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- A Look At 75 Years Of History In Juilliard’s Dance Division’s Archives
“A perusal of the archives shows how rich the Dance Division’s history has been, with a roster of teachers and students that reflects the arc of American dance in the 20th century. And the curriculum, a mix of ballet and modern dance, once seen as eccentric, now is the norm.” – The New York Times
- Matthias Pintscher Appointed Music Director Of Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
The German-born, New York-based composer-conductor, who is also music director of the Kansas City Symphony, succeeds Jamie Martín at the helm of the LACO as of the 2027-28 season. – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
- Canada’s Top Literary Award Broke With Its Sponsor. Now A Foundation Has Come To Its Rescue.
Early last year the Giller Prize broke ties with its longtime sponsor Scotiabank — leaving it without the means to support the C$100,000 award and other programs. Now the foundation which stepped up with C$! million in bridge funding has made a C$4 million donation to keep the Giller going longer-term. – The Canadian Press (MSN)
- Former Exec Accuses Smithsonian’s National Gallery Of “Soft Censorship” Of Symposium
A May 2025 symposium about race issues in the art of the US and Mexico, created and organized by the National Gallery, was abruptly moved offsite and scrubbed from the museum’s website — a decision made, says a former executive, after a visit from Trump’s DOGE. – The New York Times
- The Infinity Machine Starts Pressing Vinyl
Good Morning,
Suno, valued at $5.4 billion and buried in lawsuits, announced two things. It will start watermarking the songs made on its platform (TechCrunch). And it opened a waitlist to press those songs onto 12-inch records (MusicBusinessWorldwide). The machine built to make music infinite is now selling physical artifacts. Guess it knows where the value is?
The demand side is arriving at the same place from the other direction. Digital cameras, wired headphones and iPods are selling again, largely because they don’t send notifications (BBC). Researchers who asked people why they rewatch the same films found intent rather than habit: viewers knew which emotion they were shopping for and skipped the twenty minutes of scrolling (Silicon Canals) trying to find something new (and chancy). Constraint chosen on purpose.
Meanwhile, Andrew Lloyd Webber marked the closing of Cats: The Jellicle Ball by suggesting Broadway might finally reckon with what it now costs to run a new show (Variety) — an optimistic thing to read into a closing notice.
Meanwhile, everything is turning beige. Since the late 2000s, colorless colors have taken over houses, cars, couches and refrigerators (The Atlantic). The interesting question is why.
And a British radio station accidentally broadcast the death of King Charles. The staffer responsible “panicked and left the premises” (BBC).
All of our stories below.
- This AI Moment Could Be Clarifying For How We Think About Culture. Or…
“Our contention is that, if we fail to think through and delimit the role of AI in our lives, we risk undermining the intelligibility of our own guiding cultural concepts, and thus initiating a period in our own society of which it may someday be possible to say that “nothing happened.” – The Point
- Why Are America’s Houses Turning Gray?
Today, almost no one seems to be looking to the hues of jelly beans for inspiration for their home—or car or couch or fridge or practically anything else. Since the late 2000s, essentially colorless colors—think white, beige, gray—have taken over. – The Atlantic
- Trump Arch “Horribly Flawed” Says Cultural Landscape Foundation
“The process for the selection and siting of the Triumphal Arch has been horrifically flawed from the outset. Remarkably, there was no design competition, which is a dangerous and radical decision for what would be the second largest monument in the Monumental Core after the Washington Monument.” – Los Angeles Times
- Uffizi Unveils Its Most Extensive Renovation Plans Ever
Described as one of the Uffizi’s most ambitious projects to date, the nearly $58-million effort will leave virtually every space with new infrastructure or a fresh look. – Smithsonian
- FCC Scraps Local Broadcast TV Ownership Limits
In a 2-1 vote, the FCC repealed a 22-year-old rule holding that a company cannot own stations that reach more than a combined 39% of the U.S. television audience. The ownership limit will be replaced by a case-by-case approach. – NBC
- Suno Says It Will Let Users Watermark Their AI Music
Suno, the service that allows users to create AI-generated songs, today announced new tools to mark tracks made on its platform, limit downloads, and update community guidelines to prevent copycat songs. The changes come as Suno faces numerous lawsuits from labels and artist bodies. – TechCrunch
- Oh My: A New Service To Put Your AI-Created Songs On Vinyl Records
The company, which raised over $400 million in a Series D round in June that valued it at $5.4 billion, has opened a waitlist for Suno Vinyl, a service that turns songs made on its platform into physical records. – MusicBusinessWorldwide
- Stolen Picasso Suddenly Turns Up
The Spanish artist’s 1949 etching — “Torero,” or “Bullfighter” — was hanging in the lobby of DeLind Fine Art Appraisals in downtown Milwaukee when it vanished in February 2018. – Washington Post
- As ‘Jellicle Ball’ Closes, Andrew Lloyd Webber Has Some Choice Thoughts For Broadway
On Instagram, the composer wrote, “Maybe the show’s closing just might be remembered as the moment that caused everyone involved with Broadway to come to their senses and address the unsustainable cost of producing and running any new show now.” – Variety
- The Psychology Of Why We Rewatch Movies
What their interviews turned up was that people were not doing this out of habit. They were doing it with intent. They knew precisely which emotion they were shopping for, and they knew the film would hand it over. No browsing. No twenty minutes of scrolling before giving up. – Silicon Canals
- Judging Books By Their Covers
We can thank the Preraphaelite coterie for this tendency. ” – LitHub
- Performing artists: share how GenAI is affecting your work
If you work in theater, dance, or live music, researchers want to hear from you. The Material Impacts of GenAI in the Performing Arts Survey, administered by SMU DataArts in partnership with artist Annie Dorsen, is the first survey of its kind to examine how generative AI is affecting artists’ income, career opportunities, and creative practices — an area with lots of discussion but little hard data.
The survey is open to anyone in the performing arts at any career stage: performers, directors, choreographers, composers, designers, and technicians. Responses are anonymous and confidential, and no personally identifiable information is collected. Results will inform policy discussions, funding priorities, and advocacy efforts across the field.
The survey is open through September 8, 2026.
Take the survey: https://survey.alchemer.com/s3/8855295/3102026
Questions? See the FAQ or contact research@anniedorsen.com
This research is part of Artists Make Technology, a collaborative initiative anchored by the Mozilla Foundation and the Doris Duke Foundation, in partnership with the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, with additional support from the Ford Foundation.
- Companies Using AI To Create Writing Are Missing The Entire Point Of Books
“It speaks about the creative process as though it were something getting in the way of our creativity, slowing us down, rather than being the path that leads us to it. Then again, it’s no surprise that a capitalist venture focuses on the product and speed to market.” – Irish Times
- There’s A Lot Of Sex In This Summer’s Movies
OK, not The Odyssey or Spider-Man, but the other movies. – The Guardian (UK)
- A Radio Station That Erroneously Broadcast The Death Of King Charles Is In Some Trouble
Whoops: “Once the staff member who accidentally played the files realised what they had done, they stopped playing them, ‘panicked and left the premises.’” – BBC
- Is Netflix Truly Doubling Down On Los Angeles, Or Planning To Move To New Jersey?
Or both, and more – in 2024, the company expanded to New Mexico as well. But right now, Netflix claims, New Jersey’s tax credits are easier to access. – Los Angeles Times (MSN)
- Which Is More Tiring: A Christopher Nolan Movie Or The Discourse About A Christopher Nolan Movie?
“Perhaps you didn’t leave The Odyssey wondering what kind of chief executive Odysseus would be. That’s OK — Forbes has you covered.” – The New York Times
- Millennials Miss Their Childhood Book Program So Much That They’ve Recreated It For Adults
Personal pan pizzas for reading? Yes: “Pizza Hut’s Book It! program is part of the lore of countless childhood readers turned adults. According to Pizza Hut, over 70 million children have participated since the program was founded in 1984, a Reagan-era initiative.” – Slate
- Despite ‘Spider-Man,’ Blockbusters Aren’t Going To Save Cinema
“Hollywood is a business, and that business is successful when movies become huge hits. That’s been true since the dawn of the film industry. But the blockbuster mentality also has an irrational side, an irrational exuberance.” – Variety
- Book Prizes Judges Are Human, And In An Age Of AI, We Should Be Deeply Thankful For That
“Modern prize culture has existed for about 125 years; James F. English, in his excellent book The Economy of Prestige, dates the current craze for literary awards to the Nobel Prize, which debuted in 1901.” – The New York Times
- Taking Big Swings At The Guthrie, One Of The Country’s Premiere Regional Theatres
Joseph Haj got to the Guthrie in 2015, and things were humming along for him when the pandemic hit. – American Theatre
- Kansas City Repertory Theatre Is Looking For A Permanent Home
Unfortunately for KC Rep, they’re looking at the same time that there are two other major arts organizations are fundraising and searching out spots. What to do? – KC Studio
- Digital Cameras And Wired Headphones Are Making A Comeback
And, of course, “iPods are ‘driving the trend’ in sales,” when everyone of a certain age wants an iPod or some other, older MP3 player, one that doesn’t send notifications or keep track of you. – BBC
- The Field Museum Is Now Mixing Pokemon And Fossils
And making money hand over fist, er, phalange over … anyway, the exhibit “is drawing huge crowds by hitching its star to the Poke-verse, using fossil Pokemon to teach about hunting and collecting fossils in the real world.” – NPR
- One Of These Things Is Not Like The Other
Generative AI “music” is now available on vinyl. (Though since the environmental cost of each is not great, maybe they are like each other? Hm.) – Los Angeles Times
- There’s A Generation Of Filmmakers Embracing AI, And It’s Sure Not Gen-Z
“The young and upcoming filmmakers are rejecting the use of AI. It’s the established filmmakers, some of whom are legendary, who are the proponents of this soulless technology.” – Boston Globe
- This ‘Chat’ Is Fully Human-Powered, And Now Very Popular
“The experience is just very average — or maybe bad. … It’s just me saying, like, ‘I don’t know, maybe make a sandwich for yourself’ or whatever.” – San Francisco Chronicle
- American Classical Music at 250 — Take Five: The Disconnect Between Scholars and Orchestras
Beginning with my “New York Times” piece on July 4, this is the fifth in a series of
- Movies Have Also Turned Completely Gray
Where the heck is all of the color? – El País English
- Was An All-Night Art Heist In Italy Some Kind Of Revenge?
“About 30 artworks belonging to Lilli Petroli owner Mauro Lilli were stolen in the unusual heist, including bas-reliefs attributed to Pablo Picasso, a bronze ballerina sculpture by Giacomo Manzù, paintings by Bruno d’Arcevia of the Italian Manner movement, and pieces by sculptor Mario Moretto.” – ARTnews