Today’s AJ highlights: The intersection of neuroscience and artistry is becoming increasingly literal. While we have long used the shorthand of “rewiring” to describe neuroplasticity, an essay in Aeon argues that this metaphor may be a misleading oversimplification that distorts our actual grasp of science. This dawning recognition about the limits of generative models is also fueling a workforce anxiety; the Christian Science Monitor reports that commercial artists and studio musicians increasingly fear being replaced by lab-grown creative products.
The Mellon Foundation, now the nation’s richest humanities funder, is facing an analytical reckoning over whether its outsized influence is the last best hope for American arts or a force that is inadvertently killing them by centralizing control. The National Gallery in London announces staff-wide buyouts to plug an £8.2 million deficit, while the BBC prepares to cut a tenth of its operating costs over the next three years.
In Minneapolis, the theater community is moving performances to clandestine locations to ensure the curtain rises despite the fear and violence in the streets. A similar spirit of subversion is evident at the New York City Ballet, where principal Taylor Stanley bypassed management to secure permission from the choreographer to become the first male dancer to play the evil fairy Carabosse in Sleeping Beauty.
All our stories are below.
