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- Rescued From a Manhattan Dumpster, Now at the Met
Good Morning,
Alejandro Mario Yllanes, a Bolivian protégé of Diego Rivera jailed at home for his paintings of Indigenous labor, disappeared in the early 1950s. By several accounts his work was later pulled from the trash outside his Manhattan studio. The Met and MALBA, Buenos Aires’s Latin American art museum, have since collected him, the Toledo Museum of Art just bought Lake Titicaca (1935), and his paintings sell for up to $1.9 million (The New York Times).
In 1996 Jonathan Franzen complained in Harper’s of the “banal ascendancy of television.” He is now a month from finishing the script for Netflix’s eight-part The Corrections, with Meryl Streep as Enid (The Guardian).
Hong Kong Ballet moves in 2027 into the Dancehouse at West Kowloon, the city’s first venue built for dance, which takes it from seven performance weeks a year to ten (South China Morning Post). The National Theatre of Scotland agreed with Equity to cut rehearsal weeks from six days to five and pay overtime past 40 hours (The Stage).
Hungary’s new government closed Budapest’s House of Terror, the Orbán-era museum of fascist and communist history, and fired its director, a former Orbán adviser (ARTnews). Nova Scotia, now the only Canadian province with no core funding for publishers, is closing five of the Annapolis Valley’s eleven libraries; Rachel Reid, author of the hockey romance Heated Rivalry, gave $300,000 to keep them open (The Walrus).
All of our stories below.
- Hong Kong To Get Its First Dedicated Dance Venue
The “Dancehouse” will be part of the WestK Performing Arts Centre, opening next year in the West Kowloon Cultural District. The theater will be the new home of Hong Kong Ballet, which will be able to increase the length of its season. – South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
- Nova Scotia Closed Libraries. The Backlash Has Been Intense
Persistent provincial underfunding forced the Annapolis Valley Regional Library system to announce plans earlier this year to permanently close five of its ten libraries. Many are tired of—even enraged by—what they perceive as the government’s assault on culture, treaty rights, and the environment. – The Walrus
- Are Debates Over Student AI Use Arguing Over The Wrong Things?
The battle for the role of AI in higher education this fall is being fought over when and where AI and other digital technologies should be used. This combat ignores the larger crisis: how can colleges verify that they are preparing students to become productive members of society in a digital age? – Post Alley
- Jonathan Franzen’s TV Conversion
Franzen used to think TV was the “enemy” of the serious novelist. But after the HBO series failed, he watched Breaking Bad, Nurse Jackie and Silicon Valley and loved them. In the age of social media, AI and the endless scroll, TV has started to look like a “friend”, he says now. – The Guardian
- Equity UK And National Theatre Of Scotland Agree To Something Novel: Five-Day Work Weeks And Overtime Pay
“As well as reducing standard rehearsal weeks from six to five days,” the new agreement “includes the reduction of the working week from 44 hours to 40 hours, meaning any performers and stage management working more than 40 hours in a week for NTS will receive extra pay.” – The Stage (UK)
- Toronto Symphony Reports A Banner Financial Year
The TSO closed its 2026 fiscal year with an operating surplus of approximately $34,000, thereby increasing its accumulated surplus to nearly $1 million—putting it in its strongest financial position ever. – Colin’s Column
- Warner And Paramount Workers Shocked By Merger Approval
The general mood on both sides of the Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Skydance aisles on Monday was shock and surprise over the sudden turn of events. – Variety
- So CNN And CBS Will Have “Oversight Boards” To Protect Them? Hmnnn…
Such “boards” have been a part of other news-company acquisitions that have raised similar concerns about antitrust or editorial control. These boards’ effectiveness has been, to be generous, extremely limited. – The Atlantic
- The “Extraordinary” Bolivian Painter Whose Work Was Discovered In The Trash
“Alejandro Mario Yllanes was a protégé of Diego Rivera, who championed the bravery with which Yllanes made searingly political works. Yllanes … left little trace of his life after 1950, leaving a cache of paintings, engravings and documents in an apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.” – The New York Times
- Higher Ed’s AI-Detection Struggle
Four years into the ChatGPT era, colleges may be further from solving AI cheating than they were when it launched. – The Atlantic
- National Trust For Historic Preservation Announces $10M Fund To Push Back Against Trump
The fund “will provide resources for legal defense, public advocacy, and community action when historic places and the laws that protect them are under threat,” Brent Leggs, the trust’s president, said in an interview on Tuesday. – Washington Post
- Comedy Comes To The Museum Tour
During the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last month, she made her way to the National Galleries of Scotland for what was billed as a “cheeky romp” uncovering the “gossip, glamour and glorious absurdity hiding behind the art.” Gloriously absurd it was. – NPR
- Hungary’s New Government Temporarily Closes Orbán’s House Of Terror Museum
“The museum closure is part of new Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar’s attempts to rectify his predecessor, Viktor Orbán’s, control of state media and arts and culture entities. … (Culture minister Zoltán) Tarr said that the museum would reopen later this year ‘pending a review of the exhibition’s content.’” – ARTnews
- What Exactly Does An Orchestra’s Artistic Planner Do?
“Artistic planning involves putting together an organization’s programming, both in the near term and the long term. Members of the artistic planning staff work with the organization’s music director, guest conductors, visiting artists and their agents, as well as the orchestra’s finance, marketing and philanthropy departments and donors.” – San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
- Costume Designer Rampages Through Met Opera’s Closets And Attic For Two New Productions
“When he was hired to costume back-to-back productions for the Met this season — something no designer has undertaken in decades — Montana Levi Blanco’s survival instincts kicked in. It would be virtually impossible … to create 800 costumes from scratch given the time, energy and resources needed. So he wouldn’t.” – The New York Times
- NPR-PBS Lawsuit Against Trump Administration’s Executive Order Quietly Concludes
“NPR, PBS, several local public broadcasters and the Trump administration agreed in July to dismiss the last remaining claims in the consolidated cases. The move ends the litigation and leaves intact the court’s March decision permanently blocking key provisions of the executive order, which the administration did not appeal.” – Inside Radio
- Arkansas Ends Effort To Restrict Prisoners’ Access To Hard-Copy Books
“The Department (of Corrections) first proposed banning incarcerated people from receiving physical books last year in order to tamp down on drugs making their way into prisons. … (The focus will be shifted) to ban ‘misbehaving’ third-parties selling publications laced with drugs to incarcerated people.” – Arkansas Advocate
- In Court Filing, Dolly Parton’s Manager Accuses Her Nephew Of Threats And Extortion
“Dolly Parton‘s longtime manager has filed for a restraining order against her nephew, who until being fired a week ago was her head of security, alleging that the family member is engaged in a campaign of coercion, extortion and violent threats that has terrified employees and associates of her management company.” – Variety
- 2026 Booker Prize Finalists Include “The Disappearers,” “John Of John,” “The Things We Never Say”
“This year’s Booker prize shortlist features some very familiar names – previous winners Marlon James and Douglas Stuart …, along with Pulitzer winner Elizabeth Strout and prominent British speculative fiction writer M John Harrison. Novelist and poet Luke Kennard and debut novelist Rebecca Perry are also in contention for the £50,000 prize.” – The Guardian
- The Future of American Non-profit Theatre: A Discussion
- Four Violinists, Four Helicopters, One Opera
Good Morning,
The British Museum sold £2.4 million of Bayeux Tapestry tickets in 24 hours, the biggest day in its history. Days after the show opened it banned photography, because visitors shooting the 230-foot embroidery were blocking the line (The New York Times). After an Electra/Persona curtain call at the National Theatre, Cate Blanchett asked the audience to stop filming: “there are few places on this planet where we can simply be together and be present” (Deadline).
Tara Bess, 43, drove for Uber for nine months to afford a $1,400 barricade spot at Harry Styles’s Madison Square Garden residency; Goldman Sachs says superfans are worth an extra $4 billion a year (The Guardian).
Deutsche Oper Berlin’s new general director, Aviel Cahn, answered years of thin houses with Stockhausen’s Mittwoch aus Licht: four hours, a string quartet flown live in four helicopters, the first complete staging since Birmingham in 2012 (The New York Times).
Museums are dropping the ±2°C, ±5% humidity rule, a 1970s London climate control standard written into loan agreements worldwide. HVAC is 60 to 70 percent of a museum’s energy use; the Portland Museum of Art in Maine cut 9.5% in a trial with wider ranges (The Art Newspaper).
Russian drones destroyed 13 million Ukrainian books this summer, a third of the annual print run, 8 million of them at Ranok, the Kharkiv publisher that supplies textbooks to nearly every Ukrainian school. Its owner, Viktor Kruglov: “The Ukrainian book is the one product that cannot be imported” (AP).
All our stories below. See you tomorrow.
- Robbie Fairchild’s Debut As A Choreographer Is About Shakespeare’s “Lovely Boy”
The first dance created by the former New York City Ballet principal and Broadway star looks at the young man to whom Shakespeare addressed over 100 sonnets. The piece, Lord Chamberlain’s Men, imagines that he was an actor in the playwright’s company — and an inspiration for Romeo and Juliet. – The New York Times
- Faced With Soaring Costs, Museums Are Rethinking Their Climate Control Standards
For decades, professionals codified a climate range of plus or minus 2°C and plus or minus 5% humidity into museum practices and loan agreements worldwide, applying these numbers to institutions in environments wildly different from London. In recent years, however, professionals have started to push back against these stringent standards. – The Art Newspaper
- Deutsche Oper Berlin Needed Some Shaking Up, So Its New Boss Is Going Big
Attendance at the DOB has been disappointing in recent years; it was time for something different. Aviel Cahn, who became the company’s general director this year, is making major programming changes. His first new staging there is nothing less than Stockhausen’s Mittwoch aus Licht, complete with camel and helicopters. – The New York Times
- How The American Public Library Model Evolved
When you view the centuries-long history of American librarianship through a Pennsylvania lens, it’s more complex, nuanced and fascinating than many people realize. – The Conversation
- The Real Qualities Of A Skeptic
‘Sceptic’ comes from the Greek skeptikos, meaning enquirer, and has a long and serious pedigree in philosophy. Yet, since the 1990s, the term has been hijacked by science-denial movements, giving us oxymorons like ‘climate sceptic’, ‘vaccine sceptic’, and ‘evolution sceptic’. – Aeon
- Paramount’s Sweetheart Deal To Permit Warner Merger
Paramount’s C-suite must have been popping bottles of champagne as the press office engines of the major studio and 12 state attorney generals typed up the settlement term boilerplate language of what ended up being a stern finger-wave to Ellison’s team. – The Hollywood Reporter
- Russia Is Deliberately Waging War On Ukraine’s Book Industry
More than 40 Ukrainian publishing houses and numerous bookstores have been seriously damaged — and some simply obliterated — in targeted attacks by Russian drones and missiles since the summer began. Over 13 million books — a third of the country’s annual print run — were destroyed in two months. – AP
- British Museum Bans Picture-Taking At The Bayeux Tapestry
The museum made like the Sistine Chapel and announced a ban on photography in the exhibition, an unforgivable move to some in the Instagram age but a godsend to others. – The New York Times
- Apple Opens A New Live Music Venue In London
Located in Battersea Power Station, Apple Music Hall is a state-of-the-art venue “designed to connect artists and fans through bespoke, intimate performances unlike anywhere else,” Apple said in its announcement on Tuesday. – Variety
- How Superfans Are Reshaping The Concert Industry
Fans are paying thousands of dollars not just to see their favorite artists live, but to get closer to the performance and have a more exclusive experience. – The Guardian
- Autopsy Confirms Hayden Panettiere Overdosed On Fentanyl And Prescription Drugs
The inquest by the Greenville County, South Carolina Coroner’s Office ruled that the actress died accidentally from the toxic effects of fentanyl combined with Xanax, the muscle relaxant methocarbamol, and quetiapine, an antipsychotic. – The Hollywood Reporter
- Inside The Capture Of The Kennedy Center
Internal emails and documents obtained by The New York Times demonstrate the political capture of the institution by the whims of Mr. Trump, who at the start of his second term installed a board that made him chairman. Audiences and donors fled, and its finances cratered. – The New York Times
- Why Education Should Be More Like Gym Class
For years, the architecture of higher education quietly encouraged students to believe that the point of a class, and indeed of the entire college experience, was the credential. But if the grade is the goal, and a machine can get you the grade, the machine is not a shortcut; it’s just efficiency. – The New Yorker
