Kennedy Center layoffs arrived yesterday — hitting programming, development, marketing, and the office of the president, according to multiple people at the center (Washington Post). Meanwhile in Chicago, founding members of Congo Square Theatre — one of the city’s leading Black theater companies — say the board dissolved the organization without notifying anyone. They found out by searching a state database (WBEZ). In a wider view: British local government arts funding is now less than half of what it was in 2010 (WhatsOnStage).
The AI writing panic has developed its own irony. One op-ed argues that AI-generated text is eroding the basic trust between authors and readers, and the publishing industry isn’t prepared (The New York Times). A companion story finds that writers who learned English as a second language are being flagged as AI precisely because their grammar is too correct (New York Magazine). Too polished to be trusted as human.
Starting in 2029, the Oscars move to L.A. Live — the sports-and-entertainment complex adjacent to Crypto.com Arena, home of the Lakers — the same year the ceremony migrates to YouTube (The New York Times). Hollywood’s most storied night, now flanked by basketball and a Google platform.
All of our stories below.
