Big Tech platforms didn’t just out-compete media organizations for the bulk of the advertising-revenue pie. They also cheated them out of much of what was left over, and got away with it. - The Atlantic

The Canadian Anti-Monopoly Project warns automated tools are reshaping what Canadians are charged for essential goods and services, including groceries and fuel. Companies can now use software to tailor prices based on everything from our browsing patterns, location, loyalty history, device type, and operating system. - The Walrus

Great art is impossible without some measure of ego. - LitHub

A philosophy professor was ordered to remove Plato’s Symposium from the list of assigned readings for the class “Contemporary Moral Issues.” Plato fell victim to a policy adopted by the university in the fall, which states that classes cannot “advocate race or gender ideology, or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity." - The Atlantic

When I am photographing humans, I want to hear about their lives and aspirations. I care about their aesthetic sensibilities, what they are wearing, how they want to present themselves. Photographing an object feels different. I still savor the aesthetics of my subject, but my appreciation extends back to the object’s creator.  - The New Yorker

“This isn’t A.I.’s problem. This is our political system’s problem. If you get a massive increase in productivity, how does that wealth get shared around?” If A.I. abundance does materialize, that will be a central question. - The New Yorker

It was not clear which section of the park the White House is considering, but the southern tip of West Potomac Park — a short walk from the Jefferson Memorial — has largely been used for athletic fields. - Washington Post

CCA, which currently has 1,295 students, has long been in dire financial straits. Enrollment had fallen almost one third from its 2019 peak of 1,800, with the most recent class including only 207 undergraduate and 117 graduate students, according to the EDU Ledger. - Artnet

The project — a complete redesign of the streetscape of Broad Street, home to a number of the city’s leading arts institutions, from City Hall to the edge of South Philadelphia — will start modestly but will speed up after the America 250 celebrations this year. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

A press release stated, “The decision reflects a changing global environment that is impacting major events, festivals and cultural programs worldwide. … SXSW Sydney worked … to explore potential pathways forward for the event; however, prevailing market conditions mean the Sydney edition will not be going ahead at this time.” - ArtsHub (Australia)

The risks of using generative artificial intelligence to educate children and teens currently overshadow the benefits, according to a new study by the Brookings Institution's Center for Universal Education. - NPR

“The deal, being announced Tuesday by San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, marks the latest development for the Nashville, Tenn., institution, sometimes called the Harvard of the South. … The new San Francisco location will host 1,000 full-time students and 100 faculty.” - The Wall Street Journal (MSN)

Following on Antonio Pappano’s widely-praised 22-year reign as the company’s music director, 44-year-old Jakub Hrůša has taken the baton, with Speranza Scappucci joining as the Royal Opera’s first principal guest conductor in three decades. - AP

The reason the Washington National Opera can leave, while the National Symphony Orchestra would find it extraordinarily difficult to do so under ordinary conditions, has little to do with repertoire, prestige, or audience relevance. - William Ford

 "We believe that the human connection found through music is a vital part of our society and culture, and that music is much more than a product to be consumed," the company wrote. - Engadget

Just playing the instrument is difficult enough; making top-quality oboes is fiendishly complicated, and breaking even while doing it is challenging enough that Laubin Oboes was essentially bankrupt when Jim Phelan bought the firm in 2022. He has made some very promising changes. - The New York Times

Unlike creators, a performer does not have the benefit of a personal product (or several) that persist over time like a symphony or novel or painting. - Nightingale Sonata

“The real reason I’ve left (the U.S.) is deeper than politics: it’s the culture. The culture creates the politics. … The relentless commercialisation, rising tides of xenophobia, the strident acrimony of social discourse, the violence, and the increasingly hysterical tenor of life in the USA have simply worn us down.” - The Saturday Paper...

Describing the state of the economy as “in its worst condition”, the gallerist says many people can no longer afford basic necessities such as meat, bread, eggs or oil. Instability makes even simple purchases impossible. - The Art Newspaper

The city’s famed Rocky statue has been cleared for installation atop the Philadelphia Art Museum’s iconic steps later this year following an Art Commission vote Wednesday. - Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

Following ferocious criticism from the art world in Belgium and internationally, Flemish culture minister Caroline Gennez has agreed not to put her plan to reorganize the system of museums in Flanders — a plan which includes the dismantling of Belgium’s oldest museum of contemporary art — on the government’s agenda just yet. - Belgian...

“The museum said the 45% price hike to 32 euros ($37) from 22 euros is part of a national ‘differentiated pricing’ policy announced early last year that’s coming into force across major cultural sites. … The change affects visitors from most non-EU countries, including the United States.” - AP

The Trump effect is being felt through executive orders and federal cuts: 34% of museums suffered the cancellation of government grants or contracts; 29% saw a decrease in attendance due to changes in travel/tourism and/or economic uncertainty... - The Guardian

The site, just across a canal from the museum, will be designed by landscape architect Piet Blanckaert, with Foster + Partners overseeing the renovation of three “Amsterdam School” pavilions. Among the sculptors with works to be included there are Alberto Giacometti, Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, and Henry Moore. - ARTnews

“When people met Capote, Bennett admitted, they often were inclined ‘to laugh,’ but ‘don’t let that first impression fool you.’ Nonetheless, even armed with McCain’s goodwill, Capote was well aware that a tense rural hamlet reeling from multiple murders might not take kindly to a high-pitched elfin outsider … nosing around.” - Literary Hub

“The letters cover more than two decades and in them (she) discusses growing old, her aversion to public attention, … her opinions of fellow writers like Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams and Eudora Welty, … (and) her take on the Deep South’s transition from Depression-era segregation to the Civil Rights movement.” - The New York...

“Novelist Arturo Pérez-Reverte (accused) the Spanish Royal Academy (RAE) – of which he is a member – of failing (its mission) of ‘cleaning, fixing and giving shine’ to the Spanish language. These days ‘an illiterate pundit, YouTuber or influencer can have more linguistic influence than a Cervantes prize winner’, he said.” - The Guardian

The truth is—and this may come as a surprise to some of you—the English language does not exist. English is an entirely borrowed language. There was Anglo-Saxon, and overlays of Norse from the Vikings, then the French invasion brought some upper-class words. - Harper's

In contemporary European literature, a book these days is often the beginning of a familial feud. With thinly disguised autobiographical accounts of family strife undergoing a sustained boom across the continent, it can increasingly lead to family reunions in courtrooms. - The Guardian

In response to the festival board’s earlier intervention to disinvite Palestinian-Australian author Randa Abdel-Fattah, more than 180 writers and speakers cancelled their appearances at the February-March event and half the board resigned. Now the remaining board members have quit and the festival has been called off. - The Guardian

On the heels of a record-breaking sale in November—which (briefly) set a new auction record for Bob Ross—American Public Television (APT) is sending another group of artworks by the late painter to the block. - Artnet

“A bipartisan spending bill … would allocate $643 million for broadcasting from the U.S. Agency for Global Media. … Trump signed an executive order in March calling for the dismantlement of the agency, which oversees Voice of America and funds nonprofit groups including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia.” - The Washington Post (MSN)

By presenting an alternative to Meta and Twitter TikTok challenged the idea, pervasive in the early 2020s, that social media’s destiny was terminal decline, what the extremely online would call a “vibe sink.”  - The Nation

While Paramount is hoping to find a weakness in the Netflix offer, experts say the lawsuit has a low chance of success and would only add further complications and delays to what is expected to be a protracted approval process. - The Wrap (MSN)

That depends on the category. For Best Picture, on which the entire Academy membership votes for nominees, you’ll need 922 first-place nods this year. But each of the Academy’s specialist branches chooses nominees for its specialty, and some branches are small. For Best Editing, you’ll need 68 votes; for Best Casting, only 30. -...

Search traffic to news sites has already plunged by a third in a single year globally, with the rise of AI overviews and chatbots, as well as changes to the search algorithms that have been the lifeblood of some media companies since the rise of the internet. - The Guardian

With period dress and steps learned from contemporary manuals (which include notation of the steps), historical dance societies in Britain gather in ballrooms to do The Triple Minor, the Duchess of Devonshire’s Reel, and the dance Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet did in the 1995 Pride and Prejudice adaptation, Mr. Beveridge’s Maggot. - The...

“For artists entering or exiting the country for professional purposes, some of these challenges stem from clearly stated updates to fees, forms, and policies. But there are also greater degrees of uncertainty embedded within application and approval processes, making it harder to predict … the potential outcomes.” - Dance Magazine

The 85-year-old contemporary dance pioneer has accepted a five-year appointment with the company. She will begin with restaging her 2015 work Canto Ostinato and will develop a full-length work, scheduled to premiere in 2027, to “honor a milestone birthday of one of (her) most enduring musical collaborators,” presumably Philip Glass. - BroadwayWorld

Supporters argue that performing at the center now risks aligning the Ballet with an institution they say has been politicized under Trump’s leadership. - San Francisco Chronicle

“The court conflict involves Dance Theatre of Harlem; its former archivist, Judy Tyrus; and ChromaDiverse, a nonprofit Tyrus founded to preserve the records of performing arts groups. Dance Theatre of Harlem has accused the heirs of their one-time photographer of illegally donating 16 boxes of archival materials to Tyrus’s organization.” - Gothamist

That lack of recognition has real consequences. Across Europe, most public heritage funding is absorbed by monuments, libraries and museums. Dance, which exists only in the moment of its performance, is rarely included. - Horizon

That’s what Punchdrunk, the éminence grise of immersive companies, is doing at its southeast London headquarters. Lander 23 is an IRL multiplayer game in which teams of four audience members/players are split into two squads: "fields" who navigate an alien landscape and "drivers" who give them instructions on where to go. - The Guardian

When the old National Theatre of Wales closed in late 2024, Sheen came up with a plan. "Ultimately, I found myself arguing for something that I realised I” — with fame, professional connections, and deep-ish pockets — “was in the best position to deliver. … It could happen, but only if I did it." -...

Attendance for the week ending January 11 was 272,911, down about 13% from the previous week. About 92% of all Broadway seats were filled, compared with 98% during the New Year’s week. Average ticket prices took a $40 drop from the holiday prices, to an average $126.76 last week. - Deadline

The Los Angeles theater world underwent a historic leadership shift in 2023 when two artistic directors of color were placed at the helm of the city’s most prestigious nonprofit companies. -Los Angeles Times

“You are seated, waiting for the show to begin. Through your special glasses, you can see … four actors (entering). They come close to your chair and look directly at you. ‘Don’t panic,’ Ian McKellen tells you. But Ian McKellen isn’t really there. Neither are the other three actors.” - The New York Times

“I want it to be a theatre where theatre people can come and see a show and that generates a kind of warmth,” he says. “You’ll often find actors in the bar afterwards.” - The Times (UK)

What did Picasso’s women have to say on passion and fame? Two left memoirs, others gave interviews, but their eyewitness testimony has been sadly neglected. - The American Scholar

“A pocket dynamo of a man who seemed to bounce as he walked along, Frank Dunlop will be remembered for many outstanding and remarkable achievements, but most notably as the founding director of the Young Vic in 1969 and as a controversial director of the Edinburgh International Festival from 1983 to 1991.” - The Guardian

The 47-year-old Oscar winner has overtaken Scarlett Johansson after the success of Avatar: Fire and Ash added more than $1.2bn to her total. Saldaña’s films have now made more than $15.46bn worldwide, according to the Numbers. - The Guardian

When they looked at this 2,100-ton hunk of metal, they envisioned a floating event space, with two restaurants, six bars, a concert venue and hotel rooms with private sundecks. But as the years have gone by, it seems as if they might have paid $280,000 too much for it. - The New York Times

“(His) popular comic strip captured the frustration of beleaguered, white-collar cubicle workers and satirized the ridiculousness of modern office culture until he was abruptly dropped from syndication in 2023 for racist remarks.” - AP

“Clements joined the Guardian arts team in August 1993, succeeding Edward Greenfield as the paper’s chief music critic. His appointment was clinched by a personal recommendation to the editor from the late Alfred Brendel. … For the next 32 years, Clements ranged across all fields of classical music … and often beyond.” - The Guardian