AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Barbara Rubin Was The Teenage Filmmaker Who Stitched Manhattan’s Underground Together
“She filmed the scenes she helped create. Her best known and only surviving film, shot intermittently between 1963 and 1965, began with an unprintable working title before she borrowed its name from a line in the poet Arthur Rimbaud’s ‘A Season in Hell’: Christmas on Earth.” – The New York Times
- The Accomplishments Of Ancient Greece Are Not Just The History Of White People
“There is nothing wrong with taking pride in one’s ancestors. … Honoring and celebrating the past achievements of those ancestors, however, is different from taking credit for them.” – The Atlantic
- What’s the price of a book?
This Week’s Highlights:
A judge finally approved Anthropic’s settlement with writers this week, establishing the price of a book ingested by AI: it’s roughly $3,000 a book, the going rate under the $1.5 billion Anthropic copyright settlement (AP). Uh huh. I guess $3 is something, when you didn’t expect to see the money or if your book didn’t sell all that well. BUT – it establishes a baseline rate for what AI scrapers took. Not enough? We won’t know for a few more years. Meanwhile, AI-generated biographies of real people are piling up on Amazon by the thousands (The New York Times). How bizarre to read your life as authored by machine.
But watch what audiences did with their own money. LA theaters raced to resurrect the nearly lost craft of 70mm projection for Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey (Los Angeles Times). Publishers competed over who could make the most lavish foil-stamped edition of Homer (The New York Times). British fanzines are suddenly surging in popularity (The Guardian), and Gen Z is buying up 20-year-old digital cameras (NPR) because they’re cool. When AI abundance costs nothing, provenance and craft become what people pay for. A market forming?
Trump, meanwhile, is testing a different theory of cultural value, ordering warning signs outside the Smithsonian (Washington Post). And a national book-ban bill now in both houses of Congress (Publishers Weekly). Government is shifting from funding culture to adjudicating (and sometimes outlawing) it.
All this week’s stories below, organized by topic.
- Rachel Thompson talks about the ways to build curricular ties between students and arts institutions
Rachel Thompson, Program Manager at the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise & Public Policy at Vanderbilt, talks about building curricular ties between students and the arts and art institutions.
- Trump Orders “Warning” Signs Outside Smithsonian Museum
President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the installation of signs outside the Smithsonian National Museum of American History that warn of “inaccurate” exhibits and direct people to “accurate information regarding America’s history.” – Washington Post
ISSUES
- Ecuador Selects A Second Design For Its New National Museum After Everybody Hated The First One
The ungainly white box proposed by Spain’s Studio Alberto Campo Baeza was greeted with online objections by over 20,000 Ecuadorians and was withdrawn earlier this month. The new design, by Tokyo-based studio SANAA, is described as “a system of interconnected vertical plazas” wrapped in rounded façades of terracotta brick. – Dezeen
- Jeff Koons Wins Case Accusing Him Of Copyright Infringement
A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday upheld a ruling in favor of pop artist Jeff Koons in a copyright dispute with a sculptor who had accused Koons of using his sculpture without permission in a 1989 series of artworks. – Reuters
- Art Institute Of Chicago Lays Off Its Entire Custodial Staff, Will Outsource
“The cultural institution announced it will no longer employ 23 custodial workers on June 29. … The employees’ last day is Aug. 14, but a museum spokesperson said they will have the opportunity to re-apply for their positions with the new company, GDI Integrated Facility Services, based in Canada.” – Chicago Sun-Times
- Louvre Reopens Gallery Where Crown Jewels Were Stolen — But It’s Empty
The Apollo Gallery had been closed to the public ever since last October’s broad-daylight theft of the French crown jewels on display there. Now it’s open again, with nothing on display. Fortunately, the room itself is pretty spectacular. – AFP (MSN)
- The Next Director Of Britain’s Tate Galleries Will Be —
— Jessica Morgan, currently director of New York’s Dia Art Foundation. “Morgan will need to guide the organisation through a difficult financial landscape, raise poor staff morale and grapple with fluctuating visitor numbers.” – The Guardian
MEDIA
- The Accomplishments Of Ancient Greece Are Not Just The History Of White People
“There is nothing wrong with taking pride in one’s ancestors. … Honoring and celebrating the past achievements of those ancestors, however, is different from taking credit for them.” – The Atlantic
- Trump Orders “Warning” Signs Outside Smithsonian Museum
President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the installation of signs outside the Smithsonian National Museum of American History that warn of “inaccurate” exhibits and direct people to “accurate information regarding America’s history.” – Washington Post
- In This City, The Pay-What-You-Choose Model Is Starting To Spread. How’s It Working Out So Far?
The parameters are different for each company — Opera Philadelphia, an early adopter, sets an $11 minimum — but a number of different troupes and presenters in Philly have been trying the scheme. Here are some of the lessons, expected and unexpected, that they’ve learned so far. – Broad Street Review (Philadelphia)
- Proposed Massachusetts Law Would Help Keep Arts Spaces From Being Evicted Or Priced Out
“Artist studios, rehearsal spaces and performance venues frequently contend with rent hikes and evictions as developers gobble up property across the state. … The Creative Space Act would allow municipalities to establish a trust fund to acquire cultural spaces threatened by displacement.” – WBUR (Boston)
- Why Philanthropists Give?
For some, this elevated focus on philanthropy is not so much a voluntary strategic choice, but rather a response to their existing funders encouraging them to diversify their revenue streams and achieve what they see as a more sustainable future for the sector as a whole. – ArtsHub
MUSIC
- Why Did This Children’s Lit Festival Remove Comments On Diversity?
Authors said that their comments criticising the festival for its lack of representation under a post on its Instagram page were deleted, with the original post later removed and comments limited on other posts. – The Guardian
- Tips From Experts On How To Get Your Book Published
We asked five literary experts – a mix of published authors and publishing professionals – for their top tips on getting published. – The Conversation
- Why We Buy Books We Don’t Read
An unread book is a good example. It may remain closed for weeks or months, but the brain has already recognised its potential value, enjoying the prospect before the first page has been turned. – The Conversation
- Alan Turing Wrote A Short Story — And It’s About Cruising For Sex
The unfinished six-page story, titled “Pryce’s Buoy,” was known about by Turing experts but never before studied. Says scholar Sarah Dillon, “He’s been seen as socially unaware, entirely concerned with logic and numbers, and pretty isolated. His short story reveals a different man: playful, cheeky, literary, and someone who really liked sex.” – The Guardian
- A View From Second-Class On The Titanic In A Rare Surviving Letter From A Passenger
Henry Hodges, a musical instrument salesman, sent the letter from Queenstown (now Cobh), in Cork Harbour in Ireland, the ship’s final stop before crossing the Atlantic on its first and last voyage in 1912. The document provides a little-seen look at accommodations and activities for second-class travelers. – Smithsonian Magazine
PEOPLE
- Barbara Rubin Was The Teenage Filmmaker Who Stitched Manhattan’s Underground Together
“She filmed the scenes she helped create. Her best known and only surviving film, shot intermittently between 1963 and 1965, began with an unprintable working title before she borrowed its name from a line in the poet Arthur Rimbaud’s ‘A Season in Hell’: Christmas on Earth.” – The New York Times
- The Accomplishments Of Ancient Greece Are Not Just The History Of White People
“There is nothing wrong with taking pride in one’s ancestors. … Honoring and celebrating the past achievements of those ancestors, however, is different from taking credit for them.” – The Atlantic
- What’s the price of a book?
This Week’s Highlights:
A judge finally approved Anthropic’s settlement with writers this week, establishing the price of a book ingested by AI: it’s roughly $3,000 a book, the going rate under the $1.5 billion Anthropic copyright settlement (AP). Uh huh. I guess $3 is something, when you didn’t expect to see the money or if your book didn’t sell all that well. BUT – it establishes a baseline rate for what AI scrapers took. Not enough? We won’t know for a few more years. Meanwhile, AI-generated biographies of real people are piling up on Amazon by the thousands (The New York Times). How bizarre to read your life as authored by machine.
But watch what audiences did with their own money. LA theaters raced to resurrect the nearly lost craft of 70mm projection for Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey (Los Angeles Times). Publishers competed over who could make the most lavish foil-stamped edition of Homer (The New York Times). British fanzines are suddenly surging in popularity (The Guardian), and Gen Z is buying up 20-year-old digital cameras (NPR) because they’re cool. When AI abundance costs nothing, provenance and craft become what people pay for. A market forming?
Trump, meanwhile, is testing a different theory of cultural value, ordering warning signs outside the Smithsonian (Washington Post). And a national book-ban bill now in both houses of Congress (Publishers Weekly). Government is shifting from funding culture to adjudicating (and sometimes outlawing) it.
All this week’s stories below, organized by topic.
- Rachel Thompson talks about the ways to build curricular ties between students and arts institutions
Rachel Thompson, Program Manager at the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise & Public Policy at Vanderbilt, talks about building curricular ties between students and the arts and art institutions.
- Trump Orders “Warning” Signs Outside Smithsonian Museum
President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the installation of signs outside the Smithsonian National Museum of American History that warn of “inaccurate” exhibits and direct people to “accurate information regarding America’s history.” – Washington Post
PEOPLE
- Barbara Rubin Was The Teenage Filmmaker Who Stitched Manhattan’s Underground Together
“She filmed the scenes she helped create. Her best known and only surviving film, shot intermittently between 1963 and 1965, began with an unprintable working title before she borrowed its name from a line in the poet Arthur Rimbaud’s ‘A Season in Hell’: Christmas on Earth.” – The New York Times
- The Accomplishments Of Ancient Greece Are Not Just The History Of White People
“There is nothing wrong with taking pride in one’s ancestors. … Honoring and celebrating the past achievements of those ancestors, however, is different from taking credit for them.” – The Atlantic
- What’s the price of a book?
This Week’s Highlights:
A judge finally approved Anthropic’s settlement with writers this week, establishing the price of a book ingested by AI: it’s roughly $3,000 a book, the going rate under the $1.5 billion Anthropic copyright settlement (AP). Uh huh. I guess $3 is something, when you didn’t expect to see the money or if your book didn’t sell all that well. BUT – it establishes a baseline rate for what AI scrapers took. Not enough? We won’t know for a few more years. Meanwhile, AI-generated biographies of real people are piling up on Amazon by the thousands (The New York Times). How bizarre to read your life as authored by machine.
But watch what audiences did with their own money. LA theaters raced to resurrect the nearly lost craft of 70mm projection for Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey (Los Angeles Times). Publishers competed over who could make the most lavish foil-stamped edition of Homer (The New York Times). British fanzines are suddenly surging in popularity (The Guardian), and Gen Z is buying up 20-year-old digital cameras (NPR) because they’re cool. When AI abundance costs nothing, provenance and craft become what people pay for. A market forming?
Trump, meanwhile, is testing a different theory of cultural value, ordering warning signs outside the Smithsonian (Washington Post). And a national book-ban bill now in both houses of Congress (Publishers Weekly). Government is shifting from funding culture to adjudicating (and sometimes outlawing) it.
All this week’s stories below, organized by topic.
- Rachel Thompson talks about the ways to build curricular ties between students and arts institutions
Rachel Thompson, Program Manager at the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise & Public Policy at Vanderbilt, talks about building curricular ties between students and the arts and art institutions.
- Trump Orders “Warning” Signs Outside Smithsonian Museum
President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the installation of signs outside the Smithsonian National Museum of American History that warn of “inaccurate” exhibits and direct people to “accurate information regarding America’s history.” – Washington Post
THEATRE
VISUAL
- How Hierarchy Hides in How We Think
The question is not whether the technological revolution already underway will abolish hierarchy. It will not. The question is different: what will the new currency of rank be, and will it better recognise ability, responsibility, and work, or give old advantages a new language? – 3 Quarks Daily
- Reality Is Breaking Down
The rapidly degenerating digital culture is the third leg of the stool of the “reality distortion field” that has engulfed the U.S. – Artnet
- The Power Of Coffee Houses To Change History
It was debated whether coffeehouses were truly a place of creativity or frivolous laziness. Many resolved to leave the coffeehouse behind, as if it were a vice, and then failed to kick the habit. – Aeon
- Why Costco Is Thriving As The Antithesis Of Amazon
While most retailers today assume that consumers want ever greater assortment, Costco’s popularity speaks to a countervailing desire for less choice. Indeed, the pre-selection of items for sale in their warehouses is part of the value proposition. – The Walrus
- A Short History Of Being Burned Out
Burnout’s meaning shifted from literal to figurative over time. It began as a description of candles burning out or fuel being used up, then shifted to a barn burning down and a worker’s energy or body being depleted in the rebuilding. Eventually it came to simply describe a worker’s exhaustion. – The Conversation