AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- UK Equity Threatens Strikes In London’s West End This Summer
“The reason? Minimum pay and terms settlement negotiations between Equity and the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) have hit a snag after ‘constructive’ beginnings, with Equity saying that there were still question marks over ‘expectations on pay, holiday, rehearsal working time, injury, and stage management differentials.’” – WhatsOnStage (UK)
- How AI Looks Set To Change The Actual Printing Of Books
“A new report from the Book Manufacturers’ Institute on the state of the book industry predicts that printing is on the cusp of potential major changes.” – Publishers Weekly
- Venice’s Opera House Fires Controversial New Music Director Over Interviews
After months of protests from musicians and others over the slender qualifications of conductor Beatrice Venezi, the board of La Fenice confirmed her appointment and it looked like she was all set. Then she trash-talked the opera house and its audience to an Argentine newspaper. – The Guardian
- How Chicago’s Arts Institutions Are Coping With Federal Funding Cuts
“The defunding of arts and humanities programming across the state has left leaders skeptical as to whether government funding can be a reliable source in the future.” – Crain’s Chicago Business
- Director of Production-Seattle Children’s Theatre working with Management Consultants for the Arts
Seattle Children’s Theatre (SCT), one of the nation’s premiere organizations for theatre-for-young audiences, invites applications from dedicated and collaborative leaders for its Director of Production position. The Director of Production is responsible for the comprehensive production execution of SCT’s artistic vision, set by the Artistic Director.
This role reports to the Artistic Director and supervises a Production Manager, Technical Director and a staff of eighteen Artisans. This role leads all production related activities at SCT including but not limited to; design and rehearsal phase, running of shows, building of productions, sending SCT’s physical productions out, receiving touring productions, as well as partnering closely with the Artistic Director on commissions and workshops.
The Director of Production also carries responsibility for artist care and company management functions, ensuring all guest and resident artists are supported with housing, travel, hospitality and wellness resources. In addition, as part of SCT’s Directors team, this role takes shared responsibility in full staff activities such as; all-staff meetings, leading and participating in antiracism efforts, engagement with the board of trustees and promoting a healthy organizational culture.
Seattle Children’s Theatre has engaged Management Consultants for the Arts to lead the search, and interested candidates may apply for this position by visiting this link: https://www.mcaonline.com/searches/director-of-production-sct
SCT hopes to make a hiring decision by the summer of 2026, with the selected candidate transitioning into the position shortly after to be prepared to lead the 2026/27 set of responsibilities for the new season starting this fall. The salary range for the position is between $91,000-$106,000 annually and includes a full benefit package that includes:
- Generous Vacation & Sick Time
- Health, Dental, and Vision: Employer-paid coverage (You can explore the current benefits SCT offers on the SCT Benefits Website http://www.benefitspage.com/ PASSWORD: sct)
- Retirement: Optional 403(b) plan
- Additional: FSA options, Discounted ORCA Passport or Parking Plan
ISSUES
- So An AI Has Just Declared A Painting By A Street Artist More Valuable Than A Picasso. Questions Abound
What’s worth more—a Picasso or a painting by a street artist no one has heard of? According to the AI model we built, the answer is the latter. – ARTnews
- The New LACMA: Architectural Drama At The Expense Of Art
Carolina Miranda: “In some ways, this freeway-like building could not be more LA: messy, sprawling, too big to take in from a single vantage point. In others — its embrace of the road and its relentless horizontal-ness — it seems stuck in a vision of the past.” – Bloomberg
- Who Does Trump Want To Hire To Redo The National Mall Reflecting Pool? His Pool Guy
Trump originally envisioned the pool being topped with turquoise so that it would look like the Bahamas, but was convinced by the contractor to choose “American flag blue” instead. – Artnet
- What Did It Take To Put Together The Met’s Epic Raphael Show?
The largest survey dedicated to the Renaissance master in the U.S. includes 33 of his paintings and 142 works on paper. About 60 public institutions from 11 countries sent their treasures by the man born Raphael Sanzio da Urbino (1483–1520). Private loans include his two most expensive works at auction. – Artnet
- Instagram Commenters Went Wild When Boston’s Museum Of Fine Arts Posted Nudes Online
But the museum was expecting – even welcoming – the commentary. – Boston Globe
MEDIA
- How Chicago’s Arts Institutions Are Coping With Federal Funding Cuts
“The defunding of arts and humanities programming across the state has left leaders skeptical as to whether government funding can be a reliable source in the future.” – Crain’s Chicago Business
- Ireland’s Artist Basic Income May Not Account For Artists With Disabilities
“Ó Ceallacháin says many artists with disabilities feel as though they need to “]exist between ‘professional enough’ to be a ‘real’ artist for the Department of Culture and ‘disabled enough’ to receive support from the Department of Social Protection.” – Irish Times
- The Deep, Inescapable Unease Of The New Michael Jackson Biopic
And ‘unease’ is too kind a way to put it: “Everything left unsaid still lingers between the lines, sandwiched between the formidable melodies of his greatest hits, like toxic ooze leaking out from the middle of two slices of Wonderbread.” – Salon
- News Publishers Are Trying To Prevent AI Scraping, But They’re Killing A Valuable History Service
Talk about the baby and the bathwater: “History needs stewards. The people of the Internet Archive do an outstanding job of preserving irreplaceable work and making it available to journalists and researchers.” – Nieman Lab
- A Binational $1.3 Million Program To Fund Individual Creatives In San Diego And Tijuana
“At its core, Artists Count consists of a $1.3 million fund, available to active artists in both San Diego and Tijuana. In addition, a companion study will focus on communities with the least access to resources, examining ‘the realities, challenges, and economic impact of working artists’ on both sides of the border.” – SanDiegoRed
MUSIC
- How AI Looks Set To Change The Actual Printing Of Books
“A new report from the Book Manufacturers’ Institute on the state of the book industry predicts that printing is on the cusp of potential major changes.” – Publishers Weekly
- Did Shakespeare Bring Down McCarthy?
Or was it Kit Marlowe, getting some long-delayed revenge on conservatives in government? – The Atlantic
- As Anyone With Literary Chops Knows, This Is A Big Deal
Haruki Murakami has a new novel coming out, and the narrator is … what? A woman?! – LitHub
- The German Government Really Isn’t Happy About This Guy’s Popular Novella
A fiction author gets a phone call from the government: “Jügler was asked to explain what historical source material he had consulted for Mayfly Season and which period he was planning to tackle in his next book.” – The Guardian (UK)
- How Are U.S. Libraries Doing Amid Book Bans And Culture Wars?
It’s rough in these reading streets. “Librarians across the country are fighting to maintain students’ access to books and to keep their jobs amid cuts to library programs and persistent efforts to restrict reading materials.” – Salon
PEOPLE
- UK Equity Threatens Strikes In London’s West End This Summer
“The reason? Minimum pay and terms settlement negotiations between Equity and the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) have hit a snag after ‘constructive’ beginnings, with Equity saying that there were still question marks over ‘expectations on pay, holiday, rehearsal working time, injury, and stage management differentials.’” – WhatsOnStage (UK)
- How AI Looks Set To Change The Actual Printing Of Books
“A new report from the Book Manufacturers’ Institute on the state of the book industry predicts that printing is on the cusp of potential major changes.” – Publishers Weekly
- Venice’s Opera House Fires Controversial New Music Director Over Interviews
After months of protests from musicians and others over the slender qualifications of conductor Beatrice Venezi, the board of La Fenice confirmed her appointment and it looked like she was all set. Then she trash-talked the opera house and its audience to an Argentine newspaper. – The Guardian
- How Chicago’s Arts Institutions Are Coping With Federal Funding Cuts
“The defunding of arts and humanities programming across the state has left leaders skeptical as to whether government funding can be a reliable source in the future.” – Crain’s Chicago Business
- Director of Production-Seattle Children’s Theatre working with Management Consultants for the Arts
Seattle Children’s Theatre (SCT), one of the nation’s premiere organizations for theatre-for-young audiences, invites applications from dedicated and collaborative leaders for its Director of Production position. The Director of Production is responsible for the comprehensive production execution of SCT’s artistic vision, set by the Artistic Director.
This role reports to the Artistic Director and supervises a Production Manager, Technical Director and a staff of eighteen Artisans. This role leads all production related activities at SCT including but not limited to; design and rehearsal phase, running of shows, building of productions, sending SCT’s physical productions out, receiving touring productions, as well as partnering closely with the Artistic Director on commissions and workshops.
The Director of Production also carries responsibility for artist care and company management functions, ensuring all guest and resident artists are supported with housing, travel, hospitality and wellness resources. In addition, as part of SCT’s Directors team, this role takes shared responsibility in full staff activities such as; all-staff meetings, leading and participating in antiracism efforts, engagement with the board of trustees and promoting a healthy organizational culture.
Seattle Children’s Theatre has engaged Management Consultants for the Arts to lead the search, and interested candidates may apply for this position by visiting this link: https://www.mcaonline.com/searches/director-of-production-sct
SCT hopes to make a hiring decision by the summer of 2026, with the selected candidate transitioning into the position shortly after to be prepared to lead the 2026/27 set of responsibilities for the new season starting this fall. The salary range for the position is between $91,000-$106,000 annually and includes a full benefit package that includes:
- Generous Vacation & Sick Time
- Health, Dental, and Vision: Employer-paid coverage (You can explore the current benefits SCT offers on the SCT Benefits Website http://www.benefitspage.com/ PASSWORD: sct)
- Retirement: Optional 403(b) plan
- Additional: FSA options, Discounted ORCA Passport or Parking Plan
PEOPLE
- UK Equity Threatens Strikes In London’s West End This Summer
“The reason? Minimum pay and terms settlement negotiations between Equity and the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) have hit a snag after ‘constructive’ beginnings, with Equity saying that there were still question marks over ‘expectations on pay, holiday, rehearsal working time, injury, and stage management differentials.’” – WhatsOnStage (UK)
- How AI Looks Set To Change The Actual Printing Of Books
“A new report from the Book Manufacturers’ Institute on the state of the book industry predicts that printing is on the cusp of potential major changes.” – Publishers Weekly
- Venice’s Opera House Fires Controversial New Music Director Over Interviews
After months of protests from musicians and others over the slender qualifications of conductor Beatrice Venezi, the board of La Fenice confirmed her appointment and it looked like she was all set. Then she trash-talked the opera house and its audience to an Argentine newspaper. – The Guardian
- How Chicago’s Arts Institutions Are Coping With Federal Funding Cuts
“The defunding of arts and humanities programming across the state has left leaders skeptical as to whether government funding can be a reliable source in the future.” – Crain’s Chicago Business
- Director of Production-Seattle Children’s Theatre working with Management Consultants for the Arts
Seattle Children’s Theatre (SCT), one of the nation’s premiere organizations for theatre-for-young audiences, invites applications from dedicated and collaborative leaders for its Director of Production position. The Director of Production is responsible for the comprehensive production execution of SCT’s artistic vision, set by the Artistic Director.
This role reports to the Artistic Director and supervises a Production Manager, Technical Director and a staff of eighteen Artisans. This role leads all production related activities at SCT including but not limited to; design and rehearsal phase, running of shows, building of productions, sending SCT’s physical productions out, receiving touring productions, as well as partnering closely with the Artistic Director on commissions and workshops.
The Director of Production also carries responsibility for artist care and company management functions, ensuring all guest and resident artists are supported with housing, travel, hospitality and wellness resources. In addition, as part of SCT’s Directors team, this role takes shared responsibility in full staff activities such as; all-staff meetings, leading and participating in antiracism efforts, engagement with the board of trustees and promoting a healthy organizational culture.
Seattle Children’s Theatre has engaged Management Consultants for the Arts to lead the search, and interested candidates may apply for this position by visiting this link: https://www.mcaonline.com/searches/director-of-production-sct
SCT hopes to make a hiring decision by the summer of 2026, with the selected candidate transitioning into the position shortly after to be prepared to lead the 2026/27 set of responsibilities for the new season starting this fall. The salary range for the position is between $91,000-$106,000 annually and includes a full benefit package that includes:
- Generous Vacation & Sick Time
- Health, Dental, and Vision: Employer-paid coverage (You can explore the current benefits SCT offers on the SCT Benefits Website http://www.benefitspage.com/ PASSWORD: sct)
- Retirement: Optional 403(b) plan
- Additional: FSA options, Discounted ORCA Passport or Parking Plan
THEATRE
VISUAL
- How Short-Form Video Clips Took Over The Internet
Once you start looking, you realize that short video clips—not tweets, or posts, or static photos—have become the atomic unit of online content. Short-form video, of course, isn’t new, but the prevalence of the clips is. – The Atlantic
- AI Can Make Anyone An “Influencer”
Across social media, an influx of A.I.-generated avatars is reshaping what it means to be an influencer. A Facebook group called Baddies in AI, geared toward women who are using A.I. to either augment their own social-media presence or create entirely new figures from scratch, has more than three hundred thousand members. – The New Yorker
- What Is Truth?
That, basically, is what’s at stake in the low-grade shots fired (culturally speaking) across the internet about Michael. – Wired
- A Cultural Critic Admits They Were Very Wrong About A 2010s Flashpoint
“There was something very intentional to Girls, something that spoke to me. I could’ve connected with it. Instead, I rejected it dramatically. I wasn’t the only one.” – Slate
- The Deep, Strange Comfort Of A Rewatch
“Familiar things require less from us; they deliver the emotional payoff we expect. But repetition is also a way of revisiting earlier versions of ourselves.” – The Atlantic
