AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- The Met Opera Needed a Director Yesterday
Good Morning,
The Met Opera opens its season Tuesday with a new Macbeth directed by Louisa Proske, co-founder of Heartbeat Opera, the small New York company she has run since 2014. She got the job less than a year out, after the original director withdrew; new Met productions are normally planned two or more years ahead (The New York Times).
Arts Council England’s new chair, Dawn Airey, a former Channel 5 chief, released the council’s first survey of children’s cultural life: in the past year 52% had been to a museum, 26% to a gallery, 22% to a live music event, and 32% named cost as what kept them away. Not good enough, she says. She found the ACE office “quiet, a little bit subdued” and wants it to “be loud” (The Guardian).
MrBeast, with 515 million YouTube subscribers, and James Patterson, with 425 million books sold, published a novel together. It sold 22,646 copies in its first week; Patterson’s previous co-written book, with Viola Davis, sold 57,454 (Ben Liebmann, LinkedIn). So the world’s biggest YouTube star doesn’t translate into books?
Jared Harbour, a theatre writer on Substack, obtained the capitalization documents for Second Stage’s The Fantasticks: investors’ $1 million is booked as a “non-recourse loan” to the nonprofit, and their 25.6% profit share is exactly $1 million divided by the $3.91 million budget (Jared Harbour). What, he asks, actually is the business model for non-profit theatre?
More than 100 children auditioned for José Mateo Ballet Theatre’s 38th Nutcracker in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One 7-year-old’s dream role is a rat: “it makes you laugh a lot” (Boston Globe).
All of our stories below.
- Court Rules Investigators Overstepped In Seizing Art Institute Of Chicago Drawing
In a blow to New York investigators, an appellate court has found they inappropriately cited a penal law to seize an Egon Schiele drawing from the Art Institute of Chicago. – The New York Times
- New UK Company Will Recreate Famous Concerts With Hyper-Realistic Digital Avatars In Any Space
The former chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entertainment group has obtained a near-£15m investment for his UK music tech startup that hopes to recreate classic concerts by manifesting musicians as digital avatars. – The Guardian
- Daily Mirror Publisher Cuts Jobs As Web Traffic Plummets Because Of AI
The company said earlier this year that a slump in overall digital page views had been driven by a 46% year-on-year decline in traffic from Google as features such as Google’s AI Mode and AI Overviews negate the need for readers to click through to its websites. – The Guardian
- One Man’s Quest To Understand Theatre Economics
If these institutions were really facing an existential financial situation, “they’re acting commercial” wasn’t much of a fair, nor novel, accusation. The question soon turned to: Once commercial capital entered the nonprofit stream, whose risk did the nonprofit’s advantages reduce, and who captured the resulting value? – Jared Harbour
ISSUES
- Court Rules Investigators Overstepped In Seizing Art Institute Of Chicago Drawing
In a blow to New York investigators, an appellate court has found they inappropriately cited a penal law to seize an Egon Schiele drawing from the Art Institute of Chicago. – The New York Times
- After A Massive Storm, Archaeologists Rush To Save Artifacts In Alaska
“Since the dig began, they’ve watched the Bering Sea creep closer and closer to the site. Shorelines in this part of Alaska are now more vulnerable to erosion due, in part, to decreasing sea ice and permafrost thaw.” – NPR
- The Eerie Artistic Of New York’s Metro
“I look for the colorful scenes of decay on the tunnel walls, the rusted iron beams, patterns formed in crumbling tiles and peeling paint. I’m drawn to the strange forms found in discarded bubble gum.” – The New York Times
- The Secret Inscriptions Inside President Lincoln’s Watch
The watchmaker inscribed words about Fort Sumter being attacked, and then wrote, “Thank God we have a government.” – NPR
- 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
MEDIA
- Inside The Kennedy Center’s Real Finances
Now there’s a fuller picture of the finances Trump inherited—and of what happened during his first months in charge. A previously unseen federal tax filing captures an institution in transition. – The Atlantic
- New Arts Council England Chairwoman Wants ACE To Get Louder
Airey recalled that on her first visit as chair to ACE’s London office, “it felt quiet, a little bit subdued. I didn’t expect that.” She said she wanted ACE to get its “swagger” back. – The Guardian
- In A Surprise To Exactly No One, Meta’s New AI Is Better At Surveillance Than Help
“Muse’s default avatar is a beige-colored cross between an Ewok and a Labubu, with its arms outstretched, presumably to scoop up all my data.” – Wired
- Sally Rooney (And Irish Law) Versus A Data Center
“Rooney—the author and Mayo native whose novels have become a cultural phenomenon over the past decade—lodged an objection to the proposed data center back in January, writing to Mayo County Council that permission for the facility would increase carbon emissions and create a risk of blackouts.” – LitHub
- Ed Sheeran Speaks About Mistakes In His First Concerts Back From The Macklemore Debacle
The English singer apologized while blaming his promoter for dropping the U.S. musician. In addition, “he described the 7 October 2023 Hamas-led attacks as ‘horrific’ and called the situation in Gaza ‘unjustifiable.’” – BBC
MUSIC
- Internal Documents: What OpenAI Workers Said About Pirating Books
A court filing unsealed Thursday details internal messages and testimony laying out how OpenAI employees—including executives—talked about the company’s use of pirated books to train an early ChatGPT model, as well as their technology’s potential impact on authors. – The Wall Street Journal
- The Fake AI Books Impersonating Real Authors
Across categories—fantasy, horror, even coloring books—writers say they’re seeing AI-generated listings crop up on their Amazon author pages. Some of these works are in entirely different genres from their usual work. – The Atlantic
- Miss Marple Goes To The Alps
Why not? Her creator sure did – and, originally, Death on the Nile was supposed to be a Marple mystery, so Miss Marple can travel. – The Guardian (UK)
- 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
PEOPLE
- The Met Opera Needed a Director Yesterday
Good Morning,
The Met Opera opens its season Tuesday with a new Macbeth directed by Louisa Proske, co-founder of Heartbeat Opera, the small New York company she has run since 2014. She got the job less than a year out, after the original director withdrew; new Met productions are normally planned two or more years ahead (The New York Times).
Arts Council England’s new chair, Dawn Airey, a former Channel 5 chief, released the council’s first survey of children’s cultural life: in the past year 52% had been to a museum, 26% to a gallery, 22% to a live music event, and 32% named cost as what kept them away. Not good enough, she says. She found the ACE office “quiet, a little bit subdued” and wants it to “be loud” (The Guardian).
MrBeast, with 515 million YouTube subscribers, and James Patterson, with 425 million books sold, published a novel together. It sold 22,646 copies in its first week; Patterson’s previous co-written book, with Viola Davis, sold 57,454 (Ben Liebmann, LinkedIn). So the world’s biggest YouTube star doesn’t translate into books?
Jared Harbour, a theatre writer on Substack, obtained the capitalization documents for Second Stage’s The Fantasticks: investors’ $1 million is booked as a “non-recourse loan” to the nonprofit, and their 25.6% profit share is exactly $1 million divided by the $3.91 million budget (Jared Harbour). What, he asks, actually is the business model for non-profit theatre?
More than 100 children auditioned for José Mateo Ballet Theatre’s 38th Nutcracker in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One 7-year-old’s dream role is a rat: “it makes you laugh a lot” (Boston Globe).
All of our stories below.
- Court Rules Investigators Overstepped In Seizing Art Institute Of Chicago Drawing
In a blow to New York investigators, an appellate court has found they inappropriately cited a penal law to seize an Egon Schiele drawing from the Art Institute of Chicago. – The New York Times
- New UK Company Will Recreate Famous Concerts With Hyper-Realistic Digital Avatars In Any Space
The former chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entertainment group has obtained a near-£15m investment for his UK music tech startup that hopes to recreate classic concerts by manifesting musicians as digital avatars. – The Guardian
- Daily Mirror Publisher Cuts Jobs As Web Traffic Plummets Because Of AI
The company said earlier this year that a slump in overall digital page views had been driven by a 46% year-on-year decline in traffic from Google as features such as Google’s AI Mode and AI Overviews negate the need for readers to click through to its websites. – The Guardian
- One Man’s Quest To Understand Theatre Economics
If these institutions were really facing an existential financial situation, “they’re acting commercial” wasn’t much of a fair, nor novel, accusation. The question soon turned to: Once commercial capital entered the nonprofit stream, whose risk did the nonprofit’s advantages reduce, and who captured the resulting value? – Jared Harbour
PEOPLE
- The Met Opera Needed a Director Yesterday
Good Morning,
The Met Opera opens its season Tuesday with a new Macbeth directed by Louisa Proske, co-founder of Heartbeat Opera, the small New York company she has run since 2014. She got the job less than a year out, after the original director withdrew; new Met productions are normally planned two or more years ahead (The New York Times).
Arts Council England’s new chair, Dawn Airey, a former Channel 5 chief, released the council’s first survey of children’s cultural life: in the past year 52% had been to a museum, 26% to a gallery, 22% to a live music event, and 32% named cost as what kept them away. Not good enough, she says. She found the ACE office “quiet, a little bit subdued” and wants it to “be loud” (The Guardian).
MrBeast, with 515 million YouTube subscribers, and James Patterson, with 425 million books sold, published a novel together. It sold 22,646 copies in its first week; Patterson’s previous co-written book, with Viola Davis, sold 57,454 (Ben Liebmann, LinkedIn). So the world’s biggest YouTube star doesn’t translate into books?
Jared Harbour, a theatre writer on Substack, obtained the capitalization documents for Second Stage’s The Fantasticks: investors’ $1 million is booked as a “non-recourse loan” to the nonprofit, and their 25.6% profit share is exactly $1 million divided by the $3.91 million budget (Jared Harbour). What, he asks, actually is the business model for non-profit theatre?
More than 100 children auditioned for José Mateo Ballet Theatre’s 38th Nutcracker in Cambridge, Massachusetts. One 7-year-old’s dream role is a rat: “it makes you laugh a lot” (Boston Globe).
All of our stories below.
- Court Rules Investigators Overstepped In Seizing Art Institute Of Chicago Drawing
In a blow to New York investigators, an appellate court has found they inappropriately cited a penal law to seize an Egon Schiele drawing from the Art Institute of Chicago. – The New York Times
- New UK Company Will Recreate Famous Concerts With Hyper-Realistic Digital Avatars In Any Space
The former chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entertainment group has obtained a near-£15m investment for his UK music tech startup that hopes to recreate classic concerts by manifesting musicians as digital avatars. – The Guardian
- Daily Mirror Publisher Cuts Jobs As Web Traffic Plummets Because Of AI
The company said earlier this year that a slump in overall digital page views had been driven by a 46% year-on-year decline in traffic from Google as features such as Google’s AI Mode and AI Overviews negate the need for readers to click through to its websites. – The Guardian
- One Man’s Quest To Understand Theatre Economics
If these institutions were really facing an existential financial situation, “they’re acting commercial” wasn’t much of a fair, nor novel, accusation. The question soon turned to: Once commercial capital entered the nonprofit stream, whose risk did the nonprofit’s advantages reduce, and who captured the resulting value? – Jared Harbour
THEATRE
VISUAL
- New UK Company Will Recreate Famous Concerts With Hyper-Realistic Digital Avatars In Any Space
The former chief executive of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s entertainment group has obtained a near-£15m investment for his UK music tech startup that hopes to recreate classic concerts by manifesting musicians as digital avatars. – The Guardian
- Turns Out The Lucas Museum Provides A Great Backdrop For Jedi-Themed Protests
At the event, about workers’ rights and the upcoming Olympics in L.A., “protesters from the Fair Games Coalition — wearing Jedi robes and Jar Jar Binks masks and carrying lightsabers — rallied together outside the new museum.” – Los Angeles Times (MSN)
- Why Do So Many Of Us Love A Good Small Murder Town?
Sure, they started with Miss Marple and the written word, but “the Small Murder Town really came into its own with the advent of film—and not just any film. Small Murder Towns thrive on the small screen; this is a trope that was made for television.” – Reactor
- 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 Times