Today's Stories

A Deeply Skeptical Austria Gets A New ‘Sound Of Music’ Museum

“For decades, many residents  didn’t even know about the blockbuster musical that put their city on the map for global audiences. Those who did often dismissed it as kitsch.” - The New York Times

California’s Governor Signs Into Law A Postproduction Tax Credit To Help Stem The Hollywood Tide

The Editors Guild wanted a much larger credit, but hey, the editors still "see the more modest allocation as a positive first step.” - Variety

Ireland Is Staying Out Of Eurovision Again To Protest Israel’s Participation

The boycott is because of “the ‘appalling’ ongoing killing in Gaza, the national broadcaster has said.” - The Guardian (UK)

A New California Law Means That The Cranachs At The Norton Simon Museum Are Once Again Lawsuit Material

“The paintings were among many looted from Goudstikker by the Nazi Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering in 1940 and later recovered by Allied forces who returned them to Dutch officials.” - The New York Times

Are Efforts To Silence Filmmakers And Musicians Only, Actually, Marketing Their Work?

For instance: “Macklemore, who hasn’t had a major hit since the 2010s, is relevant again. He has the support of artists, fans and thousands more outraged by his dismissal.” Then there’s NAZA. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)

The ‘Shaun The Sheep’ Creators Are Somehow Not Worried About AI

“Students at Aardman's Academy are also being taught to embrace imperfection in the painstaking art of stop-motion, where every blink, smile and movement is created by hand.” - BBC

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How One Woman Helped Secure The Future For Kansas City’s Struggling Lyric Opera

“It was Sandler ... who both came up with the idea that they could create an income source by building opera sets and renting them out to other companies, and also Sandler who sold that idea,” including to Missouri’s Republican governor. - Kansas City Stack

Prolific Theatre And Film Director Anthony Page Has Died At 90

He directed more than 35 titles for film and TV, including The Lady Vanishes and Middlemarch, but had even greater impact in theatre: he staged numerous classics in London and New York, notably by Beckett and Albee, and won a Tony for directing Janet McTeer in Ibsen's A Doll’s House. - Playbill

NPR Has An Aggressive Plan For Its Digital Future

Katherine Maher said the organization is fundamentally reimagining its digital presence, looking for more ways to capitalize on its network of 243 newsrooms and member stations, and expanding its programming portfolio beyond what audiences traditionally associate with NPR. - Inside Radio

Texas Ballet Theater Finds Its New Executive Director In Pittsburgh

Nicholas Dragga, currently executive director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, will take the same job at the Fort Worth-based company as of January 1. He succeeds Vanessa Logan, who stepped down in June 2025 to become managing director of Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut. - Fort Worth Report

As Studies Suggest Cognitive Decline With AI Use, Universities Are In A Bind

As A.I. leaders warn about the dangers of their own technology, the dissonance between optimism of university leaders and the fears of many students and professors may increase. Professors and students are often in a bind about what they should do: Use more A.I. to stay relevant, or dial back to preserve learning and thinking? -...

Rebellion Against Flock Camera Surveillance Has Become a Rallying Cry

In at least 36 states, opponents of the technology have taken matters into their own hands, destroying or impairing ALPRs rather than wait for local governments to step in. - The Conversation

Interesting: Fashion Week Suggests A Cohesive Theme For Our Times

Rarely does such a cohesive, poignant theme emerge from any given New York Fashion Week. But this September, a surprising number of designers showed work that seemed to yearn for a breath of fresh air, for the obliviating embrace of the wilderness and the natural world. - Washington Post

Lynchpin Of “Oh, Mary!” National Tour Takes Medical Leave

J. Harrison Ghee, who won a Tony in 2023 for playing Jerry/Daphne in Some Like It Hot, was cast as Mary’s Husband for the first part of the tour, then Mary herself as of January. Ghee, who lives with kidney disease, has been advised not to perform until at least November 1. - TheaterMania

Viewer Ratings For “60 Minutes” Season Premiere Down 21 Percent

Viewership for the season premiere of “60 Minutes” fell roughly 21 percent from a year ago, according to Nielsen, making it the lowest-rated premiere of the long-running show in recent memory. - The New York Times

Kennicott: The Cultural Significance Of the Kennedy Center

Although the president caricatured it as an elite institution, and slandered it as anti-American and a danger to youth, the Kennedy Center was perhaps the most authentically populist major arts center in the country. - Washington Post

Microsoft Exec Called AI Scraping Of Online News The “Largest Theft Of Labor In Human History”

Microsoft Director of Applied Science Brent Hecht repeatedly warned in documents that scraping news for AI training was “an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions,” calling it perhaps the “largest theft of labor in human history,” news orgs said. - Ars Technica

“The Sistine Chapel Of The New Deal” Might Be Saved Thanks To A Republican Congressman

“The sponsor of the bill to save it is Representative Scott Perry, Republican of Pennsylvania and former chairman of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, whose mission statement expressing support for ‘limited government’ is the very antithesis of the social welfare programs celebrated in the Cohen building’s artworks.” - The New Republic

Madrid Gets A New Stellar Museum

The real game-changer is a landmark donation of over 180 works worth more than €16 million ($18.5 million) from the Thyssen-Bornemisza family, plus a loan of 180 more, worth €10 million ($11.5 million). - Artnet

David Ellison Is Losing The Hollywood Crowd

All the right-wing glad-handing that’s been happening, especially at CBS, has created optics that shroud the entire operation. This is a strategic failure that Hollywood moguls throughout history worked to avoid. - Los Angeles Times

By Topic

Are Efforts To Silence Filmmakers And Musicians Only, Actually, Marketing Their Work?

For instance: “Macklemore, who hasn’t had a major hit since the 2010s, is relevant again. He has the support of artists, fans and thousands more outraged by his dismissal.” Then there’s NAZA. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)

As Studies Suggest Cognitive Decline With AI Use, Universities Are In A Bind

As A.I. leaders warn about the dangers of their own technology, the dissonance between optimism of university leaders and the fears of many students and professors may increase. Professors and students are often in a bind about what they should do: Use more A.I. to stay relevant, or dial back to preserve learning and thinking? - The New York...

Rebellion Against Flock Camera Surveillance Has Become a Rallying Cry

In at least 36 states, opponents of the technology have taken matters into their own hands, destroying or impairing ALPRs rather than wait for local governments to step in. - The Conversation

Doomsday Days: The Growing Awareness Of AI Dangers

Jacob Coxon, the engineer who recently resigned from Anthropic to protest its safety policies, says A.I. could “kill us all by the end of the decade.” But if A.I. is so outrageously dangerous, why should we accept modest proposals to “pace” its development? Why not call in the Turing cops, and pull the plug? - The New Yorker

How Threats Of A Dismal Future Are Shaping Gen Z

Their perception is that jobs that feel meaningful are being slashed by government or stolen by AI. As a result, she reported, members of Gen Z may just need to find meaning in their hobbies and interests outside of work and pursue jobs that allow them to fully check out at the end of the day. - 3 Quarks...

Why Italianness Is A State Of Mind

Descendants of Italian migrants generally express an intense pride in their heritage, and many continue to live by its sociocultural tenets in spite of decades, or more, of absence. It is as if time away from Italy, and geographical distance, only amplify a yearning for it. - Aeon

A Deeply Skeptical Austria Gets A New ‘Sound Of Music’ Museum

“For decades, many residents  didn’t even know about the blockbuster musical that put their city on the map for global audiences. Those who did often dismissed it as kitsch.” - The New York Times

Kennicott: The Cultural Significance Of the Kennedy Center

Although the president caricatured it as an elite institution, and slandered it as anti-American and a danger to youth, the Kennedy Center was perhaps the most authentically populist major arts center in the country. - Washington Post

Study: LLMs Respond Differently To Harmful Prompts When AI Watermarking Is Present

New research shows that SynthID-Text can change not just word selection but also the tools a model invokes and the chances it will adhere to or disregard safety guardrails it has been trained to follow. - Ars Technica

Plaintiffs In Kennedy Center Case Ask Judge To Consider Putting It In Receivership Or Replacing Board

A joint statement from the plaintiffs said, “If the current leadership of the Kennedy Center is unwilling or unable to exercise its fiduciary duty to protect the historic building and the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the court should consider appointing a receiver or replacing that leadership.” -...

Judge Orders Trump Not To Tear Down Kennedy Center Without 30 Days’ Notice

“A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it as President Donald Trump has threatened.” - AP

Photogs Get Picture Of Trump Studying Headlines About Demolishing Kenned Center

Late Wednesday night, photojournalists captured images through the windows of Air Force One that showed President Trump reviewing a large poster board with what looked like a rendering of a construction site beneath three very visible words: “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.” - The New York Times

Ireland Is Staying Out Of Eurovision Again To Protest Israel’s Participation

The boycott is because of “the ‘appalling’ ongoing killing in Gaza, the national broadcaster has said.” - The Guardian (UK)

How One Woman Helped Secure The Future For Kansas City’s Struggling Lyric Opera

“It was Sandler ... who both came up with the idea that they could create an income source by building opera sets and renting them out to other companies, and also Sandler who sold that idea,” including to Missouri’s Republican governor. - Kansas City Stack

Ravinia Festival Starts On A Second Renovation Project

This summer the Chicago Symphony’s summer home re-opened its concert pavilion after a $70 million revamp. Next on the to-do list, with work starting in October, is a $38 million makeover of the Martin Theatre, the last remaining structure from when Ravinia’s park-like grounds first opened in 1904. - WBEZ (Chicago)

Pittsburgh Symphony’s Manfred Honeck Gets Big Jobs In London And San Francisco

The 68-year-old (as of Thursday) Austrian will become Principal Conductor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra in 2028, succeeding Santtu-Matias Rouvali.  That same season he starts as the San Francisco Symphony’s Festival Director, a new title in which he’ll program and conduct a three-week festival for each of the next five seasons. - Moto Perpetuo

Strike Is Over: San Francisco Opera And Its Orchestra Reach Deal On Contract

“San Francisco Opera management and its orchestra musicians have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, ending a strike that began nearly a week ago and forced the cancellation of multiple performances at the start of the company's 2026-27 season.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

London Philharmonic Survey: Interest In Orchestral Music Is Up, Particularly Among Young People

The RPO findings show that there is a rising interest among young people – the nationally representative poll of 2,000 adults revealing that 89 per cent of adults would be interested in attending a concert or performance featuring classical or orchestral music. This figure is up from 79 per cent in 2018. - Gramophone

A New California Law Means That The Cranachs At The Norton Simon Museum Are Once Again Lawsuit Material

“The paintings were among many looted from Goudstikker by the Nazi Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering in 1940 and later recovered by Allied forces who returned them to Dutch officials.” - The New York Times

Interesting: Fashion Week Suggests A Cohesive Theme For Our Times

Rarely does such a cohesive, poignant theme emerge from any given New York Fashion Week. But this September, a surprising number of designers showed work that seemed to yearn for a breath of fresh air, for the obliviating embrace of the wilderness and the natural world. - Washington Post

“The Sistine Chapel Of The New Deal” Might Be Saved Thanks To A Republican Congressman

“The sponsor of the bill to save it is Representative Scott Perry, Republican of Pennsylvania and former chairman of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, whose mission statement expressing support for ‘limited government’ is the very antithesis of the social welfare programs celebrated in the Cohen building’s artworks.” - The New Republic

Madrid Gets A New Stellar Museum

The real game-changer is a landmark donation of over 180 works worth more than €16 million ($18.5 million) from the Thyssen-Bornemisza family, plus a loan of 180 more, worth €10 million ($11.5 million). - Artnet

AI Companies Are Destroying Books. What Does That Mean For Art?

AI companies, after losing copyright lawsuits over using pirated books found in digital formats, found a way forward, since the law doesn’t prohibit them from buying physical books and destroying them. In another ironic twist, they are looking only for books printed before 2022, because they want books that definitely have not been produced...

Madrid’s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum To Add A Second Location

Because of overcrowding in the main building’s galleries, the museum will acquire an additional space a few blocks away: the Ice and Automobile Palace, which has been vacant since 2007 and will undergo a €70 million ($81 million) renovation.  When it opens, the new branch will display 21st-century works. - ARTnews

PEN America Appoints New Leader After Internal Battles Of This Past Summer

“(The literature-and-human-rights advocacy group) has named Phil Klay as its new president. … Klay's appointment comes after novelist Dinaw Mengestu resigned from his post as president in July following the organization’s report on cultural boycotts and the ‘rising isolation and exclusion’ of Israeli and Jewish writers.” - Publishers Weekly

Singapore Is Paying Its People To Read Books

“Under the scheme, readers accrue points that can be redeemed for a few cents. People will have to log 50 daily reading sessions (of 15 minutes or more) on a government website to earn S$1 (80 cents US). ... One reading session is allowed daily.” - The Guardian

Barnes & Noble Buys Another Distressed Indie Bookseller

Joseph-Beth Booksellers, which has two locations in metro Cincinnati, is the third independent retail business that B&N has acquired in three years. The chain bought Denver’s Tattered Cover in 2024 and the Bay Area's Books Inc. last year; both companies had filed for bankruptcy. - Publishers Weekly

Bookstores Warn Of Threats To Publishers Of Left-Wing Literature

The criminalization of left-wing literature and those who publish or distribute it, the booksellers said, should also concern mainstream bookstores, which should be able to carry “a broad range of viewpoints without fear of government scrutiny or interference. - Publishers Weekly

Writers Are Going To Extreme Lengths To Prove Their Work Is Human

As AI-generated writing floods the internet, more people are trying to detect which creators are using such tools to spin up copy. That means writers penning all their own work—and people who acknowledge using chatbots for help—are trying to master something they never worried about before: how to sound human. - The Wall Street...

Alabama Moves To Force Its Public Libraries To Keep Books About Trans Issues Away From Young People

“Under the amended administrative code, books that discuss gender-transition procedures or ‘gender ideology,’ or that ‘promote’ the existence of more than two biological genders, must be removed from youth sections and relocated to sections for adults.” Noncompliant libraries will lose their state funding. - The Advocate

California’s Governor Signs Into Law A Postproduction Tax Credit To Help Stem The Hollywood Tide

The Editors Guild wanted a much larger credit, but hey, the editors still "see the more modest allocation as a positive first step.” - Variety

The ‘Shaun The Sheep’ Creators Are Somehow Not Worried About AI

“Students at Aardman's Academy are also being taught to embrace imperfection in the painstaking art of stop-motion, where every blink, smile and movement is created by hand.” - BBC

NPR Has An Aggressive Plan For Its Digital Future

Katherine Maher said the organization is fundamentally reimagining its digital presence, looking for more ways to capitalize on its network of 243 newsrooms and member stations, and expanding its programming portfolio beyond what audiences traditionally associate with NPR. - Inside Radio

Viewer Ratings For “60 Minutes” Season Premiere Down 21 Percent

Viewership for the season premiere of “60 Minutes” fell roughly 21 percent from a year ago, according to Nielsen, making it the lowest-rated premiere of the long-running show in recent memory. - The New York Times

Microsoft Exec Called AI Scraping Of Online News The “Largest Theft Of Labor In Human History”

Microsoft Director of Applied Science Brent Hecht repeatedly warned in documents that scraping news for AI training was “an astonishing theft of unprecedented proportions,” calling it perhaps the “largest theft of labor in human history,” news orgs said. - Ars Technica

David Ellison Is Losing The Hollywood Crowd

All the right-wing glad-handing that’s been happening, especially at CBS, has created optics that shroud the entire operation. This is a strategic failure that Hollywood moguls throughout history worked to avoid. - Los Angeles Times

Texas Ballet Theater Finds Its New Executive Director In Pittsburgh

Nicholas Dragga, currently executive director of Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, will take the same job at the Fort Worth-based company as of January 1. He succeeds Vanessa Logan, who stepped down in June 2025 to become managing director of Goodspeed Musicals in Connecticut. - Fort Worth Report

How Marcello Angelini Remade Tulsa Ballet

“During Angelini’s (31-year) tenure as artistic director, Tulsa Ballet has grown from a well-regarded regional troupe — best known for its efforts to preserve the Ballet Russe traditions championed by its founders, Roman Jasinski and Moscelyne Larkin — into a versatile dance company that many critics consider among the best in the United States.”...

New York’s Museum Of Modern Art Has Just Made Itself A Hotbed Of Dance

For four weeks, MoMA is turning its large second-floor atrium over to choreographer Sarah Michelson, who has made a piece titled “nowhere.” “At the forefront of ‘nowhere’”, writes Gia Kourlas, “is a question that only seems simple: What is a dance?” - The New York Times

Making Dance In Kyiv Between Bombing Runs

The Ratmanskys’ arrival coincided with one of the worst periods of the war, a time of constant attacks on the capital that sent them and others scurrying to bomb shelters multiple times a day. “It is difficult in every sense,” Tatiana said, “mental, physical.” - The New York Times

The Problem With Philadelphia Ballet’s New Home

Architecture critic Inga Saffron observes that, if the company wants to be welcoming to the community and engage potential new fans, their new headquarters does exactly the wrong thing. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

The Martha Graham Company Gets Its Permanent Home

“Physical bodies and physical space. As an art form, dance requires little else, but in New York, the latter is especially hard to come by — even for the oldest dance troupe in the country.” No longer. - The New York Times

Lynchpin Of “Oh, Mary!” National Tour Takes Medical Leave

J. Harrison Ghee, who won a Tony in 2023 for playing Jerry/Daphne in Some Like It Hot, was cast as Mary’s Husband for the first part of the tour, then Mary herself as of January. Ghee, who lives with kidney disease, has been advised not to perform until at least November 1. - TheaterMania

Some Surprises In This Season’s List Of Most-Produced Plays And Playwrights

There’s a new play atop the list: Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor Is the Villain, followed by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's Purpose and Bess Wohl’s Pulitzer-winning Liberation. Among playwrights, once-perennial leader Lauren Gunderson is down to fourth place; the late August Wilson is number one, followed by Belflower and Jacobs-Jenkins. - American Theatre

Ruben Santiago-Hudson On His Long, Lively Relationship With August Wilson

“August Wilson and I were very close, but also we fell out a lot. Every time he and I had a debate, the word from the cast was always ‘They’re going to fire you.’ And instead of firing me, he would write another role for me.” - The New York Times

Toronto Theatre Soulpepper To Part Ways With Its Executive Director

Arthurs’s departure is the latest in a series of big shakeups in recent months at the upper echelons of Toronto’s major arts institutions, including Hot Docs, the Art Gallery of Ontario and Factory Theatre. - Toronto Star

Inside How Theatres Plan Their Seasons

Whatever their circumstances, at the end of the day, all theaters have to program a season that affirms their mission. Each has to do it while working within its limitations—or joining forces with others to do something greater. - Washington City Paper

North American Tour Of “The Lion King” Will Close While Julie Taymor Retools It

The current touring production, which dates from 2002, will close on August 15 of next year, allowing director Taymor and the rest of the creative team to reimagine and update elements of the staging. - Playbill

Prolific Theatre And Film Director Anthony Page Has Died At 90

He directed more than 35 titles for film and TV, including The Lady Vanishes and Middlemarch, but had even greater impact in theatre: he staged numerous classics in London and New York, notably by Beckett and Albee, and won a Tony for directing Janet McTeer in Ibsen's A Doll’s House. - Playbill

“Spring Awakening” Composer Duncan Sheik Is Dead At 56

“(His) alt-pop hit ‘Barely Breathing’ became a Generation X touchstone, but (he) squirmed under the label of MTV heartthrob and eventually decamped to Broadway, winning two Tonys for composing the smash musical.” - The New York Times

Peter Max, Whose Day-Glo Art Epitomized The ‘60s, Has Died At 88

“Through savvy marketing, his … color-saturated, almost hallucinatory depictions of stars, sun rays and people in profile showed up on walls and coffee mugs, on clothing, clocks, stationery, and even airplanes and cruise ships. In some ways, Mr. Max created the graphic equivalent of the rock-and-roll revolution in music.” - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)

Canadian Jazz Icon Oliver Jones, 91

The Little Burgundy legend received numerous honours in his illustrious career. Among his accolades are numerous Juno and Félix awards. Jones was also appointed an officer of the Order of Canada in 1993 and awarded the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in 2005. - Montreal Gazette

Author Annie Dillard Is Dead At 81

“With the publication of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek in 1974, Ms. Dillard, just 28, was recognized as a major new voice in American letters. … In the years to come, she would publish essays, meditations on religion, poems, a theory of literature, two novels, journalism, (and) a best-selling autobiography.” - The New York Times

Once-Prominent French Artist Claude Lévêque To Stand Trial For Sexual Assault Of Minors

“More specifically, Lévêque is charged with sexual assault involving violence, coercion, threat, or surprise, as well as indecent assault on a minor under the age of 15 by a person in a position of authority. … The victims are listed as being between eight and 18 years old (at) the time.” - ARTnews

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“Spring Awakening” Composer Duncan Sheik Is Dead At 56

“(His) alt-pop hit ‘Barely Breathing’ became a Generation X touchstone, but (he) squirmed under the label of MTV heartthrob and eventually decamped to Broadway, winning two Tonys for composing the smash musical.” - The New York Times

Plaintiffs In Kennedy Center Case Ask Judge To Consider Putting It In Receivership Or Replacing Board

A joint statement from the plaintiffs said, “If the current leadership of the Kennedy Center is unwilling or unable to exercise its fiduciary duty to protect the historic building and the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the court should consider appointing a receiver or replacing that leadership.” -...

Judge Orders Trump Not To Tear Down Kennedy Center Without 30 Days’ Notice

“A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it as President Donald Trump has threatened.” - AP

Strike Is Over: San Francisco Opera And Its Orchestra Reach Deal On Contract

“San Francisco Opera management and its orchestra musicians have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, ending a strike that began nearly a week ago and forced the cancellation of multiple performances at the start of the company's 2026-27 season.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

Trump Says Kennedy Center Will Be “Ripped Down” If He Can’t Put His Name On It

“I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition. Because frankly, if we don't do that, it's going to close. It'll end up being ripped down,” he told reporters. He said the previous day that he won’t spend congressionally-designated money for the center's renovation unless the building bears his name. - ABC News

Peter Max, Whose Day-Glo Art Epitomized The ‘60s, Has Died At 88

“Through savvy marketing, his … color-saturated, almost hallucinatory depictions of stars, sun rays and people in profile showed up on walls and coffee mugs, on clothing, clocks, stationery, and even airplanes and cruise ships. In some ways, Mr. Max created the graphic equivalent of the rock-and-roll revolution in music.” - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)

Desecrating DC To Own The Libs

The Trump Arch is just the latest in a series of architectural and visual crimes committed on the capital city. - The Guardian (UK)

Opera Is In Trouble

Perhaps it’s time to ask WWTD: What would Toscanini do? - The New York Times

Trump’s Kennedy Center Appointees Say The Way To Avoid Bankruptcy And Closure Is To Put His Name On The Building

“Center officials say they could be unable to make payroll or pay routine maintenance contracts ‘within a matter of weeks’ and argue that publicly recognizing Trump could secure his help raising enough money to keep the institution afloat.” - Washington Post (Yahoo)

How, Exactly, Will AI Transform Capitalism?

We know AI is going to change everything, but how? “We face a choice: delay and obstruct AI adoption in the name of social justice, or embrace it in a radically altered form.” - The Guardian (UK)

As More And More Small Museums Get Hit By Thieves, Can France Keep Its Art At All Safe?

“Museum workers, the police and government officials are rattled. They worry about how to protect France’s cultural patrimony in an era of increasingly violent criminal gangs, some of whom have broken into museums in broad daylight.” - The New York Times

Learning, Or Re-Learning, The Story Told By The Bayeux Tapestry

What could justify moving the fragile tapestry to Britain this year? Probably politics: “Foot by foot, fiber by fiber, this is the material proof of England’s entwinement with the continent 21 miles from its coast.” - The New York Times

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