Why the massive investment? At a time when Disney faces revenue challenges due to cord cutting, streaming wars and a slower film box office, its theme parks are a bright — and reliable — spot for its business. - Los Angeles Times
Daniel Singh, executive director of Metro Arts Commission, has been on medical leave for two months, claiming that racism he faces has affected his health. While he has some support in Nashville's arts community, Metro Arts staff evidently find him a very ineffective leader, and commissioners appear to agree. - WPLN (Nashville)
Our findings show that the vast majority of “primary occupation” freelancers (those who spend more than 50% of their time on freelancing) earn less than the minimum wage in the UK – typically £17,500 per year. - The Conversation
Modern education concentrates on teaching subjects, leaving the method of thinking, arguing, and expressing one’s conclusions to be picked up by the scholar as he goes along; mediæval education concentrated on first forging and learning to handle the tools of learning. - The Critic
"The advent of AI threatens to destroy the complex online ecosystem that allows writers, artists, and other creators to reach human audiences. To understand why, you must understand publishing" — not mean "publishing" as in producing books and magazines, but any online mechanism for bringing content to users. - The Atlantic (MSN)
he is considered the author of the “selection, coordination, and arrangement of text generated by artificial intelligence.” This means no one can copy the book without permission, but the actual sentences and paragraphs themselves are not copyrighted and could theoretically be rearranged and republished as a different book. - Wired
At a GOP hearing in December, Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie Bunch told representatives that he didn’t think having children at drag shows was “appropriate.” Since then, one drag performer has been scheduled, canceled, rescheduled, canceled … and LGBTQIA+ staff members are alarmed. - Washington Post
The actors improvised the script and shot most of the footage. "The film was bought by Artisan Entertainment for $1 million, after which the actors were paid a $300,000 buyout of their ownership points on the film. They were also listed as 'missing, presumed dead' on IMDb." - Vulture
“The recent move against TikTok misses the larger point: Americans’ sources of information have declined in quality, and the problem goes beyond any one social media platform." - Fast Company
"Because as soon as Estonia doesn’t have its own culture, the country will become fair game for Russian propaganda and Russian aggression. … All they have is their culture. And if culture keeps being treated so badly, then we could find ourselves in a really tough situation in 10 years." - Van
As one cast member puts it, "After a couple of months … the fairy dust fades away, and you see your friends and people you really care about hurting and burnt out and not able to pay their rent." - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
The city has 360,000 residents, only 40,000 of whom live in the historic center, but receives 11 million tourists each year. Cecilie Hollberg, director of the Galleria dell' Accademia (where Michelangelo's David is located), suggests the city try a larger version of the crowd-control measures she's introduced at the museum. - The Guardian
Even a hard-nosed economic perspective suggests that arts provision warrants support, rather than a freeze. By the government’s own estimates, the creative industries contribute around £126 billion to the UK economy. That’s more than the car industry, for instance, or aerospace, oil and gas. - The Conversation