Davide Renzoni was inspecting cables in the Pompeian Hall of Rome's Villa Farnesina when he opened two trap doors in the ceiling and happened on a set of perfectly preserved frescoes, likely by Carlo Maratta, one of the last masters of Baroque classicism, and two of his students. - The New York Times
For more than 200 years it has been believed that Shakespeare left his wife in Stratford-upon-Avon when he travelled to London and that a decision to leave her almost nothing in his will meant he probably felt bitterness towards her. - BBC
“Based on recent ticket sales and Visitor Center website traffic, … the formula has proven to work in Philadelphia. … While Philly tourism and theater attendance have been down compared to 2019, Amy Murphy, Arden Theatre’s managing director, said TKTS is already paying dividends.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
Beyond the masthead and issue date, no set typography has ever been allowed, maintaining a unique wordless space in magazine publishing where only an image connotes the idea. The absence of copy is arresting, the silent core of what the solely visual can communicate. - The Conversation
Since 2020 there have been 32 exhibitions of his work, staged everywhere from the National Gallery in London to Washington DC, Tokyo, California, Ontario, Istanbul and across Europe. The world is currently Hockney mad. - New Statesman
I’m inclined to agree with Adorno on at least some of this. I am allergic to the suggestion that music needs to be attached to claims about something else to be worthwhile – be that its ability to make money, or aid focus (and productivity), or to optimise health. Can’t it just be for its own...
“The Museum … is not a place that traffics in improper ideology. It …recognizes that America has been suffused with improper ideologies for most of its history: ideologies that ignore the centrality of slavery to the nation … (and) tell us the Civil War was simply about states’ rights.” - The Atlantic (MSN)
The film, which won best picture at the Baftas earlier this year and was nominated for eight Oscars, is available on assorted streaming platforms worldwide. According to Luminate, which tracks streaming viewership, Conclave was viewed for about 1.8m minutes on 20 April, and 6.9m minutes the next day – an increase of 283%. - The Guardian
Just in time for Easter, the physical video store has risen again. This month, Night Owl Video in Williamsburg became New York City’s first new physical video store in a long time. The store’s provocative slogan is: “Death to streamers! Physical media forever!” - The Guardian
“Visitors who download a QR code at least three days in advance will pay €5 — the same amount charged last year throughout the pilot program. But those who make last-minute plans pay double.” The number of days this charge is in effect is up from 29 last year to 54 for 2025. - AP
No matter how tactful, restrained and oblique the criticism, the Communist party still detests it. A lot of content is deleted, and accounts on Ordinary Fascist’s watchlist frequently disappear for no apparent reason. These people are banned from posting, their accounts are shut, and some of the individuals behind them are even arrested. - The Guardian
“We have to resist and persevere,” Barclay said in a video interview. “Attempts to undermine the significance of our culture are nothing new to us. We will continue to tell our stories.” - The New York Times
Jacksonville University will cut music and theater programs from its curriculum in a reorganization that will affect about 100 students and cost 40 faculty members their jobs. The cuts, an effort to save $10 million, are intended to align the university’s courses with the needs of today’s working world. - Jax Today
“The annual Kronos Festival … introduces the Bay Area to the quartet’s latest incarnation, with violist Ayane Kozasa and violinist Gabriela Díaz taking over chairs held, respectively, by Hank Dutt and John Sherba for more than four decades.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
“In a memo obtained by CNN, (Bill) Owens said to 60 Minutes staff that the last few months have made it clear that he ‘would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it’ or make ‘independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes.’” - CNN
“Judge Royce C. Lamberth … wrote that the administration's decision to dismantle the agency was ‘arbitrary and capricious. … Not only is there an absence of 'reasoned analysis' from the defendants; there is an absence of any analysis whatsoever." The order also apples to Radio Free Asia but not Radio Free Europe. - NPR
“Glenn Steven Bednarsh, 58, has been charged with knowingly buying a stolen Warhol trial proof depicting Soviet Union leader Vladimir Lenin in February 2021 for $6,000. He then attempted to sell it to a Dallas-based auction house … (and later) lied about the scheme to federal agents,” prosecutors allege. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
Artist Ogechi Chieke sued under New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, filing the day before the window closed. The suit claims that Wiley committed a “crime of violence motivated by gender” which “would not have occurred if Plaintiff was male.” (Wiley is an openly gay man.) - Artnet
“Members of the U.S. DOGE Service met with National Gallery of Art leadership Thursday, ... signaling that cuts or other changes may be on the horizon for the Washington institution that makes its world-class art collection freely accessible to roughly 6 million visitors a year.” - The Washington Post (MSN)
At opening night of New York City Ballet’s spring season, as the dancers performed Balanchine, a woman began yelling from a balcony, “We’re in a climate emergency. Our country has become a fascist regime, and we are enjoying this beauty.” - The New York Times
Conscious perception is the ability of human beings to become aware of the stimuli received by their senses. It is a different state from simply being awake, where sensations are processed automatically and unreflectively. Rather, conscious perception requires a detailed and voluntary analysis of external stimuli. - Wired
Hobby inflation, understood in this light, is about much more than price hikes: It’s about the shrinking and possible disappearance of opportunities for people from different backgrounds to get to know one another. - The Atlantic
“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
This seems fine: “Instead of admitting uncertainty, AI models often prioritize creating plausible, confident responses, even when that means manufacturing information from scratch.” - Wired
“Cities are often defined by spatial ageism where environments are not set up for older people. The age-friendly movement aims to ensure older people can still play a part in civic life.” - The Guardian (UK)
“The Museum … is not a place that traffics in improper ideology. It …recognizes that America has been suffused with improper ideologies for most of its history: ideologies that ignore the centrality of slavery to the nation … (and) tell us the Civil War was simply about states’ rights.” - The Atlantic (MSN)
“Visitors who download a QR code at least three days in advance will pay €5 — the same amount charged last year throughout the pilot program. But those who make last-minute plans pay double.” The number of days this charge is in effect is up from 29 last year to 54 for 2025. -...
No matter how tactful, restrained and oblique the criticism, the Communist party still detests it. A lot of content is deleted, and accounts on Ordinary Fascist’s watchlist frequently disappear for no apparent reason. These people are banned from posting, their accounts are shut, and some of the individuals behind them are even arrested. -...
“We have to resist and persevere,” Barclay said in a video interview. “Attempts to undermine the significance of our culture are nothing new to us. We will continue to tell our stories.” - The New York Times
Artists and arts organizations have a long legacy of persistence and strategic organizing during periods of political and economic upheaval. - The Conversation
NAAE Chair Dr John Nicholas Saunders said the sector was in crisis after years of cuts to arts education pathways and growing barriers to access. - Limelight
I’m inclined to agree with Adorno on at least some of this. I am allergic to the suggestion that music needs to be attached to claims about something else to be worthwhile – be that its ability to make money, or aid focus (and productivity), or to optimise health. Can’t it just be for...
Jacksonville University will cut music and theater programs from its curriculum in a reorganization that will affect about 100 students and cost 40 faculty members their jobs. The cuts, an effort to save $10 million, are intended to align the university’s courses with the needs of today’s working world. - Jax Today
“The annual Kronos Festival … introduces the Bay Area to the quartet’s latest incarnation, with violist Ayane Kozasa and violinist Gabriela Díaz taking over chairs held, respectively, by Hank Dutt and John Sherba for more than four decades.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
With a team that included Raj Patel, the acoustician who worked on the auditorium, Ney assembled a trio of pianos to choose from, all Model D Steinways but with distinct sounds based on when they were made and where. - The New York Times
“With many opera companies in a doom loop of shrinkage caused by rising costs and stagnant (or worse) earnings, Houston has proved an exception. Driven by creative leadership and generous donors, its programming budget has risen steadily, (as has) its endowment.” - The New York Times
“This month, Virginia Opera and Richmond Symphony will present the world premiere of composer Damien Geter and librettist Jessica Murphy Moo’s Loving v. Virginia, an operatic retelling of the events leading to the landmark 1967 Supreme Court decision that declared laws against interracial marriage unconstitutional.” - The Washington Post (MSN)
Davide Renzoni was inspecting cables in the Pompeian Hall of Rome's Villa Farnesina when he opened two trap doors in the ceiling and happened on a set of perfectly preserved frescoes, likely by Carlo Maratta, one of the last masters of Baroque classicism, and two of his students. - The New York Times
“Glenn Steven Bednarsh, 58, has been charged with knowingly buying a stolen Warhol trial proof depicting Soviet Union leader Vladimir Lenin in February 2021 for $6,000. He then attempted to sell it to a Dallas-based auction house … (and later) lied about the scheme to federal agents,” prosecutors allege. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
“Members of the U.S. DOGE Service met with National Gallery of Art leadership Thursday, ... signaling that cuts or other changes may be on the horizon for the Washington institution that makes its world-class art collection freely accessible to roughly 6 million visitors a year.” - The Washington Post (MSN)
“You don’t notice them at first. ... But once the marks carved into the stonework of Salisbury Cathedral by centuries of pilgrims, churchgoers and mischief-makers are pointed out, they begin to pop out all over the place.” - The Guardian
“The scale and beauty of the site still impress, although some of the showcase monuments are so badly damaged that it is hard to imagine what they had looked like.” - The New York Times
Over the past half century the art history industry has produced reams of interpretation, incorporating no shortage of words by Serra himself. The author of work so totally laconic has set the terms of its understanding as if the death of the author bypassed him entirely. - N + One
Beyond the masthead and issue date, no set typography has ever been allowed, maintaining a unique wordless space in magazine publishing where only an image connotes the idea. The absence of copy is arresting, the silent core of what the solely visual can communicate. - The Conversation
“What was until the 14th century the primary language of Scotland was, in the 2022 census, spoken by 2.5% of the population (up from 1.7% in 2011). Ever-greater numbers of people are learning the language in school or through apps …, but the shift to English is at an advanced stage.” - History Today
While the International Booker might have heralded a rise in the status of literary translators, is there a commensurate deepening of appreciation for, and understanding of, translation itself? While translators are being made more visible, is translation being made more invisible? - Sydney Review of Books
By thinking of language as a mathematical category, Tai-Danae Bradley's been able to apply established tools to study it and glean new insights. Linguists hope her model can help them to prove certain theories about how grammar and meaning emerge from strings of words, and to identify how AI-generated text differs from human language....
As the English degree craters, and the idea of the university itself is under assault in the United States and elsewhere, those of us who remain interested in literate culture are sensing in its decline some correlation with the current apoplexy, if not direct causation. - 3 Quarks Daily
Meta cited an expert witness who downplayed the books' individual importance, averring that a single book adjusted its LLM's performance "by less than 0.06 percent on industry standard benchmarks, a meaningless change no different from noise." Thus there's no market in paying authors to use their copyrighted works, Meta says. - Futurism
The film, which won best picture at the Baftas earlier this year and was nominated for eight Oscars, is available on assorted streaming platforms worldwide. According to Luminate, which tracks streaming viewership, Conclave was viewed for about 1.8m minutes on 20 April, and 6.9m minutes the next day – an increase of 283%. - The Guardian
Just in time for Easter, the physical video store has risen again. This month, Night Owl Video in Williamsburg became New York City’s first new physical video store in a long time. The store’s provocative slogan is: “Death to streamers! Physical media forever!” - The Guardian
“In a memo obtained by CNN, (Bill) Owens said to 60 Minutes staff that the last few months have made it clear that he ‘would not be allowed to run the show as I have always run it’ or make ‘independent decisions based on what was right for 60 Minutes.’” - CNN
“Judge Royce C. Lamberth … wrote that the administration's decision to dismantle the agency was ‘arbitrary and capricious. … Not only is there an absence of 'reasoned analysis' from the defendants; there is an absence of any analysis whatsoever." The order also apples to Radio Free Asia but not Radio Free Europe. - NPR
That wasn’t a rule already? No, it wasn’t, except for Best Foreign-Language Film (now Best International Feature Film) and Best Documentary Feature; otherwise, things were on the honor system. The change could lead to more upsets and surprise wins, although it might also reduce the number of Oscar voters. - TheWrap
The stakes are high. WrestleMania, which began in 1985, is being treated as a litmus test - not just for WWE's global expansion, but for Netflix's potential move into live sports. - BBC
At opening night of New York City Ballet’s spring season, as the dancers performed Balanchine, a woman began yelling from a balcony, “We’re in a climate emergency. Our country has become a fascist regime, and we are enjoying this beauty.” - The New York Times
The company that former artistic director Li Cunxin turned into a powerhouse with an international reputation is now “beleaguered”, as one headline put it. - InDaily (Australia)
“Two former dancers … filed a lawsuit on Thursday accusing the group of amassing a financial fortune and worldwide renown by subjecting an ‘army of child laborers’ to brutal working conditions and psychological coercion.” Another former company member filed a similar suit last November. - The New York Times
Alexey Brodovitch’s Ballet gets an 80th anniversary reprint. He "intended to foreground shape, blur, contrast, gesture and motion — the atmosphere of dance — in the photographs. ‘The photograph is not only a pictorial report,’ Brodovitch said. ‘It is also a psychological report.’” - The New York Times
How is it that an island that has managed to produce one of the strongest theatrical traditions in the West could be without a national dance company? - Fjord Review
“Since its founding in 1978 …, Links has been a cornerstone of the city’s dance scene, often giving a home to experimental new works that pushed the envelope, both artistically and politically. Executive Director SK Kerastas said Thursday that the venue will continue with performances scheduled through June.” - WBEZ (Chicago)
“Based on recent ticket sales and Visitor Center website traffic, … the formula has proven to work in Philadelphia. … While Philly tourism and theater attendance have been down compared to 2019, Amy Murphy, Arden Theatre’s managing director, said TKTS is already paying dividends.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
We should cherish the miracles that happen on stages all over the country every night, even as we question why theatre needs miracles, when actually a very small amount of investment would enable it to produce lasting wonders, both artistically and in how it serves communities. - The Stage
“Life and Trust, an immersive follow up to Sleep No More from the producing team Emursive, closed abruptly on April 19 after beginning performances in the summer of 2024. … No official reasoning was provided for the show’s sudden closure … after tickets were mysteriously refunded over the weekend.” - TheaterMania
“After the archbishop’s interference, Beckett withdrew all rights in protest, for all of his works in Ireland, indefinitely.” - Irish Times (Internet Archive)
“Marissa Chaffee starts her shift by housing a Five Guys burger with pickles, mustard and ketchup. … Later tonight, she’ll chug (a "Witches' Brew") potion while half-dressed in Spider-Man underwear and knee-high boots in front of 85 theatergoers. The test is … whether she can remember her iambic pentameter.” - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
For more than 200 years it has been believed that Shakespeare left his wife in Stratford-upon-Avon when he travelled to London and that a decision to leave her almost nothing in his will meant he probably felt bitterness towards her. - BBC
Since 2020 there have been 32 exhibitions of his work, staged everywhere from the National Gallery in London to Washington DC, Tokyo, California, Ontario, Istanbul and across Europe. The world is currently Hockney mad. - New Statesman
Artist Ogechi Chieke sued under New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, filing the day before the window closed. The suit claims that Wiley committed a “crime of violence motivated by gender” which “would not have occurred if Plaintiff was male.” (Wiley is an openly gay man.) - Artnet
“(He was) known for his thick applications of paint and his furious brushstrokes … (and) an uncompromising personality; (his) paintings depicted scenes like Noah’s Ark breaking apart in a storm and a huge candy-cane-colored funnel cloud looming over a rural landscape.” - The New York Times
“Lindsey Halligan, 35, is a Trump attorney who seems to have tasked herself as a sort of commissioner — or expurgator, according to critics — of a premier cultural institution.” In fact, the executive order appears to have been her idea. - The Washington Post (MSN)
The movie, described by one outlet as The Big Short meets The Bridge of Spies, was a bit, let’s say, intensified. But the real guy’s “story is especially notable as Tetris continues to thrive.” - The Verge
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 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.
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 Mark Morris Dance Group is seeking a Director of Marketing and Communications to strategically advance our visibility, reputation, and audience engagement.
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)
“In this excerpt, adapted from Seller’s memoir, Theater Kid (out on May 6 from Simon & Schuster), the producer lays out the musical’s long road from dispiriting workshop to its simultaneously triumphant and tragic first preview performance.” - Vulture
“Vargas Llosa, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2010, gained renown as a young writer with slangy, blistering visions of the corruption, moral compromises and cruelty festering in Peru.” - The New York Times
A spokesperson wrote that the Obama portrait was simply moved. “Last month, the Trump administration and the Kremlin confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin gifted a portrait to the president. It is unclear whether the portrait now hanging in the White House was a gift from Putin.” - Hyperallergic
"The Irish Times used the phrase 'freak pictures’ in a review, and Russell again had a field day, referring to their work as ‘artistic malaria.’ It all weighed heavily on them both.” - The Guardian (UK)
They reinstalled Eric Gill’s statue, is what they did. Now it’s behind a “protective screen” (to protect the sculpture, that is), but, uh, "visitors can now scan a QR code near the building to understand the dark background of the sculpture’s creator.” - The Guardian (UK)
