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- Why Close Reading Is Having A Moment
I learned about close reading when I asked them to take their own thinking seriously—to take themselves seriously. Doing so, I found, forced me to take my job more seriously. – Boston Review
- Royal Danish Ballet Returns To The Classic Choreographer Who Made The Company Great
August Bournonville directed the company in the mid-19th century, and his works and style became thoroughly identified with the institution. Yet for some years the RDB turned away from Bournonville toward contemporary ballet; new artistic director Amy Watson is bringing his works and style back to the company’s heart. – The New York Times
- How A “Broken” Reader Learned To Loving Reading Again
It took weeks for me to realize that I was a broken reader. I assumed I’d just had a streak of bad luck in the Dept. of Picking. I started taking fewer chances. I bought only books that looked like books I would buy. This backfired in a kind of horror-movie sequence. – The New York Times
- A Race To Save Our Recorded Music History
A huge portion of the world’s recorded musical heritage is stored on magnetic tape, used regularly from the 1940s into the digital age to capture musicians’ sounds in the studio. But as analog tape ages, it grows more fragile and vulnerable. – The New York Times
- Suddenly The Anti-Gay Slur “F******” Is All Over New York Theater
Erik Piepenburg: “This year at least six theater productions have used “f*****” in their titles. … Why is a slur that a stranger hurled at me now waving hello from my playbill?” On the other hand, famously gay Black playwright Jeremy O. Harris told Piepenburg to stop pearl-clutching. – The New York Times
- Why We Need Systemic Support For Arts And Humanities
Arts and humanities scholarship is not an ornament, it is the record of what human minds have made, imagined and endured. To let those worlds fall quiet is to diminish what it means to be human. – Arts Professional
- Supreme Court Will Decide Whether Internet Providers Can Be Liable For Music Piracy
The Supreme Court on Monday grappled with the practical implications of a closely watched copyright clash testing whether internet providers can be held liable for the piracy of thousands of songs online. – The New York Times
- Christopher Knight Reflects On His Career At The LA Times
Sprawl is usually cast as an L.A. negative, but it was good for art. The horizontal city is just too big to fully gentrify; there was always another neighborhood where an artist could find studio space, or a gallery could open up shop. And they did. – Los Angeles Times
- Reddit Forum r/Art Goes Completely Off The Rails (And, For Now, Offline)
The subreddit, on which thousands of artists post images of their work, has strict rules against anything resembling marketing, sales or self-promotion. When one artist violated that rule (inadvertently, he says) with the words “prints available,” a moderator banned him and deleted seven years of his posts. Then things really went sideways. – Artnet
- Kevin Spacey’s Legal Troubles Are Not Over Yet
The actor, who was artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London from 2004 to 2013, was acquitted on nine sexual assault charges in the UK in 2023. Now he faces three civil lawsuits, two of them by accusers in the criminal cases. – BBC (MSN)
- How’s Hollywood Handling The Steady Decline Of Cable TV Subscriptions?
With mergers, mostly. “While efforts are already underway by pay TV operators like Charter Communications, Comcast and DirecTV to reinvent the bundle and by networks to pivot towards digital, M&A drama has dominated the industry.” – TheWrap (Yahoo!)
- “NPR Network” Fundraising Project Has Done Unusually Well
The fundraising program brought in more than $30 million in fiscal 2025, well above projections. Half of the donations and 20% of the podcast subscription fees collected, a total of $18 million, will be distributed to member stations in January; 31 of those stations will, in effect, have their NPR dues refunded. – Current
- $200K Grawemeyer Award For Composition Goes To Liza Lim
The Australian composer won for her cello concerto A Sutured World, composed for Nicolas Altstaedt and co-commissioned by the Bavarian Radio Symphony, the Melbourne Symphony, the Amsterdam Cello Biennale and the Casa da Música Porto in Portugal. – Limelight (Australia)
- Louvre Will Raise Ticket Prices For All Non-EU Visitors
“(The) museum has approved a ticket hike from €22 to €32 ($25 to $37) for non-European visitors from January to help finance an overhaul of the building whose degradation has been exposed by the Oct. 19 crown jewels heist.” – AP
- When Doctors Prescribe the Arts as Treatment, Nonprofit Arts Organizations (At Long Last) Prove Their Worth
Unless, of course, they muck it up by asking for money.
(Image by Tatyana Kazakova from Pixabay.)
“Musick has Charms to soothe the savage Breast
― William Congreve, “The Mourning Bride”
To soften Rocks, or bend a knotted Oak”
There seems to be some truth to that, and nonprofit arts organizations could prove worth (and increase their charitable value to their communities) by following specific medical advice to soothe savage breasts and more.
There was a report from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) last month — yes, Canada still has a public broadcasting service which Canadians are happy to support — concerning the power of the arts literally to heal.
Social prescribing is neither a new nor controversial kind of practice. It describes and defines a system by which non-pharmaceutical activities can solve or mitigate psychological and physical ailments caused by isolation and lack of brain stimulation.
“It’s particularly helpful for people from communities facing health inequities and need support in accessing anything that impacts the social determinants of health — non-medical factors that influence health outcomes — such as loneliness, housing, income or discrimination.”
A real prescription: Puppies We wrote about the charitable impact that nonprofit arts organizations have the capacity to deliver in the recent article Loneliness and the Arts: If Bringing People Together is the Cure, What is the Disease?. Across Canada, these issues have been in play for years. In the CBC report, for example, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra has partnered with Médecins francophones du Canada to allow doctors to prescribe the symphony as medicine to “reduce loneliness, improve health outcomes, ease the burden on the healthcare system, and build much-needed trust between doctors and their patients.”
“Physicians will give prescriptions to patients. The patients will call us. We give each patient that calls us two tickets, free of charge. And they can select the concert they want.”
—Mélanie La Couture, CEO of the Montreal Symphony OrchestraIt’s important to lean on the doctors and scientists to make the call on the power of music to heal the body. It’s important (and more impressive) to society-at-large when an arts organization chooses to bring people out of their self-imposed isolation chambers and electronic mind-control machines with activities prescribed by those same doctors and scientists.
Your arts organization can do this, too. Actually, it should. Regardless of your financial strengths or weakness (whether you’re swimming in cash or holding a going out of business sale), this is a way to prove to your community that you can help them. To some, it will be a revelation that your company might not be a toxic luxury for the rich, but indispensable to all.
Image by WOKANDAPIX from Pixabay One wonders if there are just too many nonprofit arts organizations that are currently addicted to the idea that ticket sales and earned revenues are the ultimate measure of their success. Too many who care about acclaim and reviews to adopt this kind of program full-time. Too many who scrounge for dollars instead of providing a cure to reduce any stigma that might occur when someone is in need…at no charge at all.
If you’re not one of those self-centered, self-indulgent art-for-art’s-sake companies (that all need to change or die) and you want to do good in your immediate community, why aren’t you actively advocating for groups of folks who have been deemed invisible by the movers and shakers to get free access to your music, your art, your dance, your theater, etc.? If it’s a program that heals, why not seek out the most isolated, the neediest, and the loneliest of your human beings and do everything you can to bring your art to them?
And then show us the outcomes, supported by science, from an external source?
Forget about selling tickets to these folks. Or even worry about funding it through an external grant. Just do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do. That’s what nonprofits are supposed to do.
Even if it’s more effective to go where they are instead of forcing them to come to you. Your building isn’t what will cure them, after all. But your art just might.
After all, isn’t it more important to your community that you solve a need instead of figuring out which ticketing scheme and price structure maximizes your revenue?
Doesn’t she deserve to be well? You can do something about that. Aren’t they more important than you?
If your answer is no, please leave the business or simply convert to a for-profit business. As a member of the nonprofit community, you’re hurting everyone else.
You save the art by saving the purpose, not by just continuing to satisfy your own “artistic vision,” which is completely meaningless to your community. Find the connections in the medical community who prescribe wellness with your art and then show us the data and stories of success. Don’t show us what you did without showing us how these people got better. Your community needs you. And it’s the first step toward success as a charitable institution.
If you want your nonprofit arts organization to thrive, just pick up this inexpensive trilogy. If not, I can let you know how to throw “Going Out Of Business” sales.
If you want to encourage vigorous discussion on how to make the nonprofit arts industry work for you, please consider buying me a cup of coffee by clicking on the cup. It’s a small thing, I know, but I need the caffeine. And hey, if you’re in the Seattle area, let’s have a cup together and talk! - Australia’s Leading Dictionary Names “AI Slop” 2025 Word Of The Year
“The Macquarie Dictionary dubbed the term the epitome of 2025 linguistics, with a committee of word experts saying the outcome embodies the word of the year’s general theme of reflecting ‘a major aspect of society or societal change throughout the year’.” – The Guardian
- Good Morning:
Today’s highlights: Existential questions for cultural institutions today. Museums face a stark choice between radical adaptation or irrelevance as traditional funding models collapse (Artnet), while higher education is accused of actively harming students by prioritizing AI proficiency over the creative thinking skills they actually need (The Atlantic). Even the sanctity of the liberal arts is under fire, with critics arguing they hold no monopoly on critical thought (The Guardian).
On the creative front, tributes are pouring in for playwright Tom Stoppard, celebrated for his intellectual agility (Los Angeles Times)—and his lucrative, secret side hustle doctoring scripts for movies like 102 Dalmatians (The New York Times).
Plus: The fight to save Britain’s first multiplex cinema (The Guardian) and how video games are feeding modern conspiracy theories (Slate).
All of our stories below:
- The Lakota Music Project vs. “Rootlessness” Today
- Have We Given Liberal Arts Institutions Too Much Credit?
While liberal arts institutions do have intrinsic value, that doesn’t mean they are entitled to be socially favoured or economically exceptional for ever. A particularly stubborn myth is that liberal arts education has a monopoly on cultivating critical thinking. – The Guardian
- Tom Stoppard, Man of Ideas
A man of consummate urbanity who lived like a country squire, he was a sportsman (cricket was his game) and a connoisseur of ideas, which he treated with a cricketer’s agility and vigor. – Los Angeles Times
- Why Perfectionism Is Killing Our Culture
This fetishization of perfection might not be surprising, but that doesn’t make it any less damaging. You cannot learn or grow while trying to appear as if you have everything figured out. You cannot talk to God by trying to avoid doing something wrong. Perfection is stagnation. – The New York Times
- Museums Struggle To Reinvent In A Shifting Landscape
As public funding evaporates, political scrutiny intensifies, and donor behavior shifts, museums are confronting a turning point: adapt or risk irrelevance. The museums best poised for the future are those willing to embrace collaboration, transparency, and experimentation. – Artnet
- Carrie Soloway, The Real-Life Person Who Inspired Prime’s ‘Transparent,’ Has Died At 88
“Dr. Soloway went to red carpet events related to the show,” but she didn’t love them. “She was very humble in terms of publicity; she wasn’t interested in it. … She loved the show and us and the character, but sometimes she wasn’t in the mood to be everyone’s favorite trailblazer.” – Chicago Sun-Times
- How The Classical Guitar Becomes One Of The Most Complex Instruments, In A Good Musician’s Hands
“What’s distinctive about the classical guitar is its simplicity. Ultimately, it’s basically a wooden box with strings attached and a fretted neck, a bridge, a saddle, and tuning pegs. Classical guitar has no inbuilt amplification, and the sounds are produced very directly.” – Aeon
- What Will This French City Do If Its Famous Comic Book Festival Fails?
Angoulême is where graphic novels and comic books are normally celebrated in a huge festival each year. But maybe not in 2026. “Criticized for financial opacity, harsh management style and the firing of an employee who had filed a rape complaint, the company 9e Art + has found itself cornered on all sides.” – Le Monde English (Archive Today)
- Fighting To Save Britain’s First Multiplex Movie Theatre From A Housing Development
“As a shot of commercial and architectural adrenaline, it revived British cinema-going, welcoming more than a million visitors in its first year, and impelling the subsequent proliferation of multiplexes.” – The Guardian (UK)
- How Did Tom Stoppard Fund His Playwriting?
Hollywood. “At one point in the early 1990s, Stoppard earned $500,000 for a five-week stretch polishing various projects for Universal Pictures. … He seemed to have a particular fondness for dog movies, contributing to both Beethoven and 102 Dalmatians.” – The New York Times
- Ethan Hawke On Playing The 5-Foot-Tall, Combover-Laden Lorenz Hart
“Hawke shaved his head and stood in a trench to appear shorter than his co-stars. This literally gave him a fresh view on the world.” – The Guardian (UK)
- Clueless Colleges Are Preparing To Harm Their Students In The Name Of ‘Preparing’ Them For A World Of AI
“Based on the available evidence, the skills that future graduates will most need in the AI era—creative thinking, the capacity to learn new things, flexible modes of analysis—are precisely those that are likely to be eroded by inserting AI into the educational process.” – The Atlantic
- Video Games Are Feeding A Deep Well Of Conspiracy Theories
“In the fiction of Assassin’s Creed, humanity is descended from ancient aliens; … world events [are] influenced by a shadow war between two secret societies; the media exists to manipulate the public. This makes for an exciting series of video games” — but it echoes real-life conspiracy theories. – Slate
- Daniel Woodrell, The Author Of Winter’s Bone, Has Died At 72
Woodrell was “a novelist known for prose as rugged and elemental as the igneous rock of the Ozark Mountains, his birthplace, which he returned to just as his artistic craftsmanship peaked.” – The New York Times
- The Oxford Word Of The Year Is Probably Something You Experience Every Day
You know what clickbait is, right? Well, the word of the year is its anger-fueled cousin, rage bait, “manipulative tactics used to drive engagement online, with usage of it increasing threefold in the last 12 months.” – BBC
- There’s A Lot Of History, And Art, Beyond Art Basel Miami Beach
Getting beyond the tent walls means understanding just how much the Cuban diaspora means to the city. – The New York Times
- Why Is A 1998 Musical Resonating With Audiences Now?
“We wrote something, you know, with very open hearts and no political agenda. We just wanted to tell this amazing story, and look what has happened.” – NPR
- A Classical Pianist’s Plea To Let Art Be Messy, And Real
“Playing an instrument well is phenomenally difficult. It takes a lifetime of arduous work and can become all-consuming, making it easy to forget that technical mastery is a means to an expressive end, not the goal. … In and of itself, it is uninteresting.” – The New York Times
