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- Uncertainty Can Be Toxic. But Understanding it Creates Possibility
Research suggests uncertainty can be more distressing than negative certainty. In one study, people were calmer when they knew they would receive an electric shock than when there was only a 50% chance of one. – The Guardian
- Legal Struggle Over Possession Of “Sistine Chapel Of Romanesque Art”
A set of 13th-century murals from the Sijena Monastery in Spain were taken to Barcelona for safekeeping during the Spanish Civil War and are now in the National Art Museum of Catalonia — which is defying a court order to return them, saying the artworks are too fragile to be moved. – ARTnews
- Obamas Will Take Their Production Company Independent After Netflix Contract Ends
“Barack and Michelle Obama‘s production company Higher Ground is transitioning to an independent operation following eight years at Netflix.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- James Hayward, Leading Figure Among California’s Abstract Painters, Has Died At 82
“Across a career that stretched more than four decades, Hayward developed a reputation for paintings that were both restrained and intensely physical. His best-known works used dense layers of oil paint and repeated diagonal strokes to build ridged, meditative surfaces that explored color, gesture and the material force of paint itself.” – San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
- Trump Wanted His “Heroes” Sculpture Garden Open For July 4. It Probably Won’t Even Be Started By Then.
Plans for Trump’s National Garden Of American Heroes still haven’t been submitted to the agencies which must approve it. The choice of site hasn’t even been finalized. Artists and foundries that applied to work on the sculptures haven’t heard anything back — and the statues are supposed to be finished by June. – CNN
- The Onion Has Another Deal To Take Over Alex Jones’s Wingnut Conspiracy Site
“Nearly a year and a half after its prior effort to acquire the right-wing conspiracy-centric brand Infowars was nixed by a bankruptcy judge, The Onion is moving forward with a new effort to take over the company and secure justice for the families of Sandy Hook victims.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- Book Bans And Attempts In U.S. Are At Record High, Says American Library Association
“The ALA on Monday issued its annual list of the books most challenged at the country’s libraries, part of the association’s State of America’s Libraries Report. … The (list) usually features 10 books, but this year has 11, with four tied for eighth place.” – AP
- Following Orbán’s Defeat, Pianist András Schiff Will Return To Hungary
Shortly after authoritarian president Viktor Orbán took office in 2010, Schiff vowed that he would not return to his homeland as long as Orbán was in power. With the latter’s resounding loss in last week’s elections, Schiff has accepted the invitation of Budapest’s mayor to give a large public concert there. – Telex (Hungary)
- Executive Producer-Tacoma Musical Playhouse working with Management Consultants for the Arts
Tacoma Musical Playhouse (TMP) seeks an Executive Producer to lead the organization and bring current and future supporters, fans, and volunteers along on an exciting journey to celebrate musical theater and build community in the Tacoma, WA region. The Executive Producer will possess a flair for creating smart plans and executing them with a team to produce audience pleasing musical theater featuring community volunteers supported by professional artists.
As the top organizational leader reporting directly to TMP’s Board of Directors, the Executive Producer will infuse a sense of shared purpose throughout the organization and maintain and build a team to take the company into the future, building upon the history and legacy created by TMP’s founders. The Executive Producer will be TMP’s lead steward of Mission, Vision, and Values and will work tirelessly to create a culture that is inclusive and welcoming and will be the principal executive ensuring that the resources necessary to produce work at an increasingly impressive level of artistic achievement are always available and growing.
Tacoma Musical Playhouse has engaged Management Consultants for the Arts to lead the search, and interested candidates may apply for this position by visiting this link: https://www.mcaonline.com/searches/executive-producer-tmp
TMP hopes to make a hiring decision by the fall of 2026, with the selected candidate transitioning into the position shortly after. The salary range starts at $125,000 annually and includes a full benefit package. TMP is an equal opportunity employer that celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Any offer of employment will be conditional upon satisfactory completion of a background check and reference conversations.
Tacoma Musical Playhouse was founded by Jon Douglas Rake and Jeffrey Stvrtecky in 1994 to fulfill a need in Tacoma for a theater company that specializes in the uniquely American art form of musical theater. Mr. Rake took on artistic leadership of the company, directing the majority of the company’s work over an enduring tenure until his death in December of 2025.
The company is committed to honoring the intentions of its founders with a future commitment to expansive community building centered around the production of joy-filled musical theater experiences. TMP’s Mission is “to inspire and enrich lives of our diverse community through musical theater.” TMP has held a long belief that people’s lives are enriched by high-quality entertainment.
Sometimes that entertainment challenges people to think about life issues; other times it offers opportunities for hilarity; and still other times it offers moments for tears. In all cases, however, the experiences move people’s emotions and take them to a new place in their thinking. More information on Tacoma Musical Playhouse’s vision, mission, and history may be found at https://www.tmp.org/
- LACMA – A pancake? A bunker? A maze?
Good Morning,
The verdicts on LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries are being written fast and furious after last week’s press tours, and “formless maze” is the kinder reading. The Wall Street Journal calls Peter Zumthor’s concrete-and-glass building a pancake out for a 900-foot stroll. A Eric Gibson’s WSJ review says the cavernous architecture overwhelms the art itself — a Georges de La Tour “doesn’t stand a chance.” LA Material runs the long backstory on how we got here. Twenty years, half a billion in private money, and the question isn’t whether the thing is audacious. It’s whether audacious architecture is still the answer when it competes with art.
Three AI-and-creativity pieces today, pulling opposite directions: Berklee music composition students describe the “five stages of grief” as AI enters their classrooms (WBUR). Fast Company is cheerleading AI as creativity accelerator. And Wired counters that letting AI do the writing misses the point of the exercise entirely. Pick your camp.
But you can’t replace we humans so quickly as that. At the Walker, the museum restaurant that replaced servers with QR codes is closing within 90 days of its opening (ArtNews). Turns out diners missed the humans.
All of our stories below.
- Inside The Martha Graham 100th Anniversary Party
Actors, musicians and politicians in sequined ball gowns and floral off-the-shoulder dresses ascended the steps of the New York Public Library’s regal main branch on Friday night to pose between the lions before the Martha Graham Dance Company’s 100th anniversary gala. – The New York Times
- A History Of Controversy Over LACMA’s New Building
Enter Michael Govan, who joined LACMA in 2006. He wooed Swiss architect Peter Zumthor to conceive of a better LACMA, convinced the county to put in $125 million, and raised more than $500 million in private funds. Now, nearly 20 years later, Los Angeles has a new museum. What could be wrong with that? – LA Material
- The New LACMA: Audacious But Confusing
It is a free-form essay in concrete and glass, with no formal entrance, no front or back. Its undulating form has earned its share of abuse, and it has been compared to a pancake or an amoeba. If anything, it is a playful building, out for a 900-foot stroll. – The Wall Street Journal
- The New LACMA: Art V. Architecture
The Geffen’s architecture overwhelms its objects. Entombed in a concrete bunker—one of the stand-alone galleries—and battling hulking walls and cavernous space, one of LACMA’s greatest masterpieces, Georges de La Tour’s “The Magdalen With the Smoking Flame” (c. 1635-37), doesn’t stand a chance. – The Wall Street Journal
- Young Composers Worry About Their Future With AI
Carson Zuck, 22, was a freshman in college when ChatGPT was released. As Berklee began integrating AI into courses, Zuck said, he watched his education go through the “five stages of grief” where denial arrived first and acceptance came later. – WBUR
- Federal Court Puts Brakes On Mega-Merger Of Local TV Companies
Nexstar and Tegna, two of the largest television groups in the United States, agreed to merge last year in a $6.2 billion deal that put scores of stations under the umbrella of Nexstar, the biggest local broadcaster in the industry. – The New York Times
- Report: UK Theatre Is Thriving. The Business Model Is Not
More people are going to the theatre than ever before. In 2025, over 37 million people attended theatres across the UK, while the West End alone welcomed a record-breaking 17.64 million theatregoers, almost three million more than Broadway. But behind the success story lies a quieter reality: the financial model that sustains British theatre is under growing strain. – UK Theatre
- How AI Will Accelerate Human Creativity
The most successful organizations of 2026 and beyond will not be those that simply use AI to do more things faster. Instead, they will be the ones that use AI as a creativity accelerator, freeing up human capacity for the work that only we can do: imagining, connecting, and creating meaning. – Fast Company
- Book Clubs Are Bringing GenZ Into Reading
Reading is experiencing a resurgence among Gen Z and millennials, many of whom are actively seeking alternatives to “doomscrolling” and the mental fatigue associated with constant social media use. – The Conversation
- Faculty Are Exiting Texas Universities, Claiming Censorship
The University of Texas ordered faculty in February to refrain from teaching ill-defined “controversial” topics in class. Nearly all Texas public university systems have conducted some kind of course-review process that screens instructional materials for gender and sexuality content. – InsideHigherEd
- The Board That Built Apple – And A Personal Computing Revolution – Is Turning Fifty
“The Apple I marked a great leap forward in convenience by coming already assembled, albeit without a monitor, a keyboard, or even a case; the purchase price of USD $666.66 (closer to $4,000 today) just got you the board. But what a board.” – Open Culture
- Letters That Keats Sent His Beloved, Stolen In The 1980s, Are Found
“The customer told them that the books had been bequeathed to him by his grandfather, who had kept them in a box at his retirement home in South Carolina.” – The New York Times
- No Big Deal, But This Canadian Director Just Had Two Movies Open On The Same Day
Chandler Levack: “It’s very surreal. I just feel like I crossed into, like, a multiverse or … a timeline that I was never supposed to be in.” – CBC
- Nathalie Baye, Star Of French Cinema, Has Died At 77
“Baye, a stalwart of France’s domestic cinema, starred in about 80 films and took home the best actress César, France’s equivalent of the Oscars, four times, including three years running from 1981 to 1983.” – The Guardian (UK)
- At The LA Times Book Festival, Prizewinners Tout The Power Of The People
One winner: “The people banning books are never the good guys in history, and it’s up to us in this room and beyond — as readers, as book lovers — to fight back.” – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
- Historically Face-Eating Leopard From Paramount Tells Hollywood Everything Will Be Fine
David Ellison of Paramount gave his pitch last week to theatre owners, saying that he would commit Paramount to a 45-day theatrical window. “‘Long live the movies,’ Ellison said.” – Boston Globe (AP)
- Writers Who ‘Use’ AI Are Truly Missing The Point
“The hard work of writing is, for people like me, a critical aspect of the whole effort, bringing one’s self to the task of communicating effectively and clearly.” – Wired
- What It Means That Hampshire College’s ‘Experimental’ Liberal Arts Education Is Saying Goodbye
“The shuttering of Hampshire College … feels different, not so much another liberal arts domino falling as the symbolic end of a whole tradition of progressive education in the US.” – New York Review Of Books
- Museums Are For Kids
There’s a “national wave of new children’s museums, expansions of existing institutions and a broadened lineup of programming aimed at young visitors.” – The New York Times
- Louise Erdrich On Writing, The Times We Live In, And ICE Near Her Bookstore
The multiple prize-winning author: “I guess it’s kind of ‘all or none.’ Either everyone is illegal except Native people, or no one is illegal. I don’t think anybody is illegal in the first place. I don’t believe in borders.” – El País English
- This Absolutely Unhinged Theme Park Presaged The Rise Of Silicon Valley
“From elephants to enterprise software — is there a better metaphor for the last half-century of radical change in San Mateo County? But mostly we should mark this anniversary so we don’t forget perhaps the most bonkers destination in Bay Area history.” – San Francisco Chronicle
- One Restaurant Decided To Replace Its Workers With QR Codes, And Then It Found Out What That Would Mean
Oops. The Walker Art Center is not happy: “Cardamom is slated to shutter within the next 60 to 90 days. The museum is now seeking proposals for a replacement restaurant.” – ArtNews
- Authors Are Leaving This Venerable French Publisher In Droves, All Together
“In an open letter, the ‘resigning’ authors explain that they refuse ‘to allow our ideas and our work’ to become the property of the ultraconservative billionaire [Vincent Bolloré], who has taken control of the Hachette Livre group, Grasset’s parent company, in 2023.” – Euronews
- It’s Getting Harder To Spot AI In Contemporary Publishing
And, frankly, it’s a labor issue: “The more time an editor has to edit a particular book, the more care they can put into it.” – LitHub
- Very Short Concerts Aren’t A Scam
OK: “The beauty of the less-than-an-hour show is that it ends before 10. You can get a drink or even dinner or hustle home.” – Washington Post (Yahoo)
