AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Nonfiction Book Sales Are Slipping — Except In This One Category
Sales of nonfiction books in the UK and Ireland in 2025 were down 6% from the previous year, with revenue at its lowest since 2014. For quiz books, however, it was the best year since recordkeeping began in 1998; sales in 2025 were up by almost a quarter from 2024. – The Guardian
- Russia’s Return To Venice Biennale Sparks Huge Backlash
“The claim that ‘culture is above politics’ is never neutral,” reads one open letter in response to the Biennale’s announcement. “In the case of contemporary Russia, this formula has become a political instrument used to promote aggression and advance state agendas while disguising them behind the language of cultural exchange and dialogue.” – ARTnews
- So Far, So Good: Washington National Opera Stages Its First Post-Kennedy Center Production
The show may not have been perfect, but it was a success: WNO has managed to get Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha onto a stage just two months after it left its longtime home. – The New York Times
- Over Half Of National Museum Of Sudan’s Holdings Have Been Looted
“A statue of the Nubian god Apademak stands alone in the courtyard of Sudan’s National Museum, one of the few survivors of systematic looting amid a (civil war) that has developed into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.” – NBC News
- Live Nation And U.S. Justice Dept. Announce Settlement, But Antitrust Case Isn’t Over Yet
“The Justice Department touted a tentative settlement of its antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Entertainment on Monday as a victory for consumers that would end an illegal monopoly over live events in America, but over two dozen states planned to keep fighting the companies in court.” – AP
ISSUES
- Russia’s Return To Venice Biennale Sparks Huge Backlash
“The claim that ‘culture is above politics’ is never neutral,” reads one open letter in response to the Biennale’s announcement. “In the case of contemporary Russia, this formula has become a political instrument used to promote aggression and advance state agendas while disguising them behind the language of cultural exchange and dialogue.” – ARTnews
- Over Half Of National Museum Of Sudan’s Holdings Have Been Looted
“A statue of the Nubian god Apademak stands alone in the courtyard of Sudan’s National Museum, one of the few survivors of systematic looting amid a (civil war) that has developed into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.” – NBC News
- How Does The Troubled Philadelphia Museum Of Art Get Its Swing Back? Here Are 10 Ideas
The museum today is focused on the fact that fewer visitors are coming now than before the pandemic, and the concern is legitimate. But the way back can’t be merely quantitative. – Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
- UK Museums Hold Hundreds Of Thousands Of Human Remains
An investigation by the Guardian found that UK museums hold more than 263,000 items of human remains from around the world, including whole skeletons, preserved bodies, such as Egyptian mummies, skulls, bones, skin, teeth, nails, scalps and hair. – The Guardian
- Preserving Church Architecture Isn’t Easy, Especially In An Era Of Digital Attendance
“Sometimes people think that churches have some kind of magic ATM machine that we go to and withdraw money. And the truth is that we do not.” – NPR
MEDIA
- Longtime Kennedy Center Patrons Mourn — And Make Other Plans
Regulars who feel that the complex has been politicized and are now staying away miss what the Kennedy Center offered. But they’re not all staying home, and other performing arts institutions in and around D.C. are benefiting. – The New York Times
- The BBC Commissioned A Film About Health Care In Gaza, And Then Refused To Air It
“All these Palestinians told us that they thought the BBC would never run our film, and we really had to try and persuade them to talk to us because they didn’t and don’t trust the BBC.” The journalists were shocked to learn that the sources were correct. – Reveal
- The Performing Arts In The UK Aren’t Exactly Friendly To Working Parents
So says a new report, which “criticises the industry for failing to consider how it might adapt to better accommodate parents, with the result that many, in particular women, drop out.” – The Guardian (UK)
- How DOGE Used AI In An Attempt To Destroy The Humanities
DOGE employees used ChatGPT to make their choices. “The prompt was simple: ‘Does the following relate at all to D.E.I.? Respond factually in less than 120 characters. Begin with ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’’ The results were sweeping, and sometimes bizarre.” – The New York Times
- The Cosplayers Taking Emerald City Comic Con To Task For Its Deep Connections To ICE
“The problem lies in a rotten, corporate family tree,” and the self-described nerds aren’t going to let anyone forget it. For instance, in one panel, “it’ll be much, much more about fascism than a steamy book panel usually would be.” – The Stranger (Seattle)
MUSIC
- Nonfiction Book Sales Are Slipping — Except In This One Category
Sales of nonfiction books in the UK and Ireland in 2025 were down 6% from the previous year, with revenue at its lowest since 2014. For quiz books, however, it was the best year since recordkeeping began in 1998; sales in 2025 were up by almost a quarter from 2024. – The Guardian
- Amazon Pulls Sponsorship Of Paris Bookfair After Accusations Of Promoting AI Books
The SLF has been sharply critical of Amazon, arguing that it destabilises the book trade. In a statement reported by the Bookseller, it accused the company of seeking “to flood the market with fake AI-generated books, [which are] promoted by fake reviews, written by fake readers [and rise] to the top of fake rankings”. – The Guardian
- The Best Way To Read 100 Books A Year
Sure, there’s “be rich” or “have your minions do everything in life for you except reading,” but there’s also this: Read physical books. – Slate
- The Privilege And Power Of Having A Writing Mentor
Ashley Ford needed “a reason to believe that giving myself over to a creative life didn’t also mean condemning myself to poverty and invisibility. What I needed was that constant source of air to turn my spark of creativity into a flame I could share with the world.” – Service 95
- Romance And Romantasy Fans Are Driving A Potential Literary Shift
PEOPLE
- Nonfiction Book Sales Are Slipping — Except In This One Category
Sales of nonfiction books in the UK and Ireland in 2025 were down 6% from the previous year, with revenue at its lowest since 2014. For quiz books, however, it was the best year since recordkeeping began in 1998; sales in 2025 were up by almost a quarter from 2024. – The Guardian
- Russia’s Return To Venice Biennale Sparks Huge Backlash
“The claim that ‘culture is above politics’ is never neutral,” reads one open letter in response to the Biennale’s announcement. “In the case of contemporary Russia, this formula has become a political instrument used to promote aggression and advance state agendas while disguising them behind the language of cultural exchange and dialogue.” – ARTnews
- So Far, So Good: Washington National Opera Stages Its First Post-Kennedy Center Production
The show may not have been perfect, but it was a success: WNO has managed to get Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha onto a stage just two months after it left its longtime home. – The New York Times
- Over Half Of National Museum Of Sudan’s Holdings Have Been Looted
“A statue of the Nubian god Apademak stands alone in the courtyard of Sudan’s National Museum, one of the few survivors of systematic looting amid a (civil war) that has developed into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.” – NBC News
- Live Nation And U.S. Justice Dept. Announce Settlement, But Antitrust Case Isn’t Over Yet
“The Justice Department touted a tentative settlement of its antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Entertainment on Monday as a victory for consumers that would end an illegal monopoly over live events in America, but over two dozen states planned to keep fighting the companies in court.” – AP
PEOPLE
- Nonfiction Book Sales Are Slipping — Except In This One Category
Sales of nonfiction books in the UK and Ireland in 2025 were down 6% from the previous year, with revenue at its lowest since 2014. For quiz books, however, it was the best year since recordkeeping began in 1998; sales in 2025 were up by almost a quarter from 2024. – The Guardian
- Russia’s Return To Venice Biennale Sparks Huge Backlash
“The claim that ‘culture is above politics’ is never neutral,” reads one open letter in response to the Biennale’s announcement. “In the case of contemporary Russia, this formula has become a political instrument used to promote aggression and advance state agendas while disguising them behind the language of cultural exchange and dialogue.” – ARTnews
- So Far, So Good: Washington National Opera Stages Its First Post-Kennedy Center Production
The show may not have been perfect, but it was a success: WNO has managed to get Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha onto a stage just two months after it left its longtime home. – The New York Times
- Over Half Of National Museum Of Sudan’s Holdings Have Been Looted
“A statue of the Nubian god Apademak stands alone in the courtyard of Sudan’s National Museum, one of the few survivors of systematic looting amid a (civil war) that has developed into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.” – NBC News
- Live Nation And U.S. Justice Dept. Announce Settlement, But Antitrust Case Isn’t Over Yet
“The Justice Department touted a tentative settlement of its antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Entertainment on Monday as a victory for consumers that would end an illegal monopoly over live events in America, but over two dozen states planned to keep fighting the companies in court.” – AP
THEATRE
VISUAL
- The Argument Against Optimizing
What you lose in optimizing morality is the same thing you lose in maximizing your airline-mile spend. In other words, nothing quantifiable—but precisely the chance to escape quantification, to orient toward something that cannot be counted, predicted, analyzed. – The Point
- Glasgow Used To Be An Arts Powerhouse, But It’s Losing So Many Arts Spaces
“Glasgow is slowly becoming a hollow shadow of the thriving, radical and creatively edgy place it once was. … If you’re a young creative person studying in Glasgow today, why would you stay here after graduation?” – The Guardian (UK)
- For Dublin’s Arts Council, Meetings With Property Developers Are Always On The Schedule
“Our job is to ‘opportunity-make’ a space.’ … A lot of people think cultural development shouldn’t exist. There should be housing development, factory development and office development. But culture? What is that?” – Irish Times
- Whether He Had A Point Or Not, Opera (And Ballet) Are Clapping Back At Chalamet
The Seattle Opera offered a deal on tickets to Carmen using the code Timothee, and LA Opera “posted a photo from the opera Akhnaten … with the caption ‘Sorry, @tchalamet. We’d offer you complimentary tickets to Akhnaten, but it’s selling out.’” – NBC
- Why Are Twins Or Doppelgangers Everywhere Right Now?
“From spyware as standard to the conspiracy theorists who insist that Melania Trump has been replaced by an impersonator, we are in a deeply paranoid moment. Fittingly, the figure of the doppelganger stalks right across contemporary culture, through books, fashion and film.” – The Guardian (UK)
