Forty-two productions are eligible for Tony Award nominations this year – the announcements come Thursday morning – making many of the categories very, very competitive. - Deadline
“I’m as interested in an artificial voice as I am in an artificial author, which is to say not at all. … This is the thing: you think it won’t come for you – but it will. Luckily, I’ll be dead or retired by then.” - The Observer (UK)
Even when he was at the height of his literary powers, the title “businessman” might have suited Twain better than “author.” Not that avidity bred success. - The New Yorker
We’re so used to trying things for ourselves that it seems bizarre to imagine us ever stopping. And yet, more and more, it’s becoming clear that artificial intelligence can relieve us of the burden of trying and trying again. - The New Yorker
Nude models at the fine arts academy, which was founded in 1784, complained to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera about their “exhausting” work. They want more breaks and argue that their renewable annual contracts, which offer 500 hours over 11 months, do not compensate for the mental and physical suffering caused by their job. - ARTnews
“The cartoons were perplexing to me because the music they used is so far beyond what I would relate to,” he explains. “Don’t get me wrong, I loved it. I just didn’t have any idea how to make that kind of music. I had no (effing) clue what I was doing.” - Vulture
"Music is about relationships—how we come to understand one another, how we communicate and connect with those who are different from us, and how we build mutual trust and empathy over time." - Playbill
Gig work, as it turns out, didn’t begin with Uber but with Avon direct-sales reps. The wacky metaphysics of today’s tech billionaires have their analogues in the “mind-cures” of nineteenth-century spiritualists. And the celebration of “charismatic” executives has its origins in German social science, with disturbingly fascist undertones. - Commonweal
How did an obscure argument about a mathematically complex and rather baffling theory of physics become embedded in public consciousness as an extraordinary exploration of the human psyche? This essay tells the story. - Aeon
“Only 40% of parents ... agreed that ‘reading books to my child is fun for me’, according to a survey conducted by Nielsen and HarperCollins. (There’s) a steep decline in ... parents reading aloud to young children, with 41% of 0-to-4-year-olds now being read to frequently, down from 64% in 2012.” - The Guardian
After reporting a net loss of 183,000 residential broadband customers in Q1 2025, Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said the company isn't "winning in the marketplace" during an earnings call today. The Q1 2025 customer loss was over three times larger than the net loss in Q1 2024. - Ars Technica
The new funding, which will support humanities councils in all 50 states and six jurisdictions, comes a month after the National Endowment for the Humanities abruptly cut off federal funding for the councils, as well as most of its existing grants. - The New York Times
Chatbots learned from human writing. Now the influence may run in the other direction. Some people have hypothesized that the proliferation of generative-AI tools such as ChatGPT will seep into human communication, that the terse language we use when prompting a chatbot may lead us to dispose of any niceties or writerly flourishes. - The Atlantic (MSN)
“The former UArts undergraduate dance program, that landed at Bennington College in Vermont, had planned to return to Philadelphia for the 2025-26 school year. But leaders now say the return has been delayed as the program awaits Pennsylvania Dept. of Education’s authorization to award degrees.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
He was the COO of Focus Features beginning in 2002 and became president and co-CEO in 2006. In 2014 he left Focus to found the independently-financed distribution and production company Bleecker Street, which has released roughly 70 films since. - IndieWire
After seizing some of Mann’s photos of her children from an exhibition in Fort Worth, five FWPD officers spent four days and $6,988.77 in Manhattan. Officials say the police visited the Met, MoMA, the Guggenheim, and the Whitney. None of those museums have displayed Mann’s work for several years. - Fort Worth Report
“In its complaint, ... the CPB and the three board members — Laura Ross, Thomas Rothman and Diane Kaplan — said the president does not have the authority to fire these board members because it’s not a government agency subject to the decisions of the executive branch.” - The Washington Post (MSN)
“The Mellon Foundation has announced $15 million in ‘emergency funding’ for state humanities councils across the country. The support comes after the Department of Government Efficiency abruptly cancelled some $65 million in (National Endowment for the Humanities) grants earlier this month.” - NPR
“U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth … granted the temporary restraining order for the U.S. Agency for Global Media to disburse ($12 million) for April 2025 for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty pending the outcome of a lawsuit seeking to keep the station on the air.” - AP
“The Trump administration has terminated members of the board that oversees the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum appointed by President Joe Biden — including Doug Emhoff, the husband of former vice president Kamala Harris.” - The Washington Post (MSN)
We’re so used to trying things for ourselves that it seems bizarre to imagine us ever stopping. And yet, more and more, it’s becoming clear that artificial intelligence can relieve us of the burden of trying and trying again. - The New Yorker
Gig work, as it turns out, didn’t begin with Uber but with Avon direct-sales reps. The wacky metaphysics of today’s tech billionaires have their analogues in the “mind-cures” of nineteenth-century spiritualists. And the celebration of “charismatic” executives has its origins in German social science, with disturbingly fascist undertones. - Commonweal
How did an obscure argument about a mathematically complex and rather baffling theory of physics become embedded in public consciousness as an extraordinary exploration of the human psyche? This essay tells the story. - Aeon
Chatbots learned from human writing. Now the influence may run in the other direction. Some people have hypothesized that the proliferation of generative-AI tools such as ChatGPT will seep into human communication, that the terse language we use when prompting a chatbot may lead us to dispose of any niceties or writerly flourishes. - The Atlantic (MSN)
As digital replicas of real people become more common, especially in image-based industries like fashion, urgent ethical questions are emerging. These include conversations about the future of work, compensation and identity in the cultural economy. - The Conversation
One risk is that they close down possibilities. They can shut down our thinking, coercing it to fit the shape of someone else’s comparison rather than our own. - Psyche
The new funding, which will support humanities councils in all 50 states and six jurisdictions, comes a month after the National Endowment for the Humanities abruptly cut off federal funding for the councils, as well as most of its existing grants. - The New York Times
“The Mellon Foundation has announced $15 million in ‘emergency funding’ for state humanities councils across the country. The support comes after the Department of Government Efficiency abruptly cancelled some $65 million in (National Endowment for the Humanities) grants earlier this month.” - NPR
“The Trump administration has terminated members of the board that oversees the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum appointed by President Joe Biden — including Doug Emhoff, the husband of former vice president Kamala Harris.” - The Washington Post (MSN)
Because of the speed of the administration’s actions, arts and culture groups are scrambling to reassess the scope of their projects and find alternative streams of funding. - The Art Newspaper
“A coalition ... kicked off a weeklong campaign to rally around the national African American museum and push back against what it calls efforts by the Trump administration to erase Black history. ... The museum, which opened in 2016 on the National Mall, has had millions of visitors over the years.” - USA Today
The Kennedy Center is more than a venue, it’s a “living monument” — a place where the story of American culture plays out onstage. Whatever happens at the Kennedy Center becomes part of the history it exists to preserve. That’s the part that worries me. - Washington Post
"Music is about relationships—how we come to understand one another, how we communicate and connect with those who are different from us, and how we build mutual trust and empathy over time." - Playbill
He came to the job young, quickly became a local celebrity, and is presiding at a time when it has proved impossible for the Pops to maintain the imperious position in American popular culture built by Fiedler from 1930 to his death in 1979, when eulogized as “the maestro of the masses.” - The New York Times
The orchestra will remain in business through the end of its fiscal year on June 30. That coincides with the previously announced departure of the orchestra’s longtime CEO, Amy Ginsburg. The 70-musician professional orchestra marked its 64th anniversary this year. - News-Press (Fort Myers, Florida)
“(The company’s) leadership team understands the perils of mounting a production that waves a red cape at a pumped-up, reactive presidency. Surprisingly, the opera is partially financed by the National Endowment for the Arts, with some $40,000 of the production’s $1 million cost coming through a (previously-paid) federal grant.” - The New York Times
At these 80th-birthday concerts for Michael Tilson Thomas, who has suffered a recurrence of an aggressive brain cancer, the musicians distributed leaflets to the audience demanding “a fair contract” and accusing SFS management of budget cuts which “jeopardize the world-renowned status Michael helped build.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
"I don't judge people in any way about how much they know about music. In fact, when I'm writing, I think, "Well, let's pretend that no one in the room has ever heard classical music. Will this speak to them?" - NPR
Nude models at the fine arts academy, which was founded in 1784, complained to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera about their “exhausting” work. They want more breaks and argue that their renewable annual contracts, which offer 500 hours over 11 months, do not compensate for the mental and physical suffering caused by their job. - ARTnews
After seizing some of Mann’s photos of her children from an exhibition in Fort Worth, five FWPD officers spent four days and $6,988.77 in Manhattan. Officials say the police visited the Met, MoMA, the Guggenheim, and the Whitney. None of those museums have displayed Mann’s work for several years. - Fort Worth Report
The gallery’s artists are so dominant in New York’s leading museums this season that some in the art world are calling it “Hauser spring.” - The New York Times
“Conservators will now have to repair the artwork, Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8, after it was ‘scratched’ by a child visiting the Rotterdam gallery where it was on display. The abstract painting from 1960, which measures 7'6" high by 8'6" wide, was a centerpiece of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.” - CNN
“I’m as interested in an artificial voice as I am in an artificial author, which is to say not at all. … This is the thing: you think it won’t come for you – but it will. Luckily, I’ll be dead or retired by then.” - The Observer (UK)
“Only 40% of parents ... agreed that ‘reading books to my child is fun for me’, according to a survey conducted by Nielsen and HarperCollins. (There’s) a steep decline in ... parents reading aloud to young children, with 41% of 0-to-4-year-olds now being read to frequently, down from 64% in 2012.” - The Guardian
Iowa City is the place where contemporary English literature matters more than anywhere else on earth. The home of arguably the world’s most famous MFA program, Iowa City has authors’ plaques embedded in the sidewalk, over 100 literary readings per year, and roughly 1,000 writers in a community of 75,000. - Public Books
Says founder Jude Cook, “Excitement and energy around new and adventurous fiction is around female authors – and this is only right as a timely corrective. ... (Yet now) stories by new male authors are often overlooked, with a perception that the male voice is problematic.” - The Guardian
“Editor-in-chief and major shareholder James Harding set out his stall in the first issue under its new Tortoise ownership on Sunday, (saying) the paper was leaning into traditions of liberalism and editorial independence which date back to its foundation in 1791.” - Press Gazette (UK)
Independent bookstores and users on BookTok are expressing their frustration with Amazon while encouraging readers to stay off of the online shopping site and instead make the trek to their local bookstore for the day. - Fast Company
After reporting a net loss of 183,000 residential broadband customers in Q1 2025, Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said the company isn't "winning in the marketplace" during an earnings call today. The Q1 2025 customer loss was over three times larger than the net loss in Q1 2024. - Ars Technica
“In its complaint, ... the CPB and the three board members — Laura Ross, Thomas Rothman and Diane Kaplan — said the president does not have the authority to fire these board members because it’s not a government agency subject to the decisions of the executive branch.” - The Washington Post (MSN)
“U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth … granted the temporary restraining order for the U.S. Agency for Global Media to disburse ($12 million) for April 2025 for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty pending the outcome of a lawsuit seeking to keep the station on the air.” - AP
According to the Academy, they will be tracking what voters watch in the digital screening room, and then there will be a form to fill out about films seen in theaters, festivals, or private screenings. So it's essentially the honor system. - NPR
The author was a little-known English freelance journalist. The story of how he came to land his Johnny Depp story – along with a litany of other starry interviews – gives a rare insight into the engine room of celebrity journalism, and is as intriguing as the thought of Jack Sparrow tending a Somerset...
“The public wasn't given a chance to testify on the 11th-hour change, quietly added to the 220-page budget bill just one day before lawmakers plan to vote on it and wrap up the 2025 legislative session.” - The Indianapolis Star (Yahoo!)
“The former UArts undergraduate dance program, that landed at Bennington College in Vermont, had planned to return to Philadelphia for the 2025-26 school year. But leaders now say the return has been delayed as the program awaits Pennsylvania Dept. of Education’s authorization to award degrees.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
“This passing of the boundary between ‘doing steps’ and really dancing … is truly exhilarating. I’ve experienced it many times when dance took me away from the here and now, transported me into a different reality, soothed my thoughts and calmed my mind into one single inviting trail of thought.” - Dance Magazine
“Putting a camera in the audience POV of a dance show is only a reminder that the real thing is probably way better. Putting a camera in the wings, on stage, up close and personal ... in a way that no one can experience in an auditorium — that’s worth watching.” - IndieWire
Or at least, that’s what creator Amy Sherman-Palladino (the force behind The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) wants to see. “Ballet isn’t something for someone else. It’s storytelling; it’s athletic; it’s powerful, emotional, transporting. It’s a great, dynamic art form.” - The New York Times
“’English audiences, in particular, expect to come in, understand it, and have a good conversation about it afterwards.’ The Israeli-born, soon-to-be-British choreographer would prefer people to approach contemporary dance ‘more like a concert’ – something you experience ‘through your senses’.” - The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!)
“Officially called the West End Concourse, the corridor has a lot going for it: It’s easily accessible, the floors are spacious and smooth, and there are public restrooms, a rarity in New York City. It’s a ready-made stage for all sorts of group and partnered dance. … The biggest draw? It’s free.” - The New York...
Forty-two productions are eligible for Tony Award nominations this year – the announcements come Thursday morning – making many of the categories very, very competitive. - Deadline
“The cartoons were perplexing to me because the music they used is so far beyond what I would relate to,” he explains. “Don’t get me wrong, I loved it. I just didn’t have any idea how to make that kind of music. I had no (effing) clue what I was doing.” - Vulture
“The premise may seem absurd but that is precisely the point – absurdism is a way of dealing with themes that have proved ... divisive and even explosive to debate.” Deborah Levy’s play 50 Minutes “explores everything from anxiety and panic to the fearful silence around a subject matter deemed taboo.” - The Guardian
And a challenge: "We never wanted the amount of Spanish to take people out of the story. … So it’s been a kind of a dance as we figure out the right balance.” - The New York Times
The space near the OSF campus “featured a raised stage area, intimate seating in-the-round on folding chairs, and ample shade from the surrounding trees. It served as a natural, open-air theater that felt both rustic and inviting” - and COVID-19 safe. - Oregon ArtsWatch
“Something that always has to be true is: Will this story make the world a better place in some way? It’s a big question—but why tell a story if it isn’t going to move the audience forward?” - American Theatre
Even when he was at the height of his literary powers, the title “businessman” might have suited Twain better than “author.” Not that avidity bred success. - The New Yorker
He was the COO of Focus Features beginning in 2002 and became president and co-CEO in 2006. In 2014 he left Focus to found the independently-financed distribution and production company Bleecker Street, which has released roughly 70 films since. - IndieWire
“Originally titled ‘I Await the Devil’s Coming’, The Story of Mary MacLane records four months in the life of its author. Nothing much happens in the outside world, … but her inner life is full of action, as she desires, dreams, and rants against the injustices of youth and sex.” - The Public Domain Review
Vargas Llosa “has replaced Gabriel García Márquez” as the South American novelist North American readers must catch up on, Updike wrote in 1986, four years after García Márquez received the Nobel Prize in Literature and 24 years before Vargas Llosa himself would. - The New York Times
Riefenstahl, who was full member of the Nazi propaganda machine, spent her entire very long post-WWII life using every tool she had “to deflect from her ideological affinity with nazism.” - The Guardian (UK)
As a baby, Adiarte was imprisoned by the Japanese during WWII. After his family moved to the U.S., he played a little prince and, eventually, the crown prince of Siam to Yul Brynner in The King and I, on both stage and screen. - The New York Times
The next President and CEO of Orchestra Lumos will be an innovative leader with a passion for leading an orchestra that delivers high-quality concert experiences.
Northwestern University’s MS in Leadership for Creative Enterprises (MSLCE) program develops leaders across Entertainment, Media and the Arts. Earn your Master’s in One Year.
The Mark Morris Dance Group is seeking a Director of Marketing and Communications to strategically advance our visibility, reputation, and audience engagement.
This role will be directly responsible for the timely and accurate processing of payroll and independent contractor fees for approximately 200 full-time, part-time and seasonal employees
The Lifelong Learning Program brings the performing arts to older adults, ensuring that excellence in education reaches students wherever they are, with the belief that development is not limited by age.
At these 80th-birthday concerts for Michael Tilson Thomas, who has suffered a recurrence of an aggressive brain cancer, the musicians distributed leaflets to the audience demanding “a fair contract” and accusing SFS management of budget cuts which “jeopardize the world-renowned status Michael helped build.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
The space near the OSF campus “featured a raised stage area, intimate seating in-the-round on folding chairs, and ample shade from the surrounding trees. It served as a natural, open-air theater that felt both rustic and inviting” - and COVID-19 safe. - Oregon ArtsWatch
“Officially called the West End Concourse, the corridor has a lot going for it: It’s easily accessible, the floors are spacious and smooth, and there are public restrooms, a rarity in New York City. It’s a ready-made stage for all sorts of group and partnered dance. … The biggest draw? It’s free.” - The New York...
Then the Academy, apparently not fearless, censored the lecture. "I did not want to cause them trouble. I did, however, feel it was essential to make the point that the pursuit of wisdom is impossible without engaging with (and challenging) uncomfortable ideas.” - The New York Times
“The president has gone beyond rhetoric, moving to challenge or seize control of history-related federal cultural institutions including the Smithsonian, the National Park Service and the National Endowment for the Humanities.” - The New York Times
Marketing, campus planning, and the entire social media team - gone as of Friday. “Kennedy Center staff members ... spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. Most former employees had to sign non-disparagement agreements.” - Washington Post (MSN)
“The Sonic Heritage project is a collection of 270 sounds from 68 countries, including from famous UNESCO-designated sites such as Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal, … a monarch butterfly sanctuary, … wind turbines, rare whales and the Amazonian dawn chorus.” Also, sea lions who sound like drunk frat boys. - The Guardian
A visit to the headquarters of Just Born Quality Confections in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where some two billion Peeps are made each year (along with Hot Tamales, Mike and Ike, and Goldenberg’s Peanut Chews). - The Philadelphia Inquirer
“There is perhaps no institution on earth whose opening has been as wildly anticipated, or as mind-bogglingly delayed. ... Its construction has been such a fiasco — mired by funding lapses, logistical hurdles, a pandemic, nearby wars, revolutions (yes, plural) — that it begs comparison to that of the pyramids.” - The New York Times
“The slow collapse of the postwar avant-garde’s underlying tenets (no figuration! no storytelling! no obvious skill!) has allowed many to admit that Wyeth was onto something specific and powerful …, (and) I find it tends to overwhelm most reservations. What he was onto, in short, was mortality.” - The Washington Post (MSN)
