ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

Today's Stories

Did Shakespeare Really Smoke Weed? The Answer Is Yes.

Some clay pipe fragments dug up from his backyard garden in Stratford-upon-Avon and dating from the time he lived there were found to contain cannabis residue. Okay, technically this evidence is circumstantial: there’s no proof that Shakespeare himself left those pipes there. (Maybe they were planted by the Earl of Oxford.) - Literary Hub

Does It Matter if That Art You Liked Was Fake?

 I wondered what it meant if the Greek water jar I had been so moved by, depicting a woman who may have been Sappho bent over a scroll, had in fact been a worthless copy. Did that make the experience any less real? - The Guardian

The Bayeux Tapestry Was Too Fragile To Move. So Now It’s Visiting England? What Changed?

The shift in tone may seem stark, but the Bayeux Museum said it had carried out tests – including a dress rehearsal with a model – that persuaded its experts that the tapestry could be sent to the UK without excessive damage. - The Guardian

The Avignon Festival Copes With Ever-Increasing Temperatures

Days over 100°F are no longer rare, with serious effects on audiences and workers. … Recent changes include eliminating performances between 2:00 and 5:00 p.m., the hottest hours, … (and) a new rule for international artists: If you’re coming from overseas, you must have other touring dates in Europe. - The New York Times

Scrappy Indie Publisher John Martin, 94

Martin, an adventurous independent publisher who brought out the raucous work of the poet Charles Bukowski, as well as the writing of other offbeat literary rebels like Paul Bowles, John Fante and Wyndham Lewis, died on June 23 at his home in Santa Rosa, Calif. - The New York Times

Casing The Joint: Homeland Security Descends On Chicago’s National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts

According to the museum, officers told staff that they were there in an attempt to assess places where undocumented immigrants might enter and leave the museum at upcoming events. - Artnet

Oakland Eliminates Its Top Arts Manager Position

The Oakland City Council passed a budget on June 11 that eliminated its Cultural Affairs Manager position, citing budgetary concerns. But critics say money-saving justifications haven't been made in good faith. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

Remember The Collective That Sold Pieces Of A Damien Hirst Painting Dot By Dot? Look At What They’re Up To Now.

“Billed as a ‘financial trust fall,’ the project” — a sculpture of an infant, built to be taken apart and divided, which the collective MSCHF has titled King Solomon’s Baby — “invites collectors to take the plunge (and buy a piece), hoping others will follow suit in a reverse pyramid scheme that’s artfully self-aware.” - ARTnews

How Ancient Water Clocks Changed Our Notions Of Time

As ancient civilisations began to need more reliable timekeeping mechanisms, the technology took an extraordinary leap forward with the advent of dependable water clocks, which would remain the best technology available for the next 1,800 years. - Aeon

Museums Are Rethinking The Environmental Costs Of Collection Climate Controls

These decades-old guidelines determine the temperature and relative humidity at which museums maintain their collections, but implementing them comes with high energy costs and carbon footprints. - The Art Newspaper

How Slow-Motion Became The Movies’ Go-To Effect

The “slow-mo effect,” is retrospective, a trick of memory. Still, it indicates a remarkable theatricality, a cinematic flair, on the part of our brains. “We might experience almost everything in some form of slow motion if we thought that we were always dying." - The New Republic

Afghan Seen In Documentary “Retrograde” Was Killed By Taliban; His Family Sues Filmmakers

“Omar, (an) Afghan minesweeper tasked with protecting Green Berets, … was allegedly tracked down from a scene in Retrograde. … The estate accused the documentary’s producers of exploiting Omar’s identity for ‘commercial gain while knowingly placing him in grave danger’.” The producers say they’re protected by the First Amendment. - The Hollywood Reporter

Gen Zers Are Flocking To NYC Art Schools

The surge comes as many young adults grapple with fears about the impacts of artificial intelligence, a sense of internet overload and a desire to reconnect with the physical world. - Gothamist

How Trump’s BBBill Will Impact Non-Profits

Provisions in the new law raise unsettling questions about how the nonprofit world will be affected — and the answers may not be known for months or years. - Chronicle of Philanthropy

Creative Tree Of The Year?

Ten nominees have been chosen to meet this year’s theme of “rooted in culture”, which seeks to highlight how trees inspire creative minds and become ingrained in the cultural landscape. - The Guardian

Kyoto’s Overtourism Problem May Be Even Worse Than Amsterdam’s Or Barcelona’s

“Last year, more tourists visited Kyoto than Barcelona, Amsterdam, or even Paris. … (It's a) conundrum with no obvious solutions. Tokyo and Osaka are big enough to soak up tourists the same way New York and London can, but Kyoto is hemmed in by mountains, which keeps the city from expanding.” - New York Magazine

The Struggle For Pregnancy Protections And Parental Leave In The Ballet World

“Because the policies that do exist vary so widely, dancers can be impacted in different ways depending on which company they’re a part of; whether they’re freelancers or full-time; and, in some cases, what their role is within the company.” - Elle

Famous Art Detective Arthur Brand Recovers Stolen Documents So Historic That They’re UNESCO-Listed

The cache of papers, dating from the 15th through the 19th centuries, was stolen from the National Archives of the Netherlands in 2015. Among the recovered papers are archives from the early days of the world’s first multinational corporation, the Dutch East India Company. - France 24

How Websites Are Coping With The Collapse In Referred Traffic

“The problem started with Facebook pivoting away from the news in 2022, and has accelerated in recent months as Google makes seemingly corrosive changes to its search algorithm while rolling out the innovation that will one day replace traditional search results: AI summaries.” - New York Magazine (MSN)

Does America Really Have A Youth Literacy Crisis?

“How much panic over kids’ literacy is warranted? Scholars who study the subject, concerned English professors, and experts in the ‘kids these days’ phenomenon told me that the literacy landscape is a lot more nuanced than either of my gut impulses would have led me to believe.” - Vox

By Topic

How Ancient Water Clocks Changed Our Notions Of Time

As ancient civilisations began to need more reliable timekeeping mechanisms, the technology took an extraordinary leap forward with the advent of dependable water clocks, which would remain the best technology available for the next 1,800 years. - Aeon

How Leisure Became Digital

For many Canadians, play has migrated from board games or the rec leagues to smartphone screens. It’s no longer confined to the weekend or even to a full hour of downtime. Instead, it creeps into moments between work calls, while waiting in line, or during that ambiguous half-hour between Netflix and sleep. - The Walrus

How Did Our Notion Of School Get Locked Into A Rigid Model?

Time in school is very structured around when you can do what. It instills the idea that kids have to memorize what the teacher is saying. This is opposed to a system that could be designed around the promotion of critical thinking, around promoting debate, around a much more student-centered approach to education. - Asterisk Magazine

What We’re Learning About Creativity From AI

hysical tasks that are easy for humans turn out to be very difficult for robots, while algorithms are increasingly able to mimic our intellect. Another surprise that has long perplexed researchers is those algorithms’ knack for their own, strange kind of creativity. - Quanta

What If Getting Better Is a Con?

Technique aims to bring efficiency to everything in life. Anytime we use machine logic and apply it to humanity, we are in the realm of technique. For example, we don’t refine our morning routine so much as “hack” it. We don’t make the most of a vacation; we optimize our time off. - Plough

What If Efficiency Doesn’t Make Us Better?

The problem with the technologies of 2025 — household, work or personal — is that we don’t have control over whether we use them, which perhaps is part of why we don’t see Americans gaining any more leisure time despite the wild advances of the past two decades. - The New York Times

Oakland Eliminates Its Top Arts Manager Position

The Oakland City Council passed a budget on June 11 that eliminated its Cultural Affairs Manager position, citing budgetary concerns. But critics say money-saving justifications haven't been made in good faith. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

How Trump’s BBBill Will Impact Non-Profits

Provisions in the new law raise unsettling questions about how the nonprofit world will be affected — and the answers may not be known for months or years. - Chronicle of Philanthropy

Creative Tree Of The Year?

Ten nominees have been chosen to meet this year’s theme of “rooted in culture”, which seeks to highlight how trees inspire creative minds and become ingrained in the cultural landscape. - The Guardian

Kyoto’s Overtourism Problem May Be Even Worse Than Amsterdam’s Or Barcelona’s

“Last year, more tourists visited Kyoto than Barcelona, Amsterdam, or even Paris. … (It's a) conundrum with no obvious solutions. Tokyo and Osaka are big enough to soak up tourists the same way New York and London can, but Kyoto is hemmed in by mountains, which keeps the city from expanding.” - New York...

Turns Out It’s Hard To Convict A Celebrity In A #MeToo Criminal Case

Sean Combs was acquitted on the most serious charges against him; Kevin Spacey has prevailed in both criminal and civil cases. Even Harvey Weinstein was found not guilty on one charge, and the hard-won conviction of Bill Cosby was overturned. What’s at issue isn’t anti-#MeToo backlash, it’s criminal law. - The Hollywood Reporter

Another Ohio County May Use Cigarette Taxes To Fund The Arts

Cuyahoga County, where Cleveland is located, has long used such a tax to fund arts and culture organizations. Ohio’s newly-enacted state budget includes permission for Summit County (which includes Akron) to adopt a similar tax — if voters approve it in a referendum. - Akron Beacon Journal (Yahoo!)

Gilberto Gil, Giant Of Brazilian Music, Has Retired From Live Performance

“I’ll always have my guitar, my inseparable companion,” said the 83-year-old. “But my relationship with it will be more open, freer. It’s simpler when you don’t have as many commitments. I’ll have much more time to, eventually, get back to composing and maybe recording albums.” - The New York Times

How The Grateful Dead Made Live Music Sound Great At Concerts

Phil Spector had famously created a figurative wall of sound by layering instruments and orchestral sweeps. But the Dead’s wall was essentially a behemoth sound system, a hulking electrical mess of amps, speakers, wires—like the menacing heavy-metal rig in Mad Max: Fury Road, but far larger, louder, and, perhaps, more ludicrous. - The Atlantic

The Company Making Big Operas Work In A Small Theater

Des Moines Metro Opera performs in a house with only 476 seats, yet it has a track record of successfully staging such large-scale works as Wagner’s Flying Dutchman, Strauss’s Elektra and Britten’s Peter Grimes. Audiences are thrilled with the results. - The New York Times

Barcelona’s Opera House Names Jonathan Nott Its Next Music Director

The 62-year-old Briton — currently music director of the Tokyo Symphony and Geneva’s Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and formerly at the helm of the Bamberg Symphony, the orchestra and opera company in Lucerne, and Paris’s Ensemble Intercontemporain — succeeds Josep Pons at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in 2026. - Moto Perpetuo

Music Industry Projections For The Next Seven Years

After something of a boom year in 2023, revenue growth slowed to 4.3% in 2024. In fact, 2024 continued an oscillating growth pattern we have seen all decade, with strong growth years followed by weaker ones. - Music Industry Blog

Universal Music VP On Copyright, Creativity, And AI

The UMG executive emphasized that “tech collaboration with the creative community, respecting the value of artists’ work and harnessing their innovation has produced enormous cultural and economic benefit.” - Music Business Worldwide

Does It Matter if That Art You Liked Was Fake?

 I wondered what it meant if the Greek water jar I had been so moved by, depicting a woman who may have been Sappho bent over a scroll, had in fact been a worthless copy. Did that make the experience any less real? - The Guardian

The Bayeux Tapestry Was Too Fragile To Move. So Now It’s Visiting England? What Changed?

The shift in tone may seem stark, but the Bayeux Museum said it had carried out tests – including a dress rehearsal with a model – that persuaded its experts that the tapestry could be sent to the UK without excessive damage. - The Guardian

Casing The Joint: Homeland Security Descends On Chicago’s National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts

According to the museum, officers told staff that they were there in an attempt to assess places where undocumented immigrants might enter and leave the museum at upcoming events. - Artnet

Remember The Collective That Sold Pieces Of A Damien Hirst Painting Dot By Dot? Look At What They’re Up To Now.

“Billed as a ‘financial trust fall,’ the project” — a sculpture of an infant, built to be taken apart and divided, which the collective MSCHF has titled King Solomon’s Baby — “invites collectors to take the plunge (and buy a piece), hoping others will follow suit in a reverse pyramid scheme that’s artfully self-aware.”...

Museums Are Rethinking The Environmental Costs Of Collection Climate Controls

These decades-old guidelines determine the temperature and relative humidity at which museums maintain their collections, but implementing them comes with high energy costs and carbon footprints. - The Art Newspaper

Gen Zers Are Flocking To NYC Art Schools

The surge comes as many young adults grapple with fears about the impacts of artificial intelligence, a sense of internet overload and a desire to reconnect with the physical world. - Gothamist

Famous Art Detective Arthur Brand Recovers Stolen Documents So Historic That They’re UNESCO-Listed

The cache of papers, dating from the 15th through the 19th centuries, was stolen from the National Archives of the Netherlands in 2015. Among the recovered papers are archives from the early days of the world’s first multinational corporation, the Dutch East India Company. - France 24

Does America Really Have A Youth Literacy Crisis?

“How much panic over kids’ literacy is warranted? Scholars who study the subject, concerned English professors, and experts in the ‘kids these days’ phenomenon told me that the literacy landscape is a lot more nuanced than either of my gut impulses would have led me to believe.” - Vox

Australia’s New Funding Body For Literature And Writers: What Will It Actually Be Doing?

“On the surface, this is welcome news for Australian writers with its funding package of $26 million ($8.6 million per year) over the next three years. But what exactly does this new support look like in the wider context of Australian literary sector funding over time?” - ArtsHub (Australia)

Training AI To Transcribe Cursive (Because So Many Younger Americans Can’t Read It)

It’s a particular issue for historians in and of Philadelphia, since so many 18th- and 19th-century documents are in that hard-to-read script used in the Declaration of Independence. So experts at the American Philosophical Society (founded by Benjamin Franklin) have developed software to transcribe those documents. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

US Print Book Sales Fell Slightly In First Half Of 2025

“More softness in adult nonfiction in the second quarter and slowing sales in adult fiction combined to drop unit sales of print books just over 1% in the first six months of 2025 compared to the same period a year ago at outlets that report to Circana BookScan.” - Publishers Weekly

The Radical 1960s Language Experiment That Left Students Unable To Spell

The Initial Teaching Alphabet was a radical, little-known educational experiment trialled in British schools (and in other English-speaking countries) during the 1960s and 70s. Billed as a way to help children learn to read faster by making spelling more phonetically intuitive, it radically rewrote the rules of literacy for tens of thousands of children....

How Slow-Motion Became The Movies’ Go-To Effect

The “slow-mo effect,” is retrospective, a trick of memory. Still, it indicates a remarkable theatricality, a cinematic flair, on the part of our brains. “We might experience almost everything in some form of slow motion if we thought that we were always dying." - The New Republic

Afghan Seen In Documentary “Retrograde” Was Killed By Taliban; His Family Sues Filmmakers

“Omar, (an) Afghan minesweeper tasked with protecting Green Berets, … was allegedly tracked down from a scene in Retrograde. … The estate accused the documentary’s producers of exploiting Omar’s identity for ‘commercial gain while knowingly placing him in grave danger’.” The producers say they’re protected by the First Amendment. - The Hollywood Reporter

How Websites Are Coping With The Collapse In Referred Traffic

“The problem started with Facebook pivoting away from the news in 2022, and has accelerated in recent months as Google makes seemingly corrosive changes to its search algorithm while rolling out the innovation that will one day replace traditional search results: AI summaries.” - New York Magazine (MSN)

HBO Returns, Conceding Its Brand Change Was A Colossal Blunder

The gambit to chase Netflix with a service called Max didn’t work. Warner Bros. Discovery’s leaders eventually recognized the tremendous value in the HBO name, and sheepishly brought it back for an encore. - Los Angeles Times

YouTube Is Being Overwhelmed By AI Slop. So Some New Creator Rules…

Alphabet has to acknowledge not only the downsides of AI, but its potential to overwhelm platforms that rely on user-generated content—in other words, rein in instances of repetitive, inauthentic slop created with the very technologies that it’s investing so heavily in. - Fast Company

Actors Unions Approve New Video Game Contract, Ending Strike

As with the dual strikes in 2023, artificial intelligence was a big sticking point in negotiations. As such, the new contract establishes performer safety guardrails and gains around AI, including consent and disclosure requirements for artificially generated digital replica use. - Deadline

The Struggle For Pregnancy Protections And Parental Leave In The Ballet World

“Because the policies that do exist vary so widely, dancers can be impacted in different ways depending on which company they’re a part of; whether they’re freelancers or full-time; and, in some cases, what their role is within the company.” - Elle

Japan Has A Big Ballet-Fan Community. Now It’s Working On Homegrown Ballet.

“Until recently, that audience lavished attention mostly on prestigious foreign companies that tour Japan regularly, such as the Paris Opera Ballet and the Royal Ballet. The country has struggled to build world-class companies and hold on to the top talent it trains. The National Ballet of Japan wants to change that.” - Financial Times

Training A New Generation Of Dancers For A Different Kind Of Career

"Today’s young adults have also been through the Covid shutdown, and they’re starting their careers at a time of huge financial uncertainty." - ArtsATL

Doris Duke Theater At Jacob’s Pillow, Literally Risen From Ashes, Is Now One Of World’s Highest-Tech Dance Venues

With an advanced acoustical system, plenty of fiber-optic cable, responsive lighting, spatialized audio capabilities, virtual/augmented reality infrastructure, and a trippy immersive exhibition called “Dancing the Algorithm” in its gallery, the theater should be thrilling visitors at its opening this week. - The New York Times

India’s Most Progressive State Is Arguing Over Zumba Classes

“Some 14,000 state-run schools in Kerala have been asked to organise daily Zumba sessions as part of an anti-drug campaign launched by the government last month. The decision has been bitterly opposed by some Hindu and Muslim organisations in the state, who say the dance is a form of ‘cultural invasion’.” - BBC

Can Japan Build A National Fandom Around Home-Grown Ballet?

Fans are actually pretty dialed in, but to international touring companies. "The country has struggled to build world-class companies and hold on to the top talent it trains. The National Ballet of Japan wants to change that.” - Financial Times

The Avignon Festival Copes With Ever-Increasing Temperatures

Days over 100°F are no longer rare, with serious effects on audiences and workers. … Recent changes include eliminating performances between 2:00 and 5:00 p.m., the hottest hours, … (and) a new rule for international artists: If you’re coming from overseas, you must have other touring dates in Europe. - The New York Times

Bay Area Theatres Are Folding. The Theatre Landscape Is Collapsing

"We, in the nonprofit theater world, rely on a model that is really not working for anybody. It wasn’t working before the pandemic. The warning signs were there. Nonprofit theater relies on subscribers and grants to invest in a season before it opens." - KQED

Oscar Wilde’s Forgotten Play About Russian Revolutionaries

The 1879 play Vera; or, The Nihilists is about a young woman and her band of radicals who plan to kill the tsar. Its 1881 London premiere was cancelled after Tsar Alexander II was actually assassinated, and the play has been neglected ever since. - The Guardian

Abrupt Leadership Change At Minneapolis’ History Museum

Richard Thompson, who joined the playhouse in January 2023, has been a mainstay of Twin Cities theater for decades, including directing shows at the Children’s Theatre Company and Penumbra Theatre. - The Star-Tribune (MSN)

Disgraced Producer Scott Rudin’s Return To Broadway Is Set

Four years after he “stepped back” from “active participation” in theater following media articles detailing his long history of abusing his staff, Rudin is producing (with Barry Diller) this fall’s Broadway transfer of Samuel D. Hunter's Little Bear Ridge Road, directed by Joe Mantello and starring Laurie Metcalf. - The Hollywood Reporter

Denver’s Theatre By And For Disabled Actors Is Hit Hard By GOP Cuts

“I know some arts organizations and some nonprofits are taking their DEI statements off their websites because they're afraid. And if we do, then it's our entire mission.” - NPR

Did Shakespeare Really Smoke Weed? The Answer Is Yes.

Some clay pipe fragments dug up from his backyard garden in Stratford-upon-Avon and dating from the time he lived there were found to contain cannabis residue. Okay, technically this evidence is circumstantial: there’s no proof that Shakespeare himself left those pipes there. (Maybe they were planted by the Earl of Oxford.) - Literary Hub

Scrappy Indie Publisher John Martin, 94

Martin, an adventurous independent publisher who brought out the raucous work of the poet Charles Bukowski, as well as the writing of other offbeat literary rebels like Paul Bowles, John Fante and Wyndham Lewis, died on June 23 at his home in Santa Rosa, Calif. - The New York Times

My Nightmare Job Taking Care Of Patricia Highsmith

“Pat was seventy-four and knew she was about to die. ... I was trapped in her world with her, trembling. She had weeks left to live and had spent so much time writing about how to get away with murder. I fantasized that she might try to kill me.” - The Yale Review

Paul Libin, For 67 Years One Of New York Theater’s Leading Producers, Is Dead At 94

“Libin produced more than 250 Broadway, Off-Broadway and touring productions. He led Circle in the Square Theatre for 62 years until his death, serving as Executive Vice President and Producing Director of Jujamcyn Theaters for 28 years until 2017, and was President of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS for 24 years until 2018.” - Deadline

Peter Sellars And A Life Wrapped In Art

Among his collaborators, Sellars is cherished for this openness with his feelings. He wraps anyone and everyone in a bear hug. He releases sudden honks of laughter. He cries. - The New York Times

Richard Greenberg, Tony-Winning Playwright of “Take Me Out,” Has Died At 67

“(He) was one of America’s most established dramatists, responsible for about 30 plays staged on or off Broadway since the mid-1980s. His work was wry yet tender, nipping at the divide between comedy and drama, and delved into questions of family, love and friendship.” - The Washington Post (MSN)

AJ Premium Classifieds

Vice President of Business Development, Dance & Performing Arts – Robbins...

Robbins Dance Floors seeks a driven sales-oriented leader to fill the role of Vice President of Business Development, Dance & Performing Arts.

Executive Director – Southeastern Theatre Conference

The Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC), the largest network of theatre practitioners in the US, seeks service-oriented & inclusive leader to serve as its Executive Director

Artistic Director – Everyman Theatre

Currently celebrating its 35th Season, Everyman Theatre seeks a positive, collaborative, and dynamic leader to serve as its second-ever Artistic Director...

RADAR Nonprofit Solutions seeks Remote Accounting Manager

RADAR Nonprofit Solutions is seeking an experienced Accounting Manager to perform the accounting activities for various clients in the arts and other nonprofit sectors.

AJClassifieds

Director of Marketing and Communications

The Director of Marketing and Communications brings a creative eye to the League’s communications, social media, and branding.

General Director – Pittsburgh Opera

As it looks forward to its 87th season, Pittsburgh Opera—one of America’s most artistically respected opera companies—invites recommendations/applications for the position of General Director

PRESIDENT & CEO, South Arts

South Arts is searching for a bold, visionary leader with a proven ability to shape strategy, inspire collaboration, and drive impact across complex, evolving landscapes.

Director of Marketing & Communications

CANADIAN STAGE is seeking a creative and energetic individual to serve as its next Director of Marketing & Communications.

Remember The Collective That Sold Pieces Of A Damien Hirst Painting Dot By Dot? Look At What They’re Up To Now.

“Billed as a ‘financial trust fall,’ the project” — a sculpture of an infant, built to be taken apart and divided, which the collective MSCHF has titled King Solomon’s Baby — “invites collectors to take the plunge (and buy a piece), hoping others will follow suit in a reverse pyramid scheme that’s artfully self-aware.”...

Kyoto’s Overtourism Problem May Be Even Worse Than Amsterdam’s Or Barcelona’s

“Last year, more tourists visited Kyoto than Barcelona, Amsterdam, or even Paris. … (It's a) conundrum with no obvious solutions. Tokyo and Osaka are big enough to soak up tourists the same way New York and London can, but Kyoto is hemmed in by mountains, which keeps the city from expanding.” - New York...

Famous Art Detective Arthur Brand Recovers Stolen Documents So Historic That They’re UNESCO-Listed

The cache of papers, dating from the 15th through the 19th centuries, was stolen from the National Archives of the Netherlands in 2015. Among the recovered papers are archives from the early days of the world’s first multinational corporation, the Dutch East India Company. - France 24

Brad Pitt Is Fooling You

“The cumulative effect of F1 and its press tour have been a carefully tuned charm offensive meant to obscure, if not outright bury, the alleged violent particulars of his behavior toward ex-wife Angelina Jolie.” - Vulture (Internet Archive)

A Strad That Disappeared At The End Of WWII May Have Resurfaced

“The case of the Mendelssohn Stradivarius highlights the opaque trade for rare instruments, in which details about provenance, or the history of previous ownership, are often not well documented or, in some cases, intentionally obscured.” - The New York Times

Did The Salt Path Seem Like A Good Story?

That’s because the “memoir” (and its sequels, not to mention the new movie starring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs) was at least partly fiction, covering up theft, a criminal case, and land in France. - The Observer (UK)

Museums Are Collecting People’s Goals And Hopes For The 250th Birthday Of The United States

And it’s weirdly hopeful, deeply compelling stuff. “People were especially motivated to share their input when they were told that their contributions would be archived for posterity” (assuming the country & institutions, ah, survive). - Hyperallergic

Documentary Makers Fear Being Turned Into Criminals By A Harsh New British Law

"We are being advised that the curtailing of Palestine Action could have a major knock-on effect for us as it could become not only illegal for others to voice support for them but also for us, as film-makers, to distribute this film.” - The Guardian (UK)

The Backlash Against Generated AI Is Gaining Steam

Why? "Unlike the dawn of the internet where democratized access to information empowered everyday people in unique, surprising ways, the generative AI era has been defined by half-baked software releases and threats of AI replacing human workers.” - Wired

The Artist Who Got Catfished By A Fake Lady Gaga

“Needless to say, this was not a situation Webster expected to encounter as an up and coming artist.” - The New York Times

How A Music Librarian Convinced Sondheim To Leave His Smoke-Singed Papers To The Nation

A personalized tour of the Library of Congress “included original manuscripts from composers Béla Bartók, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Igor Stravinsky and Johannes Brahms. … But it was American composer George Gershwin's manuscript for the 1935 opera Porgy and Bess that moved Sondheim to tears." - CBC

There’s No One In Charge At The US Copyright Office

Thanks to Elon Musk and DOGE, of course - and no one knows when that might improve. - Wired

Subscribe to our newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

function my_excerpt_length($length){ return 200; } add_filter('excerpt_length', 'my_excerpt_length');