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- How Langston Hughes’s “The Black Clown” Became An Opera
“The magic of creator, lead actor, and bass-baritone Davóne Tines’s operatic adaption of Langston Hughes’s 1931 dramatic monologue The Black Clown lies in its everythingness. (The) poem … consolidates 300 years of the Black American experience into 18 emotional stanzas.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
- The AI Revolution Is Meant To Overwhelm You
I’ve written previously that one of AI’s enduring cultural impacts is to make people feel like they’re losing their mind. But lately, I believe, it’s the accelerated nature of the AI boom that’s driving people everywhere mad. – The Atlantic
- One Of Cuba’s Most Unusual Choreographers Tries To Stay Afloat Amid The Island’s Economic Collapse
“For nearly three decades Cuba’s Danza Voluminosa regularly filled prestigious venues like the 2,000-seat National Theater. Directed by Juan Miguel Mas, the troupe pioneered a new movement by working exclusively with larger-bodied dancers. … (Now) Mas’s daily life has been upended by persistent blackouts, water outages, soaring costs and a lack of transportation.” – AP
- A Rothko Sells For $86 Million
The seller of the 1957 work, “Brown and Blacks in Reds,” was the estate of former Goldman Sachs banker turned art dealer Robert Mnuchin, who paid $6.7 million for the work in 2003. The winning telephone bidder at Sotheby’s was anonymous. – The Wall Street Journal
- The Anti-AI Backlash Is Growing
Even absent any uptick in AI-induced layoffs, the anti-AI sentiment is likely to keep growing. – The Atlantic
- Sorry, But Introspection Is Just An Illusion
There are no such stable beliefs and desires “inside” us that can be observed and reported. Instead, the human mind is a wonderfully fluent, but profoundly deceptive, improviser: spinning stories justifying our thoughts and actions as fast as we ask questions. And these invented explanations are vague, inconsistent, and often provably wrong. – IAI News
- Trial Begins For Murder Of Art Dealer Brent Sikkema, Allegedly By Order Of His Husband
“The estranged husband of a prominent New York City art dealer said he wished his spouse was dead before the co-owner of a contemporary art gallery was found stabbed to death in his Brazilian townhouse, a witness testified Tuesday as a murder-for-hire trial got underway in Manhattan.” – AP
- What Kinds Of Non-Fiction Reporting Wins Pulitzers
If you do look closely at the history, biography, memoir, and general-nonfiction honors, a noticeable pattern emerges. The picks typically share a particular quality. – The Atlantic
- Would Paying Reviewers Help Fix The Peer Review Problem?
“The current system of unpaid reviews undermines the standards of the peer-review process. It produces late reviews and excludes large segments of the research community who cannot afford to work for free. If you have a financial commitment from the reviewer, it creates a lever for expecting quality. Payment creates accountability, not corruption.” – InsideHigherEd
- GenZers Are Going To Movie Theatres: Here’s Why
People born between 1997 and 2012 are now more frequent cinemagoers than some older age groups, according to a US-based survey by Fandango, with 87% having seen at least one film in a cinema in the last 12 months compared with 58% of baby boomers. – The Guardian
- London Museum To Return Old Jain Manuscripts (Though They Aren’t Leaving Britain)
The Wellcome Collection is ceding ownership of more than 2,000 documents, dating from the 15th to 19th centuries, bought from a Jain temple in present-day Pakistan in 1919. Now deeming the purchase of the manuscripts “unethical,” the museum is turning them over to the UK-based Institute of Jainology. – The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!)
- Study: Use Of AI Narrows Diversity Of Creativity
A recent preprint study provides evidence that while these tools might boost individual performance, they contribute to an overall reduction in the diversity of ideas across different users. – PsyPost
- Knoxville Removes Alex Haley’s “Roots” From School Libraries
“Roots” is a multi-generational story following the descendants of a man sold into slavery in the United States. It won the Pulitzer Prize and was adapted into a mini-series. There is a statue of Haley in East Knoxville. – WATE
- What Pop Music Criticism Has Become
The “Greatest Living Songwriters” list was dumb clickbait which omitted an entire pantheon of irreplaceably brilliant songwriters. But the thing I most lament is the loss of a critical landscape in which you could open up the paper each morning and read six reviews of weird shows on the Lower East Side. – Gabrial Kahane
- How Some Of Broadway’s Biggest Stars This Season Get Themselves Into Character
Daniel Radcliffe, Every Brilliant Thing: “My ideal version is that the play starts without you noticing.” Ana Gasteyer, Schmigadoon!: “People from my particular background, which is Saturday Night Live, which is sketch, work very quickly. There is no process.” – The New York Times
- Have A Look Inside The New Home Of Chicago’s TimeLine Theatre
“It’s a $46 million project built within the shell of a historic storage warehouse that was built by the W.C. Reebie and Brother Company in the 1910s, and the big vertical sign is easily visible to anyone traveling past.” – Chicago Tribune (Yahoo!)
- Staffers At San Francisco Arts Commission Want To Know Where The Hell Their Boss Is
“Employees and artists are speaking out about turmoil in the San Francisco Arts Commission, alleging that its leader has been chronically absent and arguing that it’s harming the arts by cutting staff and changing how it funds artists.” – San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
- The Dallas Opera Appoints New CEO, David Lomelí
Previously chief artistic officer at Santa Fe Opera, Lomelí — who had an 11-year career as a tenor — has spent more than a decade over the years working with The Dallas Opera as consultant, artistic administrator, and founding director of the Hart Institute for Women Conductors. – The Dallas Morning News (MSN)
- Suspect Arrested In Massive Louvre Ticketing Scam
“A Louvre employee was indicted and detained on Wednesday on charges including organized gang fraud as part of an investigation into a scheme to defraud the Paris museum of ticket fees for thousands of visitors. Six others had been placed in custody ‘because of the communications they may have had with the first defendants’.” – ARTnews
- Settlement Reached In South Florida Public Radio Lawsuit
“In an out-of-court settlement announced Thursday, the Miami-Dade County School Board, which owns the news/talk outlet (WLRN), and South Florida Public Media Group, which manages it, say they have struck a seven-year management deal for WLRN.” – Inside Radio
- Claudine Longet — Singer, Actress, Notorious Criminal Defendant — Has Died At 84
“The French-born singer, actress and ex-wife of Andy Williams was at the center of a scandalous 1976 trial and media circus after she fatally shot her boyfriend, Olympic skier Spider Sabich.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- What is a cultural institution actually for?
Good Morning,
Four different institutional stories today, all of them answers to the same question: what is a major cultural institution actually for? The Met is absorbing the Neue Galerie — its building and Ronald Lauder’s collection of 20th-century Austrian and German art — beginning in 2028 (The New York Times). Lincoln Center, meanwhile, is committing $335 million to make its fortress-like western edge less of a fortress, with a new 2,000-seat amphitheater anchoring a redesigned Damrosch Park (Time Out New York).
So: two strategies for staying relevant: absorb, or open up. Then there’s CBS News Radio, which after 99 years just signed off for the last time, a national institution dissolving rather than reinventing (CBS News). And the Louvre, where a French Parliament report concludes the crown-jewel theft happened because the museum spent years putting prestige ahead of basic security. Two audits flagged the problem, but nothing got done (ARTnews).
Also: a renowned Georgian opera bass-turned-opposition-leader was sentenced to seven years for organizing a protest against an authoritarian government (OperaWire), and Live Performance Australia reports that the most-performed “classical” music in the country last year was the score from Pirates of the Caribbean (ABC).
All of our stories below.
- The State Museum of Pennsylvania – Director
The State Museum of Pennsylvania (SMOP) seeks a strategic, collaborative leader to serve as its Director.
As a bureau of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), the Museum brings Pennsylvania’s natural and cultural history to life through collections of more than 12 million artifacts spanning cultural history, art, archaeology, geology, paleontology, and natural history.
Over the next several years, the Museum will undergo a $58 million transformation — the largest investment in the complex since 1964. This is a rare opportunity for a mission-driven museum leader to guide a statewide institution through a once-in-a-generation renewal. The Director will shape a reimagined visitor experience, deepen community engagement, collaborate with staff and steward collections through the transition, championing the importance of Pennsylvania’s history now and for the future. PHMC seeks a collaborative, experienced museum leader with a passion for public history who will serve as a visible, compelling spokesperson, sustain engagement during closure, build momentum for reopening, and thrive in the Museum’s public-sector environment.
The Museum has an annual operating budget of approximately $4 million, as well as a planned capital budget of approximately $80 million over 10 years to support continued exhibition development. Salary begins at $115,000 and includes a competitive Commonwealth benefits package. The start date is projected for late summer 2026. The search is being led by Syrah Gunning of the DeVos Institute of Arts and Nonprofit Management. Learn more and apply at: https://tinyurl.com/SMOPaj
- Remembering “The Pied Piper Of Early Music,” David Munrow, 50 Years After His Suicide
“With all the bravura of the 1960s, David Munrow erupted into the world of early music and transformed what had been a minority interest into popular listening. His … impact lives on in the music he rediscovered and popularised, and the innovative ways in which he presented and performed it.” – The Guardian
- Ontario Starts Crackdown On Ticket Resellers
The Ontario government has begun cracking down on ticket scalpers and resale websites to make sure they’re complying with new rules brought in last month that cap the resale price of tickets at face value, as some ticketing platforms still openly list tickets for well above their original price. – CBC
- The Producer Who Wants To Make Microdramas Which Are Actually Good
“Snow Story Productions CEO Austin Herring said the big hits in microdramas were ‘borderline unwatchable’ when he entered the field in 2024, where salacious and soap opera-level storytelling were the norm. But he remained committed to elevating the production standard.” – TheWrap (MSN)
- Neue Galerie To Merge With The Metropolitan Museum
Beginning in 2028, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will own the Neue’s Fifth Avenue home and the prestige collection of 20th-century Austrian and German art built by Ronald S. Lauder. – The New York Times
- Netflix Becomes An Ad Giant: 250M Subscribers
The streaming titan said Wednesday during its “upfront” presentation to advertisers that its ad-supported subscription tier reaches reaches more than 250 million global monthly active viewers, up from the 190 million it cited in November of 2025. – Variety
- Study: People Are Bad At Figuring Out What They Don’t Know (Yet They Think They Can)
People aren’t just bad at remembering things they see all the time, but also in actually knowing how they work. In a 2006 study, many people made significant errors when drawing a bicycle, like putting the chain around the front wheel as well as the back wheel. – The Conversation
- Aszure Barton’s Final Choreography Commission For Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
LubDub is the fourth and final piece of Barton’s three years as Hubbard Street’s resident choreographer. “Asked to discuss the movement vocabulary she employs here, Barton demurred. But when the descriptor ‘unruly’ was suggested, she was quick to embrace it. … (And) there are plenty of quirky, unexpected sights in the piece.” – WBEZ (Chicago)
- How Your Brain Toggles Between The Familiar And Exploration
Research from my team suggests that people balance between exploration and habit – that is, trying something new or sticking with the familiar – when deciding what route to take. Which navigation strategy someone chooses depends not only on their spatial abilities but on their network of brain regions that support navigation. – The Conversation
- Artists In The Age Of AI: Let’s Explore The Labor-Intensive Art Of The Renaissance
Artists have been raiding the toolkits of the Old Masters with new urgency of late, borrowing and reworking Renaissance and Baroque compositional drama, symbolism, and increasingly, their labor-intensive methods. – Artnet
- NYU Students Protest Jonathan Haidt As Graduation Speaker
Student government leaders at New York University are objecting to his selection as the graduation speaker at Yankee Stadium — calling it “deeply unsettling” — and in a letter, asked university officials to reconsider before the ceremony on Thursday. – The New York Times
- Keats’s Rediscovered Love Letters Could Sell For $2 Million
“A once-stolen collection of letters written by the poet John Keats to his fiancée Fanny Brawne will be sold at Sotheby’s New York this June with an estimate of $1.5 million to $2.5 million. The group of eight letters … date from 1819 to 1820, a period when Keats was suffering from tuberculosis.” – Artnet
- The Most-Performed Classical Music Concerts In Australia: Live Movie Music
According to the latest Live Performance Australia data, the most popular classical music performances in 2024 included Star Wars, How to Train Your Dragon, Pirates of the Caribbean, and The Man from Snowy River in Concert. – ABC (Australia)
