AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Trump Issues Executive Order Blocking All Funding For NPR And PBS
“The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies ‘to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS’ and further requires that that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations.” This is funding already approved by the U.S. Congress. – AP
- “Immature”: San Francisco Symphony Management Publicly Slams Musicians Over Contract Negotiations
Just days after musicians leafleted the audience at Michael Tilson Thomas’s last-ever concerts, management released an open letter pointing out that the orchestra is facing down years of large deficits and charging that musicians’ attitude during negotiations has been “counterproductive and even immature at times.” – San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
- UK Culture Secretary Rules Out Taxing Streaming Services To Fund British TV Dramas
“British Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has firmly rejected proposals for a levy on streaming platforms operating in the U.K., despite recent recommendations from a parliamentary committee suggesting such a measure could help support the country’s television drama sector.” – Variety
- A Brief History Of May Day In America
The roots of May Day, or International Workers Day, stretch back over a century to a turbulent and pivotal time in U.S. labor history — labor unions’ struggle for an eight-hour workday during the 1880s. Unions later recommended that workers be honored every May 1. – AP
- How AI Is Transforming Book Publishing
Due to the advent of online self-publishing platforms, what once required a team of professionals—editors, graphic designers, and formatting specialists—can now be done with just a few clicks. – The Future of Things
ISSUES
- Child Accidently Damages $50M Rothko
The work in question — Grey, Orange on Maroon, No. 8 (1960) by Mark Rothko — sustained several visible scratches in its unvarnished lower paint layer when a young child brushed against it during a visit to the Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen. – ABCNews
- Record $32 Million Klimt Portrait Sale Falls Through
After a restitution settlement that would have addressed glaring gaps in the work’s provenance failed to go ahead, the painting’s anonymous buyer pulled out of the sale last month. – Artnet
- Just What-All Happens To The Sistine Chapel During A Papal Conclave?
For s start, it’s closed to the public, since the Chapel has been the site for the voting since 1492 and the cardinals are sequestered while deliberating. A stove and chimney for the smoke are installed, the marble mosaic floor is covered, porta-potties are installed in the next room, etc. – Artnet
- Artist Behind “Blackest Black” And “Pinkest Pink” Disputes Loses Lawsuit Brought By Yves Klein’s Heirs
Klein’s son, along with the corporation which owns Klein’s trademarks and rights to the color International Klein Blue, sued artist Stuart Semple for infringement over Semple’s creation and marketing of an ultramarine pigment he calls “Easy Klein — Incredibly Kleinish Blue.” – Artnet
- Nude Models In Florence Complain Of Difficult Working Conditions
Nude models at the fine arts academy, which was founded in 1784, complained to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera about their “exhausting” work. They want more breaks and argue that their renewable annual contracts, which offer 500 hours over 11 months, do not compensate for the mental and physical suffering caused by their job. – ARTnews
MEDIA
- A Brief History Of May Day In America
The roots of May Day, or International Workers Day, stretch back over a century to a turbulent and pivotal time in U.S. labor history — labor unions’ struggle for an eight-hour workday during the 1880s. Unions later recommended that workers be honored every May 1. – AP
- Mellon Foundation Steps Up To Support Humanities Funding Stripped By Trump Admin
The new funding, which will support humanities councils in all 50 states and six jurisdictions, comes a month after the National Endowment for the Humanities abruptly cut off federal funding for the councils, as well as most of its existing grants. – The New York Times
- Mellon Foundation Provides “Emergency Funding” For State Humanities Councils Defunded By NEH
“The Mellon Foundation has announced $15 million in ‘emergency funding’ for state humanities councils across the country. The support comes after the Department of Government Efficiency abruptly cancelled some $65 million in (National Endowment for the Humanities) grants earlier this month.” – NPR
- All U.S. Holocaust Museum Board Members Appointed By Biden Have Been Fired
“The Trump administration has terminated members of the board that oversees the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum appointed by President Joe Biden — including Doug Emhoff, the husband of former vice president Kamala Harris.” – The Washington Post (MSN)
- Arts And The Trump Culture Wars
Because of the speed of the administration’s actions, arts and culture groups are scrambling to reassess the scope of their projects and find alternative streams of funding. – The Art Newspaper
MUSIC
- How AI Is Transforming Book Publishing
Due to the advent of online self-publishing platforms, what once required a team of professionals—editors, graphic designers, and formatting specialists—can now be done with just a few clicks. – The Future of Things
- Controversy Over Removing Books From City Library Roils Alabama Town
“There are two books they are leaving (in the teen section). There are some people not happy about that decision. They feel there is sexually explicit content in them. But our library board has reviewed that and didn’t feel that way.” – Alabama.com
- Wikipedia Says It Won’t Replace Human Volunteer Editors With AI
Instead, the Wikimedia Foundation says it will use AI to build new features that “remove technical barriers,” allowing editors, moderators, and patrollers tools that allow them to accomplish what they need to do, without worrying about how to “technically achieve it.” – TechCrunch
- What Does Working Class Literature Look Like?
Over the past two decades, the U.S. has seen a wave of books preoccupied with our working lives, many of them focused on white-collar office jobs. – The Atlantic
- How “Gatsby” Became A Literary Institution
By some estimates, the total worldwide sales of the novel are now upward of thirty million copies. How did “Gatsby” grow so great, and why has it endured so long? – The New Yorker
PEOPLE
- Trump Issues Executive Order Blocking All Funding For NPR And PBS
“The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies ‘to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS’ and further requires that that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations.” This is funding already approved by the U.S. Congress. – AP
- “Immature”: San Francisco Symphony Management Publicly Slams Musicians Over Contract Negotiations
Just days after musicians leafleted the audience at Michael Tilson Thomas’s last-ever concerts, management released an open letter pointing out that the orchestra is facing down years of large deficits and charging that musicians’ attitude during negotiations has been “counterproductive and even immature at times.” – San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
- UK Culture Secretary Rules Out Taxing Streaming Services To Fund British TV Dramas
“British Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has firmly rejected proposals for a levy on streaming platforms operating in the U.K., despite recent recommendations from a parliamentary committee suggesting such a measure could help support the country’s television drama sector.” – Variety
- A Brief History Of May Day In America
The roots of May Day, or International Workers Day, stretch back over a century to a turbulent and pivotal time in U.S. labor history — labor unions’ struggle for an eight-hour workday during the 1880s. Unions later recommended that workers be honored every May 1. – AP
- How AI Is Transforming Book Publishing
Due to the advent of online self-publishing platforms, what once required a team of professionals—editors, graphic designers, and formatting specialists—can now be done with just a few clicks. – The Future of Things
PEOPLE
- Trump Issues Executive Order Blocking All Funding For NPR And PBS
“The order instructs the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and other federal agencies ‘to cease Federal funding for NPR and PBS’ and further requires that that they work to root out indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations.” This is funding already approved by the U.S. Congress. – AP
- “Immature”: San Francisco Symphony Management Publicly Slams Musicians Over Contract Negotiations
Just days after musicians leafleted the audience at Michael Tilson Thomas’s last-ever concerts, management released an open letter pointing out that the orchestra is facing down years of large deficits and charging that musicians’ attitude during negotiations has been “counterproductive and even immature at times.” – San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
- UK Culture Secretary Rules Out Taxing Streaming Services To Fund British TV Dramas
“British Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has firmly rejected proposals for a levy on streaming platforms operating in the U.K., despite recent recommendations from a parliamentary committee suggesting such a measure could help support the country’s television drama sector.” – Variety
- A Brief History Of May Day In America
The roots of May Day, or International Workers Day, stretch back over a century to a turbulent and pivotal time in U.S. labor history — labor unions’ struggle for an eight-hour workday during the 1880s. Unions later recommended that workers be honored every May 1. – AP
- How AI Is Transforming Book Publishing
Due to the advent of online self-publishing platforms, what once required a team of professionals—editors, graphic designers, and formatting specialists—can now be done with just a few clicks. – The Future of Things
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Why Academic Freedom Is Essential To A Great Country
What exactly is academic freedom? It is the freedom to express and debate ideas without fear of censorship or reprisal. It is the freedom to explore. It is the freedom to let the imagination wander. It is the freedom to exchange knowledge with colleagues and others. – The Atlantic
- As AI Makes Some Things Very Easy, Will We Continue To Do Them?
We’re so used to trying things for ourselves that it seems bizarre to imagine us ever stopping. And yet, more and more, it’s becoming clear that artificial intelligence can relieve us of the burden of trying and trying again. – The New Yorker
- The Dark Sides Underpinning Today’s Entrepreneurial Zeitgeist
Gig work, as it turns out, didn’t begin with Uber but with Avon direct-sales reps. The wacky metaphysics of today’s tech billionaires have their analogues in the “mind-cures” of nineteenth-century spiritualists. And the celebration of “charismatic” executives has its origins in German social science, with disturbingly fascist undertones. – Commonweal
- Why Schrödinger’s Cat Has Become A Pop Cult Sensation
How did an obscure argument about a mathematically complex and rather baffling theory of physics become embedded in public consciousness as an extraordinary exploration of the human psyche? This essay tells the story. – Aeon
- AI Learned About Writing From Us. Will We Now Learn About Writing From AI?
Chatbots learned from human writing. Now the influence may run in the other direction. Some people have hypothesized that the proliferation of generative-AI tools such as ChatGPT will seep into human communication, that the terse language we use when prompting a chatbot may lead us to dispose of any niceties or writerly flourishes. – The Atlantic (MSN)
