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The president of the National Constitution Center has stepped down — just as America kicks off its 250th birthday year — plunging the nation’s only Constitution-dedicated museum into turmoil (The Guardian). Pennsylvania, for its part, is rebranding its arts council as “Pennsylvania Creative Industries” and reorienting grants toward economic development rather than artistic merit — arts organizations are not pleased (WHYY). The Taliban, meanwhile, burned hundreds of musical instruments seized by morality police in Parwan province (Afghanistan International).
Two deaths worth noting: José Van Dam, one of the 20th century’s great lyric baritones, is gone at 85 (Moto Perpetuo), and David Hays — founding artistic director of the National Theater of the Deaf and designer of over 50 Broadway productions — died at 95 (The New York Times). The Venezuelan classical musician pipeline that has stocked orchestras worldwide may be under threat from political instability at home and Trump’s visa restrictions here (WBEZ).
The V&A has acquired the first video ever uploaded to YouTube — 18 seconds of a man at a zoo — as a cultural artifact (CNN). The RSC, not to be outdone, is staging a Game of Thrones prequel (The Guardian).
All of our stories below.
- Why Does Bernini’s Beloved Elephant Sculpture In Rome Keep Losing The Tip Of Its Tusk?
Because people keep knocking it off — most recently, this past weekend, when police found the four-inch marble fragment from the left tusk on the pavement nearby. – AP
- Vertical Dance: A Brief History
How a cross between rock climbing, rappelling, circus aerobatics and contemporary dance turned into a performing art of its own. – The Mercury News (San Jose)
- Almost Everything We Knew About Mayan Culture Turns Out To Be Wrong
Outsiders’ power over the story of the Maya is written into the people’s very name. After their arrival in the early 1500s, the Spanish named local populations “Maya” after the ruined city of Mayapán in present day Mexico. Yet the Maya never saw themselves as one people and were never governed under one empire. – The Guardian
- Outsourcing Publishing Decisions To Influencers
Bindery Books, a startup founded by publishing veterans, uses social media book influencers as acquiring editors to champion underrepresented authors and build engaged reader communities. – Los Angeles Times
- Royal Shakespeare Co. To Stage New “Game Of Thrones” Prequel
George R.R. Martin, author of the series of novels at the heart of the franchise, says that the RSC was the ‘obvious choice’ to produce the play — Game of Thrones: The Mad King — because Shakespeare had been a constant source of inspiration to him. – The Guardian
- Children’s Vocabularies Are Shrinking In Shift From Reading To Screens
“So many children are now falling behind,” Dent said. “The vocabulary gap is getting bigger and there is a real perception that vocabulary development is suffering and that impacts on learning.” – The Guardian
- V&A Museum Acquires First-Ever YouTube Video
“The V&A has acquired a reconstructed early webpage and the first video ever uploaded to the platform by co-founder Jawed Karim,” a V&A spokesperson said. – CNN
- Marketing To Chatbots
The rise of chatbot marketing is happening as A.I. tools like ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini hit mass adoption. OpenAI has said that 800 million people use ChatGPT weekly, while Google says its Gemini chatbot has more than 750 million monthly users. – The New York Times
- Could The Pipeline Of Venezuelan Classical Musicians Start Running Dry?
Graduates of the country’s El Sistema program can be found on concert stages and in top-flight orchestras all over the world; conductor Giancarlo Guerrero suggests that perhaps musicians are Venezuela’s top export. But with political uncertainty there and Trump’s visa restrictions in the US, will the talent keep pouring out? – WBEZ (Chicago)
- Metaphor? Leader Of US Constitution Center Steps Down As America’s 250th Birthday Begins
The first and only museum dedicated to the US constitution has been plunged into turmoil over the sudden departure of its president, a legal scholar widely respected for his commitment to non-partisanship. – The Guardian
- Without Big New Musicals This Broadway Spring Will Look Different
In the first third of 2026, we’ll see 11 plays and only six musicals on Broadway. And many of the musicals that will open share a certain downtown sensibility instead of, say, a stately Sondheim import or Disneyfied cheer. – The New York Times
- Taliban Burn Hundreds Of Musical Instruments
Afghanistan’s National Television, a broadcaster controlled by the Taliban, reported on Tuesday that morality police in Parwan had gathered the instruments over the past year from the provincial centre and surrounding districts. The report said a Taliban committee later set the items on fire. – Afghanistan International
- A New York Times Obituary Writer Contemplates The Ancient Egyptian Book Of The Dead
“To begin with, a Book of the Dead is a misnomer, applied by 19th-century Western scholars. A more accurate translation of the title would be ‘Spells of Coming Forth by Day.’ Unlike obituaries, they aren’t biographies. They aren’t even books. And, they’re not of the dead. They’re for the dead.” – The New York Times
- Powerhouse Indie Studio Neon In Talks To Sell A Piece Of Itself
“Department M, a production company founded two years ago by Mike Larocca and Michael Schaefer, is in talks to acquire a significant stake in Neon, the Oscar-winning studio behind Parasite and Anora.” – Variety
- David Hays, Founder Of National Theater Of The Deaf, Has Died At 95
On top of a career designing sets and lights for more than 50 Broadway productions and over 30 George Balanchine ballets, he became, in 1967, the founding artistic director of the National Theater of the Deaf, which combined spoken dialogue and sign language to create, in effect, a new genre. – The New York Times
- Radio Free Asia Resumes Broadcasting To China Following Trump Administration’s Attempt To Eliminate It
“Bay Fang, RFA’s president and chief executive, wrote in a post on LinkedIn on Wednesday: ‘We are proud to have resumed broadcasting to audiences in China in Mandarin, Tibetan, and Uyghur, providing some of the world’s only independent reporting on these regions in the local languages.’” – The Guardian
- Pennsylvania Re-Orients Its Arts Funding Guidelines Toward Economic Development
“The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts is rebranding its granting operation as a new entity called Pennsylvania Creative Industries. The new granting guidelines are in line with a new strategic plan that leans more heavily into creative entrepreneurship and economic development.” Arts organizations in the state are concerned. – WHYY (Philadelphia)
- California Classical Radio Stations Adopt A Single Statewide Identity
“Classical California has launched a unified statewide brand, consolidating KUSC, KDFC and nine additional stations under a single identity. The move follows the unification of on-air programming between the University of Southern California’s KUSC Los Angeles (91.5) and KDFC San Francisco (90.3) in October.” – Inside Radio
- José Van Dam, One Of 20th Century’s Greatest Lyric Baritones, Is Dead At 85
“For more than four decades, he was a central figure in European opera, admired not for flamboyance but for integrity, stylistic intelligence, and a distinctive vocal timbre that combined gravity with warmth.” – Moto Perpetuo
- Born in the DSA*: Gun Nuts Have Proven Irresponsible and Treacherous. Ban the F@#%&*g Things Already.The image of the current version of this country around the world is that of a gun-happy, murderous, fascist state in which every weapon is available to everyone who wants to shoot up a crowd. If that perception is correct, why don’t we just get rid of the guns?
- THE BLACK SCHOONER Amistad Slave Rebellion Retold in New Graphic Novel<a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2026/02/the-black-schooner-amistad-slave-rebellion-retold-in-new-graphic-novel.html" title='THE BLACK SCHOONER
Amistad Slave Rebellion Retold in New Graphic Novel ‘ rel=”nofollow”>
Before Black History Month runs out, let’s note that David Lester has a new graphic novel in the works: THE BLACK SCHOONER. “It tells the true story of the 1839 uprising aboard the Amistad,” Lester says, and is one of a “growing number of titles depicting history from below.” - For The First Time In Its 167 Years, This Newspaper’s Reporting Is 100% Paid-For By Subscriptions
The Irish Times (like most outlets) always depended on advertising to fund its operations. This year, thanks to the strategy followed by its leaders (and the fact that it’s owned by a trust rather than an asset management firm), the paper’s 150,000 print and digital subscribers cover the newsroom’s expenses. – Press Gazette (UK)
- Recent US Post Office Delays Are Hitting Publishers Hard
Recent USPS service problems aren’t exclusive to newspapers. But for a business where timeliness is baked into the value proposition, they can be uniquely damaging, leading subscribers to cancel and even, in some cases, threatening advertising revenue. – NiemanLab
- The Broadway Director Who Helped Stage The Milan Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony
Creative coordinator Sammi Cannold: “I think what would surprise people most is how mathematical it is. From the outside, it looks like pure spectacle and emotion. But behind the scenes, it’s geometry, timecode, safety protocols, wind calculations, the positioning of 35 cameras, traffic flow for hundreds of performers, etc.” – Playbill
- How Ukrainian Musicians Think About Russian Music
For some Ukrainian musicians, the new reality they have chosen is “no Russian words from my lips, no Russian music from my hand”, as Nazarii Stets, one of the players of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra (UFO), founded and conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson, puts it. – The Guardian
- Workers At Hollywood’s Writers Guild Union Strike Against The Union
The union maintained that “Guild management has surveilled workers for union activity, terminated union supporters, and engaged in bad faith surface bargaining, showing no intention to come to an agreement on most of WGSU’s core issues.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- An Evolving Notion Of Literacy That Explains Everything
Literacy literally restructured our consciousness, and the demise of literate culture—the decline of reading and the rise of social media—is again transforming what it feels like to be a thinking, living person. – Derek Thompson
- Grand Rapids Ballet Lays Off Executive Director And Eliminates Position
“Grand Rapids Ballet has dismissed executive director Mary Jennings after less than two years in the role, replacing her with an interim CEO as the ballet rethinks its leadership strategy.” – Crain’s Grand Rapids Business
- Why Frederick Wiseman Was The All-Time Best Documentary-Maker
Between 1967 and 2023, he made forty-seven features (nearly one a year), many of them running considerably more than two hours. His body of work, considered in terms of number of features and of total running time, is one that probably no one in his generation or younger can match. – The New Yorker
- How Consolidation Has Wrecked Publishing
Here’s the problem: Those Big Five control over 80% of the trade publishing market. Indie publishers exist, but they need more support—a lot more support—than they’re getting. – The Honest Broker
- Judy Chicago Walks Away From “Nightmare” Google Project
The celebrated visual artist Judy Chicago has walked away from a major commission at Google’s headquarters project in the Loop, comparing an aspect of working with the tech giant as “a nightmare.” – Chicago Sun-Times
- California City Reports $1.5 Million Embezzled From Its Arts Funding Agency
“The statement from (Fresno Arts Council), which handled public grants set aside by the local parks and arts tax for the past few years, said the arts council began securing records and initiating ‘appropriate next steps’.” Meanwhile, the City Council has removed the granting process from Arts Council control. – The Fresno Bee (MSN)
- If The UK’s Biggest Institutions Are Struggling, There’s A Structural Problem
If the National Gallery – one of Britain’s leading attractions with over 4 million visitors a year – is struggling to balance its books, it indicates wider structural problems in the arts industry. – The Conversation
- Russia Produces Great Artists. Why Not Great Science?
Russia produces world‑class artists and brilliant scientific inventors, yet few globally successful technologies. Why? – Nightingale Sonata
