Today's Stories

Report: Three Quarters Of Chicago’s Live Music Venues Are Not Profitable

“The State of Live,” newly released by the Chicago Independent Venue League, finds that nearly three out of four independent live entertainment venues in the city are currently not profitable, as they reel from rising artist fees, higher taxes and soaring labor and production costs. - Chicago Sun-Times

Has The UK’s Era Of Free Museum Entry Come To An End?

As funding pressures deepen across the sector, and running costs increase, a policy once treated as untouchable is now under renewed scrutiny. - The Guardian

Vandals Attack Outdoor Skating Rink At The Kennedy Center

An unidentified person poured a substance, likely some combination of motor oil and antifreeze, on a temporary ice rink built outside the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, damaging the surface and forcing a Friday performance by the Montreal-based Le Patin Libre to be canceled. - Washington Post

Has Hyper-specialization Harmed The Humanities?

Hyperspecialization has dominated the academy over the past decades. More and more, professors and outside observers note that academics silo research into increasingly minute areas. The consequences of this practice are deleterious. - Harvard Crimson

The Vegas Sphere Generates $1.2 Billion In Income In 2025

The company reported adjusted operating profit of $261.8 million for FY 2025, which was up 138% YoY. - Music Business Worldwide

A Video Game That Lets Players “Repatriate” Art From Western Museums

A new South African video game lets players take back African artefacts held in western museums in a series of heists, amid a growing campaign to repatriate treasures looted by colonial armies. - The Guardian

Does Counting The Books You Read Kill The Pleasure?

As reading is increasingly tracked and performed online, there is a growing sense that a solitary pleasure is being reshaped by the logic of metrics and visibility. - The Guardian

FCC Pushes TV Programmers To Produce Patriotic Content

Suggestions of pro-America content the department made include running public service announcements, short segments, or full specials specifically promoting civic education, inspiring local stories, and American history or starting each broadcast day with “The Star Spangled Banner” or Pledge of Allegiance. - The Hill

What Happens When Writing Becomes Easy?

The advent of the chatbot raised an unsettling question: What if writing didn’t have to be hard? What if that noble ordeal was no more necessary than going to a well to fetch your water when you could just turn on a tap? - The Atlantic

How The Washington Post Missed The Plot On What Readers Want

I don’t believe in this inevitability. As a reader of many distinctive publications, I want to be led by them. What makes them special is where they choose to take me, and how much I trust them to do that. - The Atlantic

Is Streaming The Key For Cable’s Survival?

The gains validate a bold bet by Charter Chief Executive Chris Winfrey: that cable could survive, if no longer thrive, by embracing the apps that had begun to supplant the traditional TV bundle. - The Wall Street Journal

What Is The Pritzker Prize Going To Do About Tom Pritzker’s Ties To Jeffrey Epstein?

Looks like nothing except defend the jury’s independence — and say that “the announcement of the next laureate, which typically occurs in the first week of March, would be delayed slightly.” - The New York Times

Disney Told The Creator Of A Fairly Anti-Fascist Series Not To Use The Word Fascism While Promoting The Show

“You get out your Fascism for Dummies book for the 15 things you do, and we tried to include as many of them as we could in the most artful way possible.” Then things in real life started to reflect, eerily, many things that happened on Andor. - Hollywood Reporter

At The BAFTAs, A Person In The Audience Yelled The N-Word At Michael B. Jordan And Delroy Lindo

“A spokesperson for the BBC attributed the language outbursts to an attendee with Tourette syndrome,” but the BBC apologized to viewers. Social media outrage is strong. - NBC

Movie Promotions Have Gotten Completely Out Of Control, But Why?

Think color, branding, social media - and publicists. - El País English

Susan Sheehan, Who Won The Pulitzer Prize For One Of Her Books Chronicling Life On The Margins, Has Died At 88

“Sheehan’s prose was cool and restrained, as if to counterbalance the harrowing and chaotic lives of many of her subjects.” - The New York Times

Britain’s National Gallery Deficits Shouldn’t Be Taken Out On The Country’s Public

Or so says The Guardian: “Culture is not a luxury. It is vital to the country’s wellbeing, tourism and international standing.” - The Guardian (UK)

Let’s Talk About A New Play That Deeply Understands A Very American Form Of Theatre: Debate

That is, the kind of “theatre” that one might see on C-SPAN — indeed, that some people did, in 1993 (though the 1993 version didn’t have a yellow chicken suit). - The Atlantic

A Tiny Museum In San Francisco That’s More Like A Giant Time Capsule

The museum “covers the entire history of city parks within a 6-by-10-foot room. … Because the museum capacity is five people and the pent-up demand goes back 130 years, the opening was intentionally kept soft.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

K-Pop Demon Hunters Dominates The Annies

Does any other animated film have a chance at an award this year? The film “won in every category in which it was nominated,” equalling ten of the twelve awards (Arco and Bad Guys 2 won the categories in which Demon Hunters wasn’t nominated). - The Wrap

By Topic

How The Washington Post Missed The Plot On What Readers Want

I don’t believe in this inevitability. As a reader of many distinctive publications, I want to be led by them. What makes them special is where they choose to take me, and how much I trust them to do that. - The Atlantic

Mexisistentialism Is A New Definition Of An Age-Old Strain Of Mexican Philosophy

Mexistentialism “teaches us that our crises, even if they are framed by the catastrophic, are that only in appearance. … Our crises will not destroy us because these crises are inscribed in history, and it is history that frames who we are.” - Aeon

Ireland’s Basic Income For The Arts Is Now Permanent, But What Does It Mean For The Artists?

In Ireland, despite how often the government uses Irish arts to market the country to tourists, "more than 56 per cent of artists and arts workers experience enforced deprivation (that’s three times the rate in the general population).” - Irish Times (Archive Today)

Our Inability To Focus On Books Isn’t A Failing

It’s a design flaw, and it can be fixed. “We have been here before. Not just once, but repeatedly, in a pattern so consistent it reveals something essential about how cultural elites respond to changes in how knowledge moves through society.” - Aeon

Should Our Museums Be Responsible For Healing Us?

Like many other words that have been “problematised” using post-structural approaches in the humanities, “care” is no longer simply a benign building block of a sentence, but is now part of a broader academic nexus that underpins its public expression. - The Critic

Are We Falling Out Of Love With Our AI Confidants?

There are good reasons why people, at least at first, feel positive about their relationship with an AI companion. But new research is showing that these feelings change over time. Artificial empathy, it turns out, comes at a cost. - Psyche

Vandals Attack Outdoor Skating Rink At The Kennedy Center

An unidentified person poured a substance, likely some combination of motor oil and antifreeze, on a temporary ice rink built outside the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, damaging the surface and forcing a Friday performance by the Montreal-based Le Patin Libre to be canceled. - Washington Post

Has Hyper-specialization Harmed The Humanities?

Hyperspecialization has dominated the academy over the past decades. More and more, professors and outside observers note that academics silo research into increasingly minute areas. The consequences of this practice are deleterious. - Harvard Crimson

Disney Told The Creator Of A Fairly Anti-Fascist Series Not To Use The Word Fascism While Promoting The Show

“You get out your Fascism for Dummies book for the 15 things you do, and we tried to include as many of them as we could in the most artful way possible.” Then things in real life started to reflect, eerily, many things that happened on Andor. - Hollywood Reporter

At The BAFTAs, A Person In The Audience Yelled The N-Word At Michael B. Jordan And Delroy Lindo

“A spokesperson for the BBC attributed the language outbursts to an attendee with Tourette syndrome,” but the BBC apologized to viewers. Social media outrage is strong. - NBC

Trump Demands That Netflix Fire A Board Member After Her Warning That Corporations Shouldn’t Bow Down To Trump

Susan Rice, former United Nations Ambassador, said on a podcast this week that “corporations, media companies, law firms and universities that ‘take a knee’ to Trump should not expect Democrats to ‘forgive and forget.’” The current president did not appreciate that. - The Hill

Why Discord’s Age Verification Idea Isn’t Going According To Plan

Hackers discovered the Peter Thiel-backed verification software, Persona, "bundled in an interface that pairs facial recognition with financial reporting – and a parallel implementation that appears designed to serve federal agencies.” Discord swiftly decided to kick Persona to the curb. - The Rage

Report: Three Quarters Of Chicago’s Live Music Venues Are Not Profitable

“The State of Live,” newly released by the Chicago Independent Venue League, finds that nearly three out of four independent live entertainment venues in the city are currently not profitable, as they reel from rising artist fees, higher taxes and soaring labor and production costs. - Chicago Sun-Times

The Symphonic Supermarket Aisles Of Sheffield

“I headed to the back of the shop and to a cluster of three freezers. This was it. The sound they were making was an unbelievable symphonic hum. I stood entranced; it was like listening to an orchestra playing underwater.” - The Guardian (UK)

Rediscovering The Classic Cassette Tape Player

For Spencer Richardson, who finds, repairs, and sells tape players, “his customers include older baby boomers and Gen X‑ers nostalgic for the players of their childhood, but most have been millennials like himself, drawn to something tactile and analog.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)

Can A Rhythmic Beat Be Copyrighted?

The case, known as the Fish Market dispute, asks whether a looping beat widely associated with reggaeton can be protected by copyright. More than 150 artists and producers have been named as defendants, and around 3,600 songs are implicated. - The Conversation

Who Is Championing Adventure In Classical Music?

Up-and-coming composers, looking for a break-out moment with their immense musical feel and depth, probably have their arms and tapping their feet wondering to themselves: where are our champions of new classical music? - The Critic

Seattle Symphony’s Home To Close For Renovations This Summer

“Benaroya Hall, the longtime home of the Seattle Symphony …, will close for six weeks beginning in July for the final phase of a $20 million renovation to the building’s entrances, lobby and public-facing spaces, the Symphony announced Thursday. (No performance spaces are part of the renovation plans.)” - The Seattle Times

Has The UK’s Era Of Free Museum Entry Come To An End?

As funding pressures deepen across the sector, and running costs increase, a policy once treated as untouchable is now under renewed scrutiny. - The Guardian

A Video Game That Lets Players “Repatriate” Art From Western Museums

A new South African video game lets players take back African artefacts held in western museums in a series of heists, amid a growing campaign to repatriate treasures looted by colonial armies. - The Guardian

What Is The Pritzker Prize Going To Do About Tom Pritzker’s Ties To Jeffrey Epstein?

Looks like nothing except defend the jury’s independence — and say that “the announcement of the next laureate, which typically occurs in the first week of March, would be delayed slightly.” - The New York Times

Britain’s National Gallery Deficits Shouldn’t Be Taken Out On The Country’s Public

Or so says The Guardian: “Culture is not a luxury. It is vital to the country’s wellbeing, tourism and international standing.” - The Guardian (UK)

A Tiny Museum In San Francisco That’s More Like A Giant Time Capsule

The museum “covers the entire history of city parks within a 6-by-10-foot room. … Because the museum capacity is five people and the pent-up demand goes back 130 years, the opening was intentionally kept soft.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

South Africa Has Pulled Out Of The Venice Biennale

“The move comes after the country’s right-wing culture minister Gayton McKenzie scrapped a pavilion proposal by artist Gabrielle Goliath and curator Ingrid Masondo.” They said, “The space will remain empty: a space of erasure, cancellation, censure.” - Hyperallergic

Does Counting The Books You Read Kill The Pleasure?

As reading is increasingly tracked and performed online, there is a growing sense that a solitary pleasure is being reshaped by the logic of metrics and visibility. - The Guardian

What Happens When Writing Becomes Easy?

The advent of the chatbot raised an unsettling question: What if writing didn’t have to be hard? What if that noble ordeal was no more necessary than going to a well to fetch your water when you could just turn on a tap? - The Atlantic

Why Is Nearly Everyone Reading Fantasy These Days?

“The strictly disenchanted world, where nothing exists but physical processes describable without metaphor, and even consciousness is just a material problem waiting to be solved, can be a desiccated place. It keeps heart and mind on inadequate rations.” - The Guardian (UK)

Toni Morrison, And The Power Of Ambiguity

“Fiction has no obligation to dispel ambiguity. It can make use of it—even intensify it—in order to evoke and transform experience. In Beloved, Morrison does take possession of the master’s tools, but she bends them, breaks them, and then uses them to reshape the house.” - LitHub

Reading “Animal Farm” In Afghanistan: A Women’s Book Circle Becomes A Form Of Resistance

With the Taliban having outlawed the education of girls and severely restricted women’s other rights, a clandestine group of women gather weekly to read books ranging from Orwell and Hemingway to contemporary Iranian fiction. - The Guardian

A Major Project To Revive Indigenous Languages

Chicago’s Newberry Library has received $4 million from the Mellon Foundation that will help widen access to Indigenous languages, some of which have been on the brink of disappearance. - WBEZ

The Vegas Sphere Generates $1.2 Billion In Income In 2025

The company reported adjusted operating profit of $261.8 million for FY 2025, which was up 138% YoY. - Music Business Worldwide

FCC Pushes TV Programmers To Produce Patriotic Content

Suggestions of pro-America content the department made include running public service announcements, short segments, or full specials specifically promoting civic education, inspiring local stories, and American history or starting each broadcast day with “The Star Spangled Banner” or Pledge of Allegiance. - The Hill

Is Streaming The Key For Cable’s Survival?

The gains validate a bold bet by Charter Chief Executive Chris Winfrey: that cable could survive, if no longer thrive, by embracing the apps that had begun to supplant the traditional TV bundle. - The Wall Street Journal

Movie Promotions Have Gotten Completely Out Of Control, But Why?

Think color, branding, social media - and publicists. - El País English

K-Pop Demon Hunters Dominates The Annies

Does any other animated film have a chance at an award this year? The film “won in every category in which it was nominated,” equalling ten of the twelve awards (Arco and Bad Guys 2 won the categories in which Demon Hunters wasn’t nominated). - The Wrap

The Federal Communications Commission In The U.S. Is Going In On The ‘Must Be Patriotic’ Thing

The FCC chair asked broadcasters to sign a pledge, and said they should “inform and entertain audiences by upping programming that ‘celebrates the American journey and inspires its citizens by highlighting the historic accomplishments of this great nation.’” - NPR

The Regular Schmoes Asked Up On The Ballet Stage

“When the mood and choreography strike, Kansas City Ballet Artistic Director Devon Carney invites a few folks to perform on stage as supernumeraries. That’s a fancy term for extras—usually peasants—who mill around and have deeply animated conversations with their supernumerary neighbors.” - KC Studio

A New Spirit Of Choreographic Artistry In Olympic Figure Skating

“It seems we’re in a particularly fruitful era of artistic innovation in skating. What’s driving the current wave — and how might it shape the future of the sport? - Dance Magazine

Vertical Dance: A Brief History

How a cross between rock climbing, rappelling, circus aerobatics and contemporary dance turned into a performing art of its own. - The Mercury News (San Jose)

Grand Rapids Ballet Lays Off Executive Director And Eliminates Position

“Grand Rapids Ballet has dismissed executive director Mary Jennings after less than two years in the role, replacing her with an interim CEO as the ballet rethinks its leadership strategy.” - Crain’s Grand Rapids Business

At 85, Choreographer Lucinda Childs Is Still Busy

“I’m not, um, young,” she says. “And I do have help. I don’t go in without somebody there who can help to translate and who understands my movement. But my favorite thing is to make things.” - The New York Times

Bring Back Ski Ballet!

Nothing is “nutty” in the Olympics now. Ski ballet was a demonstration sport in 1988 and 1992, but "unlike the other two freestyle disciplines, aerials and moguls, ski ballet didn’t graduate to full Olympic medal status.” - The New York Times

Let’s Talk About A New Play That Deeply Understands A Very American Form Of Theatre: Debate

That is, the kind of “theatre” that one might see on C-SPAN — indeed, that some people did, in 1993 (though the 1993 version didn’t have a yellow chicken suit). - The Atlantic

With Lost Boys And Dracula On Broadway, Plus Sinners At The Oscars, Why Are We So Immersed In Vampire Culture?

“These mythological creatures tap into our anxiety over what would happen if we became otherly human. … As the horror author Grady Hendrix put it: ‘Vampires are the only monster that looks like us.’” - The New York Times

Ohio Comedian Jailed For Making Fun Of Police

Comedian Anthony Novak was nabbed by Parma police, tossed into the county jail and charged “with a felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison,” all for the alleged crime of making fun of said police force. - Deadline

Black Actress Sues Harvard’s American Repertory Theater For Discrimination, Alleging Permanent Scalp Damage

Nike Imoru said that for last year’s staging of The Odyssey, she was told to get cornrows but was not provided with a competent stylist as Equity’s contract requires — and that the backstage worker who did the work instead left her with permanent damage, including the loss of most of her hair. -...

Royal Shakespeare Co. To Stage New “Game Of Thrones” Prequel

George R.R. Martin, author of the series of novels at the heart of the franchise, says that the RSC was the ‘obvious choice’ to produce the play — Game of Thrones: The Mad King — because Shakespeare had been a constant source of inspiration to him. - The Guardian

Without Big New Musicals This Broadway Spring Will Look Different

In the first third of 2026, we’ll see 11 plays and only six musicals on Broadway. And many of the musicals that will open share a certain downtown sensibility instead of, say, a stately Sondheim import or Disneyfied cheer. - The New York Times

Susan Sheehan, Who Won The Pulitzer Prize For One Of Her Books Chronicling Life On The Margins, Has Died At 88

“Sheehan’s prose was cool and restrained, as if to counterbalance the harrowing and chaotic lives of many of her subjects.” - The New York Times

Matz Skoog, A Charismatic Swedish Dancer Turned Director Of The English Ballet, Has Died At 69

Skoog came on board at a rough time, just as 9/11 obliterated any arts attention. “The softly spoken, self-effacing and courteous Skoog set about refreshing the repertoire and encouraging British choreographers, including Christopher Hampson and Michael Corder.” - The Times (UK)

Damian Lewis On Being In The Public Eye

“I had a stalker. We had an injunction on her and I thought that everything was safe and then I was on stage doing a press night in the West End and someone stood up out of the front row and put flowers at my feet and I realised it was my stalker.” -...

Willie Colon, Trombonist And Bandleader, Producer And Composer, Has Died At 75

Colón’s “driving musical energy and mischievous bad-boy image — he was long promoted as ‘El Malo’ — helped made him a luminary of New York salsa music, and 1978 collaboration with Rubén Blades, Siembra, became one of the top-selling salsa albums of all time.” - The New York Times

Isaiah Zagar, Known For His Psychedelic Philadelphia Mosaics, Is Dead At 86

A self-taught mosaicist, Mr. Zagar used broken bottles, handmade tiles, mirrors, and other found objects to cover walls across the city, particularly in South Philly. His Magic Gardens on South Street has become a landmark, attracting 150,000 visitors a year. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

David Hays, Founder Of National Theater Of The Deaf, Has Died At 95

On top of a career designing sets and lights for more than 50 Broadway productions and over 30 George Balanchine ballets, he became, in 1967, the founding artistic director of the National Theater of the Deaf, which combined spoken dialogue and sign language to create, in effect, a new genre. - The New York...

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The Executive Director of The Washington Ballet will co-lead the organization with Artistic Director Edwaard Liang..

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New York Theatre Ballet seeks Managing Director

Managing Director opportunity at NYTB, leading growth, operations, partnerships, governance, and teams, delivering expansion, innovation, and compliance across the dance community.

Columbia Museum of Art – Executive Director

The Columbia Museum of Art (CMA), in Columbia, South Carolina, an AAM-accredited institution, seeks an Executive Director to build upon its 75-year legacy.

City of Bellingham Whatcom Museum seeks Museum Executive Director

City of Bellingham Whatcom Museum seeks Museum Executive Director. Estimated base salary in the range of $140,000 to $168,000.

Seeking Chief Marketing & Communications Officer with experience in the Performing Arts nonprofit industry

Seattle Theatre Group (STG) is seeking an experienced, innovative Chief Marketing and Communications Officer (CMCO). The CMCO is a vital member of STG's senior leadership.

What Is The Pritzker Prize Going To Do About Tom Pritzker’s Ties To Jeffrey Epstein?

Looks like nothing except defend the jury’s independence — and say that “the announcement of the next laureate, which typically occurs in the first week of March, would be delayed slightly.” - The New York Times

Ireland’s Basic Income For The Arts Is Now Permanent, But What Does It Mean For The Artists?

In Ireland, despite how often the government uses Irish arts to market the country to tourists, "more than 56 per cent of artists and arts workers experience enforced deprivation (that’s three times the rate in the general population).” - Irish Times (Archive Today)

With Lost Boys And Dracula On Broadway, Plus Sinners At The Oscars, Why Are We So Immersed In Vampire Culture?

“These mythological creatures tap into our anxiety over what would happen if we became otherly human. … As the horror author Grady Hendrix put it: ‘Vampires are the only monster that looks like us.’” - The New York Times

South Africa Has Pulled Out Of The Venice Biennale

“The move comes after the country’s right-wing culture minister Gayton McKenzie scrapped a pavilion proposal by artist Gabrielle Goliath and curator Ingrid Masondo.” They said, “The space will remain empty: a space of erasure, cancellation, censure.” - Hyperallergic

Our Inability To Focus On Books Isn’t A Failing

It’s a design flaw, and it can be fixed. “We have been here before. Not just once, but repeatedly, in a pattern so consistent it reveals something essential about how cultural elites respond to changes in how knowledge moves through society.” - Aeon

José Van Dam, One Of 20th Century’s Greatest Lyric Baritones, Is Dead At 85

“For more than four decades, he was a central figure in European opera, admired not for flamboyance but for integrity, stylistic intelligence, and a distinctive vocal timbre that combined gravity with warmth.” - Moto Perpetuo

The British Museum Has Removed The Word Palestine And Palestinians From Its Middle East Displays

“Concerns were recently raised by UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLIF), a voluntary group of solicitors, about references to ‘Palestine’ in displays covering the ancient Levant and Egypt, which risked ‘obscuring the history of Israel and the Jewish people.’” - The Guardian (UK)

The Zombie Internet Is Here To Eat, Or Rot, All Of Our Brains

What are the consequences of a “human-free” internet? - Fast Company

Why Are Murals Of A Murdered Ukrainian Refugee Appearing Across The United States?

The murals are all part of Elon Musk’s effort to blame Democrats for crime - and they’re appearing on buildings across the United States. - Chicago Sun-Times

Tracey Emin On What Young Artists Need To Do In A World Riddled With Stolen ‘Generative’ AI

“Keep a diary, get a camera, learn to print your own photos. Don’t put it all in your phone, because everything in your phone belongs to someone else. And if you want to write a secret to someone, send a letter.” - The Guardian (UK)

University Of North Texas Can’t Handle An Art Show With Anti-ICE Content

“Victor Quiñonez, the artist behind the exhibition, said he learned about the university’s decision when students messaged him on social media to say the windows of the gallery in Denton, northwest of Dallas, had been covered and the door locked.” - The New York Times

Large Software Analysis Says Turin And Philly Paintings Aren’t Actually By Van Eyck

The AI-supported “findings supported scholars who had suggested that both versions were studio paintings – produced in the artist’s workshop but not necessarily by him,” but surprised some art historians, who now wonder whether an original exists somewhere. - The Guardian (UK)

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