Billed as a “five night only” event, “Hadestown: The Musical” has extended its run in theaters for four weeks, thanks to popular demand. In the process, the filmed stage show has become an indie blockbuster, grossing $20.7 million. - Indiewire
Pennsylvania and Florida legislators argue, for example, that an informed citizenry needs to be able to read historical documents, which are often written in cursive script. - Washington Post
We live in a time when digital systems underpin everything from ticketing to surveillance and building access. Sidelining cybersecurity leaves museums vulnerable to attacks that could threaten both their finances and their collections. - The Conversation
For instance, Sam Eley gives the background on his Basil Crumbwick, whose papier-mâché head makes him seven feet tall, while Katie Pritchard recounts the origin story of her Sir Elton Scone, who hosts a Great British Bake Off-style show which uses no ovens. - The Guardian
In a status report submitted late Tuesday to a federal court, the Kennedy Center outlined its plans to put President Trump's name back on the arts complex. - NPR
It feels counterintuitive, but at sufficiently large scales, they find, you can often remove any single image from the training data, or every image by a given artist, or every photograph of a given person, and the generated sample doesn't change. - MIT
What has surprised me, looking back to 1976 (when I started writing for a tiny magazine that sadly went out of business this year) is how much of the classical music landscape has survived, despite the economic pressures that you don’t need reminding about. - BBC Music
Hard as it may be to believe today, Graceland was not an instant hit when it came out, and Simon received criticism for what’s now called cultural appropriation and for violating sanctions against apartheid-era South Africa. Now its influence is widespread enough that it can be hard to perceive these decades later. - The Guardian
The ways that the company’s skill level, repertoire, national and international reputation, budget, and especially school (a ten-fold increase in enrollment) have grown during Sklute’s 20 years as artistic director are extraordinary. - The Utah Review
Comedy writer Brice Vilanch and psychologist Steven Pinker are among those who’ve been contacted by someone claiming to be NPR host Gross herself or co-host Tonya Mosley (not a producer) offering an interview on Fresh Air, displaying deep knowledge of the target’s work, then asking for “contributions.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
The ICA San Diego (not to be confused with the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego) is reducing its staff from 19 to 11, including almost all senior management and public-facing workers. The head curator position was eliminated last month. - The San Diego Union-Tribune
“Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, during a Wednesday press conference, threatened to take over public school districts that don’t remove ‘obscene books’ from their library shelves.” - San Antonio Current
“’Push’ by Sapphire got cut across the state Wednesday after the Davis, Granite and Washington County school districts removed it, bringing the total number of books banned from public schools to 37.” Current Utah law holds that if three county school districts ban a book, the title is then barred statewide. - The Salt Lake Tribune
“Overall, the economic impact of losing these jobs would be $1.26 billion in wages, $2.78 billion in economic value, $4.06 billion in total business output and $547 million in tax revenue, including $78.6 million in local taxes — most of which (63%) comes from property taxes.” - TheWrap
“Disney has a far stronger case against (Trump-appointed FCC chairman Brendan) Carr than Carr has against Disney,” a former FCC chief of staff said. “I doubt any court would uphold Carr's failure to renew Disney's license.” Alas, it’s not quite that simple. - TheWrap (Yahoo!)
In May 2025, ten people affiliated with Eksmo, Russia’s publishing behemoth, were detained in Moscow. Three of them, Pavel Ivanov, Dmitry Protopopov and Artyom Vakhlyaev, were charged with ‘organising activities of an extremist organisation’. Their crime was distributing LGBT-themed books. - London Review of Books
“Los Angeles and California continue to struggle to keep movies, television series and even game shows from fleeing elsewhere. … The story of how L.A. steadily lost much of its homegrown industry to other locales is a tale of hubris, escalating costs, political inaction and fierce competition (from other locales).” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
The fan at heart is a manager of excess: too much feeling, too much weight on too little incident. This is a kind of madness after all, the madness of meaning-making under a few too many constraints. - N plus 1
A Harvard faculty member who requested anonymity so that he could speak openly told me he worried that the elimination of the center could be seen as part of a broader trend of “real boosterism” of AI on campus—one that students feel acutely. - The Atlantic
Today, 52% of Americans say they are more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life – up from 37% in 2021. Another 9% are more excited than concerned and 37% say they’re equally excited and concerned, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 22-28, 2026. - Pew Research
It feels counterintuitive, but at sufficiently large scales, they find, you can often remove any single image from the training data, or every image by a given artist, or every photograph of a given person, and the generated sample doesn't change. - MIT
The fan at heart is a manager of excess: too much feeling, too much weight on too little incident. This is a kind of madness after all, the madness of meaning-making under a few too many constraints. - N plus 1
Today, 52% of Americans say they are more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life – up from 37% in 2021. Another 9% are more excited than concerned and 37% say they’re equally excited and concerned, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted June 22-28, 2026. - Pew Research
Our new research finds that people are more disturbed by others’ beliefs when they feel those beliefs are not merely different from their own but are based on incorrect information. - The Conversation
What if businesses become too good at selling nostalgia? Research I carried out with colleagues suggests that digital technology is changing nostalgia itself. Ironically, by making the past permanently available, companies may be weakening the very notion they are trying to sell. - The Conversation
In a status report submitted late Tuesday to a federal court, the Kennedy Center outlined its plans to put President Trump's name back on the arts complex. - NPR
More than 160 pages of plans, assembled by the real estate company JLL and presented to the board of trustees, outline extensive changes throughout the building. - Washington Post
“After (a fact-checker) upload(s) an image and enter(s) a basic question, Backstory can automatically run checks to determine whether the image is AI-generated, whether it shows signs of manipulation, and where else the image has appeared throughout its lifetime on the internet.” - Nieman Lab
The Met Museum, Carnegie Hall, BAM, Lincoln Center, even the Brooklyn Children’s Museum — in fact, none of the 39 institutions in what’s called the Cultural Institutions Group have to pay Fire Dept. summonses. There is, in fact, a logical reason for this. - Gothamist
The fabric barrier and scaffolding put up while Trump’s name was removed from the building’s façade are still in place more than two months later. In a court filing this week, management stated that there is still work being done at and around that area. - The Independent (UK)
“Picture this: a hillside ‘archaeological site’ complete with what were marketed as Neolithic and Greco-Roman artefacts, impressive enough that visitors were charged a hefty 40-euro entrance fee. … Except it wasn’t ancient at all.” And the perpetrator had cleared a protected hillside forest to build it. - Gramilano
What has surprised me, looking back to 1976 (when I started writing for a tiny magazine that sadly went out of business this year) is how much of the classical music landscape has survived, despite the economic pressures that you don’t need reminding about. - BBC Music
Hard as it may be to believe today, Graceland was not an instant hit when it came out, and Simon received criticism for what’s now called cultural appropriation and for violating sanctions against apartheid-era South Africa. Now its influence is widespread enough that it can be hard to perceive these decades later. - The...
Founder Martin Ludlow, a former City Councilman, hoped that his star-studded multi-day event could ultimately become a peer to the great jazz fests in New Orleans and Montreal. Instead it came out looking more like Fyre Festival, and some say Ludlow was very much the wrong person to organize it. - Los Angeles Times...
The Swedish maestro, who was hospitalized in May after partially collapsing and being taken from the stage during a San Francisco Symphony concert, has now withdrawn from his September appearances at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. He recently cancelled October dates in London and Tokyo as well. - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
In a new paper in Nature Machine Intelligence, three University of Cambridge researchers used AI to help better define the musical tics of 20 of the most celebrated jazz pianists of all time. - Scientific American
We live in a time when digital systems underpin everything from ticketing to surveillance and building access. Sidelining cybersecurity leaves museums vulnerable to attacks that could threaten both their finances and their collections. - The Conversation
The ICA San Diego (not to be confused with the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego) is reducing its staff from 19 to 11, including almost all senior management and public-facing workers. The head curator position was eliminated last month. - The San Diego Union-Tribune
The report, published on 14 August, identifies 40 nationally protected cultural properties in the seven departments hardest hit by the disaster that suffered some degree of damage, 22 of which were severely impacted. Of the remaining properties, 13 suffered moderate damage and five were only lightly affected. - The Art Newspaper
Horticultural staff are reporting that some foliage is scorched and many flowers are wilting, though they’ve been able to mitigate the weather's worst effects by careful watering and moving some plants around. Chief gardeners also say they may have to change some of the seasonal scheduling and choice of plantings. - ARTnews
Taking advantage of an annual religious celebration that brings tens of thousands to Messina’s streets, thieves made off with three of five panels that constitute the Polyptych of San Gregorio as well as a small double-sided devotional painting. - The New York Times
The preservationist group trying to stop President Trump’s White House ballroom urged the Supreme Court to deny the administration’s emergency request to allow construction, calling it “astonishing” on Tuesday. - The Hill
Pennsylvania and Florida legislators argue, for example, that an informed citizenry needs to be able to read historical documents, which are often written in cursive script. - Washington Post
“Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, during a Wednesday press conference, threatened to take over public school districts that don’t remove ‘obscene books’ from their library shelves.” - San Antonio Current
“’Push’ by Sapphire got cut across the state Wednesday after the Davis, Granite and Washington County school districts removed it, bringing the total number of books banned from public schools to 37.” Current Utah law holds that if three county school districts ban a book, the title is then barred statewide. - The Salt Lake...
In May 2025, ten people affiliated with Eksmo, Russia’s publishing behemoth, were detained in Moscow. Three of them, Pavel Ivanov, Dmitry Protopopov and Artyom Vakhlyaev, were charged with ‘organising activities of an extremist organisation’. Their crime was distributing LGBT-themed books. - London Review of Books
A Harvard faculty member who requested anonymity so that he could speak openly told me he worried that the elimination of the center could be seen as part of a broader trend of “real boosterism” of AI on campus—one that students feel acutely. - The Atlantic
Melancholy, an affinity with oblivion without a concrete cause, suffuses the Hungarian fiction translated for foreign audiences over the past 30 years, from the tortured tales of Sándor Márai to the taut novels of Magda Szabó. - The Guardian
Comedy writer Brice Vilanch and psychologist Steven Pinker are among those who’ve been contacted by someone claiming to be NPR host Gross herself or co-host Tonya Mosley (not a producer) offering an interview on Fresh Air, displaying deep knowledge of the target’s work, then asking for “contributions.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
“Overall, the economic impact of losing these jobs would be $1.26 billion in wages, $2.78 billion in economic value, $4.06 billion in total business output and $547 million in tax revenue, including $78.6 million in local taxes — most of which (63%) comes from property taxes.” - TheWrap
“Disney has a far stronger case against (Trump-appointed FCC chairman Brendan) Carr than Carr has against Disney,” a former FCC chief of staff said. “I doubt any court would uphold Carr's failure to renew Disney's license.” Alas, it’s not quite that simple. - TheWrap (Yahoo!)
“Los Angeles and California continue to struggle to keep movies, television series and even game shows from fleeing elsewhere. … The story of how L.A. steadily lost much of its homegrown industry to other locales is a tale of hubris, escalating costs, political inaction and fierce competition (from other locales).” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
Consider the growing slate of satires about influencers, the numerous coming-of-age films that have tapped into teenage angst amid the rise of social media, and the fact that entire movies have been made that take place exclusively on computer screens. - The Atlantic
“Today, our industry has the wind at its back. Studio partners are creating and distributing extraordinary films. Audiences across generations are responding with enthusiasm. But none of that can be taken for granted. Global exhibition believes in a bold future for this industry, but reaching our full potential requires working together.“ - The Hollywood...
The ways that the company’s skill level, repertoire, national and international reputation, budget, and especially school (a ten-fold increase in enrollment) have grown during Sklute’s 20 years as artistic director are extraordinary. - The Utah Review
Gia Kourlas on champion Caitlin Simmers: “Her undulating torso, her sensitivity to the fluctuations of an unsteady surface and her speed are all part of her power. ... Her clarity comes from her deep center of gravity, which allows her to slice up and down waves like a silken ribbon.” - The New York...
“Pole dance is a big part of the festival this year, popping up in sweaty, dazzling shows right across the Fringe. Not only do these acts show off amazing physical feats, they also tell stories that range from one woman’s HIV diagnosis, to the relationship between a neurodivergent mother and son.” - The Guardian
The entire field is facing heightened levels of uncertainty, and we have not been spared. Dance/USA needs to reimagine and rebuild its business model. Our existing organizational strategy and structure are not sustainable. I took this job knowing that that was the case. - Dance Magazine
“Audiences at the Bolshoi Theatre could find themselves without 11 of its most well-known productions – among them The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Giselle, Spartacus and Ivan the Terrible – after a dispute over the rights to Yuri Grigorovich‘s choreographic legacy escalated into a criminal fraud investigation.” - Gramilano
That’s because the Firewerks are dancing in the Moda Center, the home of the new WNBA team the Portland Fire. "I don’t think any of us really knew what we were walking into. We were just excited about this new dance opportunity in Portland,” says one Firewerk. - Oregon ArtsWatch
Billed as a “five night only” event, “Hadestown: The Musical” has extended its run in theaters for four weeks, thanks to popular demand. In the process, the filmed stage show has become an indie blockbuster, grossing $20.7 million. - Indiewire
For instance, Sam Eley gives the background on his Basil Crumbwick, whose papier-mâché head makes him seven feet tall, while Katie Pritchard recounts the origin story of her Sir Elton Scone, who hosts a Great British Bake Off-style show which uses no ovens. - The Guardian
“They use (comic strip-style) still frames with embedded captions of jokes, sometimes across multiple images that include longer setups and punchlines — in social media parlance, a carousel.” - The New York Times
Broadway‘s Ragtime went out on a huge note Sunday, breaking its own box office record to become the highest grossing Broadway show in the history of Lincoln Center Theater. - Deadline
“Nate Bargatze’s ‘Big Dumb Eyes’ tour, which began on April 6, 2025, crossed the 2 million mark after just 16 months and 10 days — and across only 128 venues.” As of last Saturday, the total was sold approximately 2,016,254 tickets. - Variety
After decades, the last US national tour of the Broadway production has ended, meaning that regional companies can get the rights to produce the show themselves and bring in that sweet. sweet, desperately needed box office revenue. And those companies have wasted no time getting started. - The New York Times
One of the opera world’s most admired lyric sopranos of the 1970s and ‘80s, she was known for her acting skill as well as her voice, especially in such roles as Violetta in La Traviata, Gilda in Rigoletto, and Tatiana in Eugene Onegin. - Moto Perpetuo
Rydell’s most-honored film was nominated for 10 Academy Awards and won three (including for Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn), though he lost to Warren Beatty for Reds. Among his other titles were The Cowboys (with John Wayne), Cinderella Liberty, The Rose (with Bette Midler), and The River (with Mel Gibson and Sissy Spacek). -...
She broke into television and theatre in the 1950s, working at (among others) both the London and Bristol Old Vics as well as in the West End. Her film career took off in the 1980s, and she appeared a number of times with each of her daughters, Emma and Sophie Thompson. - The Guardian
First responders in Greenville, SC pronounced her dead at the scene after a 911 call by a friend who found her in cardiac arrest. An overdose is the suspected cause of death. - People
The man who created Maus has some worries: “The media are struggling with how to convey the stakes in this post-truth era, he explains, the courts are packed with Trump appointees, democratic norms have been destroyed, and there is no effective opposition.” - The Guardian (UK)
Perry was “a depth-defying scuba diver and underwater stuntwoman whose reverence for the oceanic world was deepened by tripping out on LSD in a research study that included Cary Grant, Jack Nicholson and Dennis Hopper.” - The New York Times
The Vice President of Marketing & Audience Development is a key member of the senior leadership team responsible for executing statewide strategies and organizational goals.
Theater, dance, and live music artists: how is generative AI affecting your work, income, and creative practices? SMU DataArts and artist Annie Dorsen want your voice in the first survey of its kind. Anonymous, open to all roles and career stages, through Sept 8, 2026. Take it here
The Department of Theatre and Dance at UC San Diego http://theatre.ucsd.edu invites theatre artists to apply for a tenured faculty position within the Ladder Rank
New York Theatre Ballet seeks an Executive Director to lead the organization’s strategic direction, drive fundraising and revenue growth, and oversee operational and artistic functions.
Wow, OK, way to be just obviously evil. “The printed book is destroyed in the process. The logo of the Amazon team that works at this warehouse, called VGT3, is a dinosaur, brandishing its teeth and with a book in its hands." - 404 Media
A Nick Jonas concert “reminded me of an obscure phrase coined by a 19th-century sociologist – Émile Durkheim’s ‘collective effervescence.’ … Individuals who are normally preoccupied with their personal concerns get swept up into a kind of electric, communal intensity.” - The Guardian (UK)
Soprano Asmik Gregorian: “This feels very strange and empty. … It was planned by Markus Hinterhäuser, and we are all here because of him. It feels a bit like a boat without a captain.” - The New York Times
According to the resolution approved by the Trump-allied board, the inscription underneath the institution’s name would read: “Restored and Renovated by President Donald J. Trump.” - The New York Times
On Instagram, the composer wrote, "Maybe the show’s closing just might be remembered as the moment that caused everyone involved with Broadway to come to their senses and address the unsustainable cost of producing and running any new show now.” - Variety
No, not by watching Tár. “The very act of conducting—waving a wand to summon ravishing or ethereal or earsplitting sounds—can look like either inexplicable magic or embarrassing nonsense, a kind of tuxedoed air guitar.” - The Atlantic
“I want to see the eyes of the actors, I want to get closer to the emotion - which is what theatre can’t give you. It’s a different thing,” says the Hadestown pro-shot director. - NPR
And then … it was canceled just before the 16-day fest was set to begin. "By Friday, the LA Jazz Fest website had been scrubbed, with only a cryptic message that said, ‘August 22-23. Updated event info coming soon.’” - Variety
Justin Davidson on New York’s Perelman Arts Center and The Shed: “Now the boldest experimenters can take advantage of walls that move at the touch of a button, precision lifts, rooms that shrink and expand, projected images (on) moving surfaces. … Yet the revolution, now that it’s here, feels anticlimactic and overpriced.” - Curbed...
“When a lot of people make a percentage off the earnings of one famous individual, the capacity for denial is vast” — and now there’s a huge, “well-oiled anti-accountability machine” that cranks up as well. - The New York Times
For instance, in one video clip that surfaced after Geno Segers was announced as Hades, "Segers likens transgender people to people pretending they are service animals in hopes of receiving discounts on airfare.” - The New York Times
