Today’s highlights: The big news is Disney’s embrace of AI: in a major move with enormous implications for content creation, Disney Will License Its Characters To OpenAI’s Video Platform And Invest $1 Billion In the Company (The Wall Street Journal (MSN)). This comes as the traditional film business faces its own potential extinction event, analyzing How Warner Bros. Sale To Netflix Could Change Movies and portend “the end of mainstream moviegoing” (The New Yorker).
The political assault on public and established cultural institutions is intensifying. Following funding cuts, an escalating campaign sees Republicans call to Cancel NPR, PBS Station Licenses (Ars Technica). The Washington D.C. arts scene also continues to grapple with the spectacle surrounding The Trumped Up Kennedy Honors (The New Yorker).
Finally, we recognize two pivotal figures in performance: The arts world is mourning the tragic death of acclaimed Baritone Jubilant Sykes, Stabbed and Killed (The New York Times), while acting legend Judi Dench On The State Of Her Memory And Her Eyesight offers a candid look at the challenges of macular degeneration and her unique ability to remember Shakespeare’s work (The Guardian).
All these stories and more, below.
