, eroding capacities honed by evolution to support our wellbeing as we move through the world. Some of these capacities are weakening through disuse: we have come to rely on our phones, for example, and now, increasingly, on AI. – Aeon