AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Prove You’re Art, Says South Carolina
Good Morning,
The Philadelphia Fringe is now the largest in the country by venue count — 350-plus shows in 100-plus spaces (Philadelphia Magazine). The model runs on one premise: nobody has to prove anything to get in.
South Carolina is testing the opposite premise. Its arts commission funded all but two of the nearly 180 applicants its own panel approved, then asked the Greenville Gay Men’s Chorus and Proud Mary Theatre Company for extra evidence of “artistic merit” (The Post and Courier). A merit test applied to only two applicants is… concerning. Lonnie Bunch, who ran the Smithsonian through the campaign to purge “improper ideology” from its museums, is retiring (The Washington Post). And David Rubenstein, fired as Kennedy Center chair, bought the Joel Shapiro sculpture the Center carted off last week and is loaning it to the National Gallery (The New York Times). Removed art doesn’t have to vanish. It can relocate.
The day’s other gatekeeping fight is corporate. Court documents describe Anthropic’s “Project Panama,” an effort to “destructively scan all the books in the world” for training data (The New Yorker); now authors say publishers are claiming too big a slice of the settlement (TechCrunch). The books were pulped for a machine and the humans are fighting over the scraps.
The Met auditioned boa constrictors for Così fan tutte and cast a sun-glow boa named Princess (AP).
All of our stories below.
- The Dance-Pop Singer That Argentines Treat As A Saint, Complete With Prayers, Shrines And Miracles
Miriam Alejandra Bianchi, known by the stage name Gilda, died 30 years ago in a highway collision, and she’s since become one of Argentina’s many folk saints, not officially recognized by the Vatican but venerated by ordinary people nevertheless. Gilda’s wrecked tour bus has even become a pilgrimage site. – AP
- What Does A Healthy Arts Ecosystem Look Like?
A healthy cultural ecosystem needs not just the creation and presentation of art. It needs education, access, discovery, interpretation and criticism, documentation, advocacy, funding, participation, connection, preservation and audience development. – Culture OC
- Fans Are Angry That This Season’s “Dancing With The Stars” Features Stars Who Can Already Dance
“Why do you keep adding professionally trained dancers to the cast?” tweeted one fan in response to the news that the next crop of celebrity competitors — Jenna Dewan, Julia Stiles, and Harry Shum Jr. — have all at some point danced for their livelihood. – The Independent (UK)
- Hollywood’s Record Summer Box Office Has Analysts Dreaming Of A $10B Year
The summer’s total was a nearly 30% improvement on the lackluster 2025 season. Notably, this summer’s tally was 9% higher than that of the same period in 2019 — before the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes upended the industry — though when accounting for inflation, this summer ends up ranking below. – Los Angeles Times
ISSUES
- The Making Of A de Kooning
Like Balanchine, de Kooning made images for the mind about the body as it was expressed in the streets of the city. Sometimes, when I watch Balanchine’s choreography, I can’t help imagining “Monumental Woman” and other drawings from the “Women” series flashing behind the dancers as they embody de Kooning’s symphony of flesh. – The New Yorker
- Today In French Museum Robberies: Thieves Take Renoirs From Museum On Riviera
Just a few days after the question of whether Pierre-Auguste Renoir was even a good artist re-entered public discussion, some “well-equipped” and “well-informed” burglars made off with two paintings from Renoir’s home in Cagnes-sur-Mer. (In their rush to escape, the thieves left two other works in the garden.) – AP
- Kennedy Center Chairman That Trump Fired Buys Sculpture That Trump Had Removed
David Rubenstein, the billionaire philanthropist who was chair of the Kennedy Center’s board until Trump ousted him in early 2025, has purchased the Joel Shapiro sculpture Blue, which was carted away from the Center’s grounds last week. Rubenstein will loan the work to the National Gallery’s Sculpture Garden. – The New York Times
- UK Loans Parthenon Pieces To Germany
The British Museum will lend two fragments of the Parthenon sculptures to an exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany, while Greece has rejected a request to lend nine Parthenon fragments from the Acropolis Museum for the same exhibition. – Greek Reporter
- The Lucas Museum’s Populist Bet
It would be easy to describe the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which opens Sept. 22, as “unconventional,” a description the museum’s leaders seem to favor, though “oppositional” also comes to mind. – Los Angeles Times
MEDIA
- What Does A Healthy Arts Ecosystem Look Like?
A healthy cultural ecosystem needs not just the creation and presentation of art. It needs education, access, discovery, interpretation and criticism, documentation, advocacy, funding, participation, connection, preservation and audience development. – Culture OC
- Smithsonian Chief Lonnie Bunch To Retire Amid Trump’s Culture-War Attacks
“Bunch’s resignation comes at one of the most politically fraught moments in the Smithsonian’s 180-year history. … Trump has sought to purge what he calls ‘improper ideology’ from its museums, while his administration has threatened the institution’s federal funding, tried to fire a museum director and challenged its authority over personnel and exhibitions.” – The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
- South Carolina Arts Commission Requires Two LGBTQ Performing Groups To Prove Their Artistic Merit
In August, the Commission confirmed grants to all but two of the nearly 180 applicants its selection panel had approved. Those two are the Greenville Gay Men’s Chorus and Spartanburg’s Proud Mary Theatre Company, which have been told to provide additional demonstration of their artistic merit beyond what was in their applications. – The Post and Courier (Charleston)
- Officials Renew Calls To Close After Falling Ceiling Piece At Kennedy Center
A Kennedy Center Spokesperson called the partial ceiling collapse Friday “another example of the urgent need to close for renovation and revitalization, as our Chairman President Trump has championed.” – AP
- Other Industry Leaders Say Not To Worry About AI, At Least If You’re A Designer
In Britain, “the head of the Society of Garden and Landscape Designers said many people working in his industry were nervous about AI. He said design companies were more likely to use AI as ‘the intern in the office’ than as a replacement for skilled staff.” – The Guardian (UK)
MUSIC
- American Literary Culture Is Besotted With Reissues
“If the past few years of American literary publishing have had a zeitgeist, it has been more like a series of geists from zeits past.” – n+1
- Destroying Rare Books To Capture Them?
Having identified books as the “highest quality source of training data” for Anthropic’s L.L.M.s, it initiated a covert program called Project Panama, defined succinctly in court documents as “our effort to destructively scan all the books in the world.” “Destructively scan” means precisely that. – The New Yorker
- Authors Push Back As Agents, Publishers Scramble To Get Pieces Of The Anthropic AI Settlement
Writers have been posting on social media that publishers seem to be claiming more than their fair share of some payments. – TechCrunch
- The Point Of Reading Pauline Kael
I don’t read Pauline Kael to track my sensibility with hers on an aesthetic oscilloscope. I read her because I think she—more than any writer I know, including Agee—brings the whole of herself to writing about movies. – Hedgehog Review
- In A World With Awards For Writing Badly About Sex, LitHub Has Tips For Doing The Opposite
“Even if you’re writing about stereotypically bad sex, your language should be fresh and surprising.” – LitHub
PEOPLE
- Prove You’re Art, Says South Carolina
Good Morning,
The Philadelphia Fringe is now the largest in the country by venue count — 350-plus shows in 100-plus spaces (Philadelphia Magazine). The model runs on one premise: nobody has to prove anything to get in.
South Carolina is testing the opposite premise. Its arts commission funded all but two of the nearly 180 applicants its own panel approved, then asked the Greenville Gay Men’s Chorus and Proud Mary Theatre Company for extra evidence of “artistic merit” (The Post and Courier). A merit test applied to only two applicants is… concerning. Lonnie Bunch, who ran the Smithsonian through the campaign to purge “improper ideology” from its museums, is retiring (The Washington Post). And David Rubenstein, fired as Kennedy Center chair, bought the Joel Shapiro sculpture the Center carted off last week and is loaning it to the National Gallery (The New York Times). Removed art doesn’t have to vanish. It can relocate.
The day’s other gatekeeping fight is corporate. Court documents describe Anthropic’s “Project Panama,” an effort to “destructively scan all the books in the world” for training data (The New Yorker); now authors say publishers are claiming too big a slice of the settlement (TechCrunch). The books were pulped for a machine and the humans are fighting over the scraps.
The Met auditioned boa constrictors for Così fan tutte and cast a sun-glow boa named Princess (AP).
All of our stories below.
- The Dance-Pop Singer That Argentines Treat As A Saint, Complete With Prayers, Shrines And Miracles
Miriam Alejandra Bianchi, known by the stage name Gilda, died 30 years ago in a highway collision, and she’s since become one of Argentina’s many folk saints, not officially recognized by the Vatican but venerated by ordinary people nevertheless. Gilda’s wrecked tour bus has even become a pilgrimage site. – AP
- What Does A Healthy Arts Ecosystem Look Like?
A healthy cultural ecosystem needs not just the creation and presentation of art. It needs education, access, discovery, interpretation and criticism, documentation, advocacy, funding, participation, connection, preservation and audience development. – Culture OC
- Fans Are Angry That This Season’s “Dancing With The Stars” Features Stars Who Can Already Dance
“Why do you keep adding professionally trained dancers to the cast?” tweeted one fan in response to the news that the next crop of celebrity competitors — Jenna Dewan, Julia Stiles, and Harry Shum Jr. — have all at some point danced for their livelihood. – The Independent (UK)
- Hollywood’s Record Summer Box Office Has Analysts Dreaming Of A $10B Year
The summer’s total was a nearly 30% improvement on the lackluster 2025 season. Notably, this summer’s tally was 9% higher than that of the same period in 2019 — before the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes upended the industry — though when accounting for inflation, this summer ends up ranking below. – Los Angeles Times
PEOPLE
- Prove You’re Art, Says South Carolina
Good Morning,
The Philadelphia Fringe is now the largest in the country by venue count — 350-plus shows in 100-plus spaces (Philadelphia Magazine). The model runs on one premise: nobody has to prove anything to get in.
South Carolina is testing the opposite premise. Its arts commission funded all but two of the nearly 180 applicants its own panel approved, then asked the Greenville Gay Men’s Chorus and Proud Mary Theatre Company for extra evidence of “artistic merit” (The Post and Courier). A merit test applied to only two applicants is… concerning. Lonnie Bunch, who ran the Smithsonian through the campaign to purge “improper ideology” from its museums, is retiring (The Washington Post). And David Rubenstein, fired as Kennedy Center chair, bought the Joel Shapiro sculpture the Center carted off last week and is loaning it to the National Gallery (The New York Times). Removed art doesn’t have to vanish. It can relocate.
The day’s other gatekeeping fight is corporate. Court documents describe Anthropic’s “Project Panama,” an effort to “destructively scan all the books in the world” for training data (The New Yorker); now authors say publishers are claiming too big a slice of the settlement (TechCrunch). The books were pulped for a machine and the humans are fighting over the scraps.
The Met auditioned boa constrictors for Così fan tutte and cast a sun-glow boa named Princess (AP).
All of our stories below.
- The Dance-Pop Singer That Argentines Treat As A Saint, Complete With Prayers, Shrines And Miracles
Miriam Alejandra Bianchi, known by the stage name Gilda, died 30 years ago in a highway collision, and she’s since become one of Argentina’s many folk saints, not officially recognized by the Vatican but venerated by ordinary people nevertheless. Gilda’s wrecked tour bus has even become a pilgrimage site. – AP
- What Does A Healthy Arts Ecosystem Look Like?
A healthy cultural ecosystem needs not just the creation and presentation of art. It needs education, access, discovery, interpretation and criticism, documentation, advocacy, funding, participation, connection, preservation and audience development. – Culture OC
- Fans Are Angry That This Season’s “Dancing With The Stars” Features Stars Who Can Already Dance
“Why do you keep adding professionally trained dancers to the cast?” tweeted one fan in response to the news that the next crop of celebrity competitors — Jenna Dewan, Julia Stiles, and Harry Shum Jr. — have all at some point danced for their livelihood. – The Independent (UK)
- Hollywood’s Record Summer Box Office Has Analysts Dreaming Of A $10B Year
The summer’s total was a nearly 30% improvement on the lackluster 2025 season. Notably, this summer’s tally was 9% higher than that of the same period in 2019 — before the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes upended the industry — though when accounting for inflation, this summer ends up ranking below. – Los Angeles Times
THEATRE
VISUAL
- How Knowledge Is Assembled
Just because something makes sense doesn’t mean that it’s true. Even valid reasoning cannot establish that its starting premises are correct. Even today, science continues to rely on experience, reasoning, and knowledge passed down by others. Much of the scientific process comes down to how we check our knowledge. – 3 Quarks Daily
- How Neoliberal Policies Corroded Democracy (And How To Fix It)
Promises of prosperity by Reagan, Thatcher and other advocates of neoliberalism were mistaken because it brought only fragility to previously prosperous democracies. – Aeon
- How Art And AI Can Hold Each Other Accountable
Beyond pushing our concepts of “who” can make art, AI provides a new medium for art experience — it is immersive and participatory. – Stanford
- It’s Not Just Physical Media
Landlines are making a slightly abashed return. “The phone itself is a sleek black with gold trim, and the cord connecting the receiver is all coiled up—just like the ones I grew up with back in the ’90s.” – Maclean‘s
- Why Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey Is Destined To Be Forgotten
It’s “a nearly three-hour barn burner, racing from event to event with whirlwind kinetic energy. … Nolan’s reluctance to take a pause should, actually, give us pause. After all, Homer’s poem doesn’t just involve a lot of waiting. It is a postwar tale about waiting.” – Boston Globe