This Week’s AJ Highlights

Good morning. Lots of consequential stories this week. One I find particularly intriguing is this story from Harvard Business Review. It takes on the notion of success in the digital age being defined by the ability to scale. Because creating copies of digital products costs practically nothing, the ability to sign up hundreds of millions of users/subscribers/viewers costs very little. Many of our ideas about scaling rest on foundational economic ideas of Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations, such as the division of labor and specialization. Smith opens with a description of a pin factory in France, where he argues that the division of labor has enabled unprecedented efficiency and increased production with scale. But in the digital age, efficiency and increased production have different meanings. So why is being able to scale still foundational to our definition of success?

Here are more highlights from this week:

1. Berlin Announces Major Cuts to Its (Substantial) Arts Funding Budget “Overall, Berlin is slashing its cultural funding budget by around €120 million ($127 million), or about 12%. For weeks now, theatres and other organizations have warned of insolvency, operational restrictions, and job losses.” – DPA (Yahoo!)​
2. African Musicians Express Concerns Over AI’s Impact on Music Ownership “Musicians from Africa are voicing worries about the use of artificial intelligence in music creation, particularly regarding ownership rights and cultural appropriation. They question how original creators will be credited when AI utilizes music from countries like Ghana or Nigeria.” – BBC​
3. Restoration of Rembrandt’s “Night Watchman” Begins in Public
   “Restorers at the Rijksmuseum are working in a specially designed glass chamber in full view of the public, combining transparency with cultural preservation.” – ARTnews​
4. Shen Yun Investigated Over Alleged Labor Violations Involving Underage Performers “New York State is investigating Shen Yun for allegedly using underage student performers in extensive work schedules with minimal pay, raising concerns about labor rights and exploitation within the arts industry.” – The New York Times​
5. Notre-Dame Restoration Has a $148 Million Surplus “Unexpected fundraising success for Notre-Dame’s restoration reveals surplus funds, raising questions about the allocation of excess resources in large-scale cultural preservation projects.” – France24​

Jump down to see all the stories we collected this week.

Doug