AJ Four Ways:
Text Only (by date) | headlines only
- Archaeologists Discovery Intact Ancient Mayan City
Located deep within the jungles of the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve, the city—which the researchers have named “Minanbé,” a Maya Yucatec phrase meaning “there is no road”—had been hidden by vegetation for over a thousand years. – ARTnews
- NYC’s Street-Scaffolding Sheds Are Ugly. Can We Design Something Better?
The city wants structures that will go up smoothly, look good while they last, and go away quickly. Those are separate goals, none of them easy to achieve. – New York Magazine (MSN)
- Southbank Center Chairman To Step Down After Social Media Controversy
In May, Misan Harriman was accused by the Telegraph of sharing a social media post that contained a conspiracy theory about the Golders Green attack because it questioned the amount of coverage given to the Muslim victim, Ishmail Hussein. – The Guardian
- Commonwealth Short Story Prize Determines That None Of This Year’s Winners Were Written By AI
“The Commonwealth Foundation dismissed accusations that the short stories which won its literary prize this year were generated with artificial intelligence, saying a month-long review had found ‘AI wasn’t used’ to write them.’” – The Independent (UK)
- Sony Pictures Invests $100M In “Shared Reality” Company
Cosm, founded in 2020 by Steve Winn, has opened several dome structures throughout the U.S. Cosm’s venues — three in Los Angeles, Dallas and Atlanta, with upcoming venues in Detroit and Cleveland— allow fans to experience sporting events and other entertainment experiences through various 87-foot, 12K LED dome displays. – Variety
- That Feel-Good Story About The Audience-Member Stepping In To Sight Read Has A Dark Side
Two musicians who were part of the orchestra have given a different version of events, saying the keyboardist left after tension between Hurwitz and the orchestra during rehearsals on the day of the performance. – The Guardian
- LA’s KUSC Is Now America’s Most-Listened-To Classical Music Station
The station reached more than 705,000 listeners during the ratings period, surpassing major public radio outlets including WNYC in New York (693,000 listeners) and KQED in San Francisco (645,000 listeners). – Nielsen
- The New Republic’s 20 Images That Define American History
In 15 photographs, four paintings, and one very iconic sculpture, “a visual chronicle of the national experience, from Iwo Jima to Emmett Till to January 6.” – The New Republic
- Early Reviews Are In Book Launch in Brooklyn: ‘The Midnight Special’<a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2026/06/early-reviews-are-in-book-launch-in-brooklyn-the-midnight-special.html" title="Early Reviews Are In
Book Launch in Brooklyn: - Vatican Begins First-Ever Restoration Of Raphael Frescoes In Apostolic Palace
“The Vatican Museums on Wednesday announced the start of a five-year, $5.5 million project to clean and restore the Raphael Loggia, a 65-meter (yard) long, 4-meter (yard) wide corridor that is considered one of the highest expressions of Renaissance figurative art.” – AP
- Major Hollywood Studios Are Starting To Produce Their Own Microdramas
“While comparatively obscure microdrama companies, with names like DramaBox and GammaTime, have received significant investment in the past year from venture capitalists and entertainment studios, NBCUniversal, BET, A+E Global and Fox have all announced plans to produce microdrama series.” And there’s serious money to be made. – The New York Times
- When TheWrap Used AI To Make A Microdrama
“After four days and $150 worth of digital credits to access the tool, we created four minute-long episodes designed as a take on the popular hockey romance series Off Campus. … The ‘actors,’ the sets and the script were all generated by AI.” Is it any good? Not in this case, but … – TheWrap (Yahoo!)
- The New Republic’s 15 Most Important Artworks In U.S. History
The editors have chosen four movies, six books, two songs, a piece of classical music, a painting, and a monument “whose impact extended beyond culture to society as a whole.” – The New Republic
- Revamp Of Philadelphia’s “Avenue Of The Arts”: The Beta Test Is Complete
“A landscaped median under construction for months in front of the Kimmel Center has reached completion — the down payment on a promised major redo of the Avenue of the Arts streetscape. The leafy ribbon down the middle of Broad Street from Spruce to Pine Streets was officially unveiled Wednesday.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
- Live Nation’s CEO Spoke Directly With Trump Before Surprise Dept. Of Justice Settlement
“Live Nation has confirmed that the company had several meetings with the Department of Justice and the Office of the White House Counsel before a surprise antitrust trial settlement, while its president and CEO, Michael Rapino, held a conversation with President Donald Trump.” – Variety
- Europe’s museums will save you from the heat
Good Morning,
Manhattan’s borough president just routed his entire $50 million discretionary budget to the arts (The New York Times) — an extraordinary move.
In art machine news: New software is poised to replace live musicians in musical-theater pits (The Guardian), an LA museum built entirely on AI is asking whether it’s a whole new genre (Artnet), and an essay wonders if prompting is the oldest writerly skill in new clothes (The Conversation).
Four small colleges are adding dance majors while their peers are cutting everything outside STEM (Dance Magazine), and Lin-Manuel Miranda is bringing his first full musical since Hamilton to Broadway next spring (AP).
Meanwhile, Europe’s museums have found an unexpected civic role this week: air-conditioned refuges from the heat wave (Le Monde).
All of our stories below.
- Why The Onion Is Going Ahead With Its Infowars Parody Even Though The Case Is Still Tied Up In Court
Basically, if Alex Jones can play dirty, then The Onion can play dirty, too. – Law and Chaos
- How AI Prompting Poses The Classic Writer’s Challenge
This is one novel frustration of the AI age, yet millions of users searching for the “right prompt” are engaging in an old literary practice: turning mental images, vague desires and atmospheric intuitions into precise language. – The Conversation
- Even Award-Winning Indie Filmmakers Make Shockingly Little Money
Brady Corbet, who made The Brutalist, earned, he says “zero dollars” for his work on the movie. The five directors who agreed to be interviewed for this article talk about the day jobs they keep even after their films have been well-received and how they keep it all going. – Vulture
- Warning: European Museums Vulnerable To Cyberattacks
The warning comes less than three years after the British Museum revealed that about 2,000 objects had been stolen, damaged or gone missing from its collections over a period of years, in a scandal that led to the resignation of its director, Hartwig Fischer. – The Guardian
- The Barnes Picks A New Chief Curator
Connie Choi is currently curator at the Studio Museum in Harlem, where she has worked for nearly a decade. At the Studio Museum, she worked closely with Thelma Golden, its director and chief curator, to map out the museum’s curatorial vision, including its recent reopening last fall. – ARTnews
- Consensus Growing For A Federal Tax Credit For Movie Production
While production incentives are available in 39 U.S. states, the only federal aid that American productions can take advantage of is Section 181, a Bush-era incentive that allows studios to take a tax deduction on up to the first $15 million in production spending, or $20 million for shoots in low-income areas. – The Wrap (Yahoo)
- As Other Small Colleges Shrink Non-STEM Programs, These Four Are Adding New Dance Majors
“To get a new major approved, faculty must demonstrate that there’s a genuine hunger for more dance on campus. They must lay out the benefits not only for future students, but also for the institution as a whole — its reputation and its bottom line.” Here’s how these four colleges did it. – Dance Magazine
- Judge Dismisses Class Action Against Spotify Over Inflating AI Streams
A US federal judge has dismissed a proposed class action that accused Spotify of allowing billions of bot-generated fake streams to inflate the play counts of Drake and other artists. – MusicBusinessWorldwide
- How Will AI Impact The Arts?
Well, it’s a mixed picture. ISPA recently convened a panel to examine the evidence. Watch the video here. – ISPA (Video)
- Next-Gen Music Software Threatens To Replace Musicians In Theatres
A next-generation orchestral software from the German company KeyComp threatens to inflict the deepest cuts yet on what has traditionally been a steady gig for professional musicians. – The Guardian
- Attendance At Pittsburgh Symphony’s Classical Concerts Is Back Up To 50%
The average audience at Heinz Hall for the flagship classical series is roughly 1,450, just over half of the venue’s capacity and up 14% (!) from the previous season. Attendance at pops concerts continues to fall, but it’s rising at educational events and live-film-score concerts. – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- Is LA’s New AI Art Museum A Whole New Genre Of Contemporary Art?
- Air Conditioned Museums In Europe Become “Refuges From The Heat” During This Week’s Heat Wave
“When I see people taking refuge for an hour in a supermarket, I say to myself: ‘Why shouldn’t the museum be a place of respite, rather than cafés or shops?’ – Le Monde
- How Smithsonian Chief Lonnie Bunch’s Lunch With Trump Went
Over chicken and gravy, Trump asked Bunch his opinion on four chandelier samples for the Oval Office; discussed the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which Trump has proposed painting white; and talked about Republican calls to relocate the space shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum annex to Houston. – ARTnews
- Too Many Books, Too Quickly: Australia’s Publishing Industry Is Too Prolific For Its Own Good
“Talk to authors, talk to prize judges, talk to critics and to editors and you hear versions of the same story. … What might have been excellent books are marred by shoddy copy editing, flat-out errors, cursory proofreading — and, in some cases, an obvious lack of revision.” – The Guardian
- Why Are New Musicals On Broadway So Scarce This Year?
“How did the new musical — long Broadway’s fundamental building block — become so scarce that the New York Drama Critics’ Circle opted to forgo an award this year for best musical, and two of the five Tony nominations for best score went to music composed for plays?” Well, several reasons. – The New York Times
- How Arts Philanthropist Christophe De Menil Ended Up Isolated During Her Final Years
The daughter of the founders of Houston’s Menil Collection, Christophe herself had a glittering social life filled with the arts and artists, and she funded career-establishing work by Robert Wilson, Twyla Tharp, Trisha Brown, and others. Her family life, on the other hand, was … well, fraught. – New York Magazine (MSN)
- Lin-Manuel Miranda’s First Full Musical Since “Hamilton” Will Arrive On Broadway Next Spring
The show is Warriors, an adaptation of the 2024 concept album by Miranda and Elsa Davis. The source material is Sol Yurick’s 1965 novel The Warriors, which was adapted into the now-classic 1979 film. The Miranda-Davis musical, which makes the titular gang female, will start previews next March and open in April. – AP
- Museum Curator In San Francisco Terminated After His Arrest For Secret Bathroom Video
“The Cartoon Art Museum has parted ways with Andrew Farago, the longtime curator and public face of the San Francisco institution who was arrested this month after Berkeley police said he secretly recorded guests using a bathroom during a party at his home.” – San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
