AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- The Jacksonville Symphony seeks Vice President/Chief Advancement Officer.
ZRG Aspen Leadership Group is proud to partner with the Jacksonville Symphony in the search for a Vice President/Chief Advancement Officer.
Reporting to the President & Chief Executive Officer, the Vice President/Chief Advancement Officer will be responsible for planning, implementing, overseeing, and assessing Jacksonville Symphony’s development plans in support of the organization’s strategic vision and growth. As a key member of the leadership team, the CAO will effectively represent the organization’s development interests to constituencies, both internal and external, and will work in close collaboration with the CEO, the Development Committee, and the Annual Gala Committee to achieve philanthropic goals and build a case for support.
The CAO’s primary responsibility will be to develop the overall strategy for the annual fund, estate planning and completion of the current capital campaign, especially the identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of major donors. In this effort, the CAO will primarily focus on high-net-worth individuals as well as cultivating relationships with major local and national foundations and corporations.
In addition to establishing and maintaining a personal portfolio of current and prospective major donors, the CAO will manage the development team, as well as oversee the data support function within the department, including prospect research. The CAO will succeed and lead by example in a mission-driven working environment that balances the need and relevance of programs with the efficiency of best business practices, fiscal accountability, and institutional impact.
The Jacksonville Symphony is North Florida’s leading nonprofit performing arts organization offering live performances in Jacoby Symphony Hall at the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts and other venues throughout the area. Founded in 1949, the Symphony has earned a distinguished national reputation for artistic excellence, innovative programming and meaningful community engagement. Led by President and CEO Steven Libman and Music Director Courtney Lewis, the Jacksonville Symphony reaches over 180,000 individuals through over 95 performances each season. The Symphony also provides musical instruction for youth and operates the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras.
The Jacksonville Symphony stands on the cusp of a transformative era, one that will see it reach new heights of musical achievement and community impact. Through the Orchestrating Excellence campaign, it will invest in a series of exciting goals that promise to not only enhance the Symphony’s artistic distinction but also deepen the connection with the community it serves. The Symphony’s plans are ambitious, reflecting its commitment to excellence and belief in the transformative power of music.
With excellence as their guidepost, the Jacksonville Symphony is pursuing a working campaign goal of $50 million that will result in the Symphony’s financial strength and resilience necessary to sustain their musical excellence and service to the community into the Symphony’s next chapter. $45 million has already been raised toward the Orchestrating Excellence campaign’s $50 million goal.
A bachelor’s degree and at least ten years of experience are required for this position. The Jacksonville Symphony will consider candidates with a broad range of backgrounds. If you are excited about this role and feel that you can contribute to the Symphony, but your experience does not exactly align with every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply. All applications must be accompanied by a cover letter and résumé. Cover letters should be responsive to the mission of the Jacksonville Symphony and the responsibilities and qualifications specified in the position prospectus.
The salary range for this position is $150,000 to $170,000. The Jacksonville Symphony offers a comprehensive package of benefits, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 403(b)-retirement plan with employer match, paid parental leave, and generous paid time off.
The Jacksonville Symphony is committed to the inclusion of all qualified candidates. If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, or participating in the selection process, please contact Tonya Malik-Carson at tonyamc@aspenleadershipgroup.com
To apply for this position, visit: https://apptrkr.com/9869057
- Seventy Thousand Met Opera Tickets, By Lottery
Good Morning,
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is paying for 70,000 Metropolitan Opera tickets to be given away by lottery, and a conservative columnist says the Right should be embarrassed that a self-proclaimed socialist thought of it first, though he expects it to convert only “a few thousand” New Yorkers (UnHerd). In Hungary, bookshops file nearly every short Japanese-style poem under haiku, senryū included, and the poet Zsolt L. Rakusz says the form took hold there because Hungarian poets already had the epigram (Asymptote).
Houston’s Ensemble Theatre, the city’s oldest Black theater company, opens its 50th season; it began in a converted pet store at 1010 Tuam Street with 60 to 75 seats (Texas Observer). Nathalie Stutzmann, music director of the Atlanta Symphony, conducted the first Rienzi ever heard in Bayreuth’s Festspielhaus and says she wants Atlanta to have a sound people can recognize, the way they once knew Ozawa’s Boston (ArtsATL).
Ben Affleck says he used AI “for lots of things” in Animals, his Netflix thriller opening October 9, but won’t say which, comparing it to a magician announcing the plant in the audience; he sold his AI company InterPositive to Netflix for nearly $600 million (The Hollywood Reporter).
And the San Antonio Philharmonic sued Harmonium of Texas, the orchestra founded by its former music director Jeffrey Kahane, the day before Harmonium’s first rehearsals, alleging he used donor and email lists to start it (San Antonio Express-News).
All of our stories below.
- How Haiku Became Hungarian
A foreign poetic form becomes local not when writers reproduce its original conventions faithfully, but when they discover what the form can do in a new language. In Hungary, Japanese short poetry encountered a literary environment already fluent in irony, epigrammatic compression, linguistic play, and knowing when to leave things out. – Asymptote
- Staying Human In The Age Of AI
The first step to building a better future is to acknowledge the reality of today. AI is not going away, and it is immensely capable across a wide range of domains. According to a recent Stanford study, 88% of organizations are using AI and the number is growing. – Think Like a Game Designer
- The Real Achievement Of Garry Trudeau’s “Doonesbury”
“(It) hasn’t simply been individual story lines, or how they jived with the historical reality in which we read them, but also the depth and breadth of human experience they charted. … Trudeau held the powerful to account, (yet) kept his attention on everyday people our politicians and (celebrities) often neglected.” – The New Republic
ISSUES
- World Monuments Fund: Funding Is The Biggest Threat To World Heritage
Of 372 nominations for the 2027 Watch list, 65% of nominators cited funding shortages and economic development as a primary challenge, up from 55% in 2024. – The Art Newspaper
- It Was Challenge After Challenge To Get Calder’s Clouds Back In Place At The Senate Office Building
They came down in the first place because they were too heavy, so they were remade. Restorers had to find a motor to move them the way Calder intended. Installing them in a Congressional building meant extra bureaucratic hurdles. And the particular black paint Calder used had been discontinued. – The New York Times
- Blind Man Sues British Museum Over Lack Of Bayeux Tapestry Audio Guide
“Dr. Yusuf Ali Osman alleges that the museum is breaching equality laws by failing to provide audio-described tours of the exhibition for blind visitors.” – The Independent (UK)
- How The Architecture Of Sound Is Changing Cities
The sounds of the city weren’t just decorative, musical — they could define the physical contours of a space as dramatically as a concrete wall or an open door to the street. – Reasons to be Cheerful
- Uzbekistan Now Has Its First Contemporary Art Museum Since Independence From The USSR
“Tashkent is reinventing itself. The Uzbek capital, which is home to 3 million, was once the fourth-largest city in the Soviet Union and has long been a cultural hub in Central Asia. … The Center for Contemporary Arts Tashkent has opened. It’s a watershed moment for the nation as it expands its cultural ambitions.” – Artnet
MEDIA
- After 40 Years, Segerstrom Center Is Thriving, Bringing L.A.-Level Performing Arts To Orange County
Building a Lincoln Center-style multi-venue arts center in a county that was a byword for conservative suburbia seemed improbable in 1986, but philanthropist Henry Segerstrom pulled it off. Now, after getting hit hard by the pandemic, the complex is back on track, with a $14.6 million surplus last year. – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
- Can Trump Really Demolish The Kennedy Center?
The legal fight over Mr. Trump’s takeover of the center has revolved largely around one important statute, first passed by Congress in 1958. It established a National Cultural Center and then was amended in 1964 to dedicate the institution to President Kennedy after his assassination. – The New York Times
- Republican Senator Blocks Passage Of Bill To Prevent Demolishing The Kennedy Center
A bipartisan effort to ban the demolition of presidential memorials — including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts — was blocked Monday night in the Senate by an objection from Sen.Mike Lee (R-Utah). – Washington Post
- The Numbers Are Clear: Kennedy Center’s Finances Were Fine Before Trump, And They’re Disastrous Now
“In the 19 months since President Trump took over the Kennedy Center, the institution has borrowed everything its bank would lend it, dipped into money donors had given on condition it never be spent, and written off pledges from supporters who stopped paying.” – The Washington Post (MSN)
- Carnegie-Mellon University Gets $3 Billion Gift To Build Campus In Miami
“The staggering amount (pledged by hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin) is the largest-ever gift by an individual in higher education, surpassing Michael Bloomberg’s $1.8 billion donation to Johns Hopkins in 2018. Griffin’s donation will be split: $1 billion will support CMU’s original campus in Pittsburgh and $2 billion will help launch CMU’s Miami campus.” – CNN
MUSIC
- How Haiku Became Hungarian
A foreign poetic form becomes local not when writers reproduce its original conventions faithfully, but when they discover what the form can do in a new language. In Hungary, Japanese short poetry encountered a literary environment already fluent in irony, epigrammatic compression, linguistic play, and knowing when to leave things out. – Asymptote
- The Real Achievement Of Garry Trudeau’s “Doonesbury”
“(It) hasn’t simply been individual story lines, or how they jived with the historical reality in which we read them, but also the depth and breadth of human experience they charted. … Trudeau held the powerful to account, (yet) kept his attention on everyday people our politicians and (celebrities) often neglected.” – The New Republic
- Utah Bans Even More Books From Public Schools
Utah just banned seven more books from all public schools — the most it has ever banned in a single go since the state’s sensitive materials law went into effect. The additions bring the total number of books now prohibited in Utah public schools to 44. – Salt Lake Tribune
- It Seems Queen Elizabeth I Did Not Write All Her Letters — Particularly The Furious Ones
A researcher has analyzed more than 500 of her “scribal letters” — correspondence from the queen but in the handwriting of her secretaries, notably principal royal secretary Francis Walsingham — and found that they sometimes altered the queen’s own language for strategic reasons, including to make her appear even angrier than she was. – Smithsonian Magazine
- Fresno Considering Privatizing Its Libraries
“Our public libraries are public and should stay public. We don’t need private corporations coming in and laying people off and censoring material.” – ABC Fresno
PEOPLE
- The Jacksonville Symphony seeks Vice President/Chief Advancement Officer.
ZRG Aspen Leadership Group is proud to partner with the Jacksonville Symphony in the search for a Vice President/Chief Advancement Officer.
Reporting to the President & Chief Executive Officer, the Vice President/Chief Advancement Officer will be responsible for planning, implementing, overseeing, and assessing Jacksonville Symphony’s development plans in support of the organization’s strategic vision and growth. As a key member of the leadership team, the CAO will effectively represent the organization’s development interests to constituencies, both internal and external, and will work in close collaboration with the CEO, the Development Committee, and the Annual Gala Committee to achieve philanthropic goals and build a case for support.
The CAO’s primary responsibility will be to develop the overall strategy for the annual fund, estate planning and completion of the current capital campaign, especially the identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of major donors. In this effort, the CAO will primarily focus on high-net-worth individuals as well as cultivating relationships with major local and national foundations and corporations.
In addition to establishing and maintaining a personal portfolio of current and prospective major donors, the CAO will manage the development team, as well as oversee the data support function within the department, including prospect research. The CAO will succeed and lead by example in a mission-driven working environment that balances the need and relevance of programs with the efficiency of best business practices, fiscal accountability, and institutional impact.
The Jacksonville Symphony is North Florida’s leading nonprofit performing arts organization offering live performances in Jacoby Symphony Hall at the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts and other venues throughout the area. Founded in 1949, the Symphony has earned a distinguished national reputation for artistic excellence, innovative programming and meaningful community engagement. Led by President and CEO Steven Libman and Music Director Courtney Lewis, the Jacksonville Symphony reaches over 180,000 individuals through over 95 performances each season. The Symphony also provides musical instruction for youth and operates the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras.
The Jacksonville Symphony stands on the cusp of a transformative era, one that will see it reach new heights of musical achievement and community impact. Through the Orchestrating Excellence campaign, it will invest in a series of exciting goals that promise to not only enhance the Symphony’s artistic distinction but also deepen the connection with the community it serves. The Symphony’s plans are ambitious, reflecting its commitment to excellence and belief in the transformative power of music.
With excellence as their guidepost, the Jacksonville Symphony is pursuing a working campaign goal of $50 million that will result in the Symphony’s financial strength and resilience necessary to sustain their musical excellence and service to the community into the Symphony’s next chapter. $45 million has already been raised toward the Orchestrating Excellence campaign’s $50 million goal.
A bachelor’s degree and at least ten years of experience are required for this position. The Jacksonville Symphony will consider candidates with a broad range of backgrounds. If you are excited about this role and feel that you can contribute to the Symphony, but your experience does not exactly align with every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply. All applications must be accompanied by a cover letter and résumé. Cover letters should be responsive to the mission of the Jacksonville Symphony and the responsibilities and qualifications specified in the position prospectus.
The salary range for this position is $150,000 to $170,000. The Jacksonville Symphony offers a comprehensive package of benefits, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 403(b)-retirement plan with employer match, paid parental leave, and generous paid time off.
The Jacksonville Symphony is committed to the inclusion of all qualified candidates. If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, or participating in the selection process, please contact Tonya Malik-Carson at tonyamc@aspenleadershipgroup.com
To apply for this position, visit: https://apptrkr.com/9869057
- Seventy Thousand Met Opera Tickets, By Lottery
Good Morning,
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is paying for 70,000 Metropolitan Opera tickets to be given away by lottery, and a conservative columnist says the Right should be embarrassed that a self-proclaimed socialist thought of it first, though he expects it to convert only “a few thousand” New Yorkers (UnHerd). In Hungary, bookshops file nearly every short Japanese-style poem under haiku, senryū included, and the poet Zsolt L. Rakusz says the form took hold there because Hungarian poets already had the epigram (Asymptote).
Houston’s Ensemble Theatre, the city’s oldest Black theater company, opens its 50th season; it began in a converted pet store at 1010 Tuam Street with 60 to 75 seats (Texas Observer). Nathalie Stutzmann, music director of the Atlanta Symphony, conducted the first Rienzi ever heard in Bayreuth’s Festspielhaus and says she wants Atlanta to have a sound people can recognize, the way they once knew Ozawa’s Boston (ArtsATL).
Ben Affleck says he used AI “for lots of things” in Animals, his Netflix thriller opening October 9, but won’t say which, comparing it to a magician announcing the plant in the audience; he sold his AI company InterPositive to Netflix for nearly $600 million (The Hollywood Reporter).
And the San Antonio Philharmonic sued Harmonium of Texas, the orchestra founded by its former music director Jeffrey Kahane, the day before Harmonium’s first rehearsals, alleging he used donor and email lists to start it (San Antonio Express-News).
All of our stories below.
- How Haiku Became Hungarian
A foreign poetic form becomes local not when writers reproduce its original conventions faithfully, but when they discover what the form can do in a new language. In Hungary, Japanese short poetry encountered a literary environment already fluent in irony, epigrammatic compression, linguistic play, and knowing when to leave things out. – Asymptote
- Staying Human In The Age Of AI
The first step to building a better future is to acknowledge the reality of today. AI is not going away, and it is immensely capable across a wide range of domains. According to a recent Stanford study, 88% of organizations are using AI and the number is growing. – Think Like a Game Designer
- The Real Achievement Of Garry Trudeau’s “Doonesbury”
“(It) hasn’t simply been individual story lines, or how they jived with the historical reality in which we read them, but also the depth and breadth of human experience they charted. … Trudeau held the powerful to account, (yet) kept his attention on everyday people our politicians and (celebrities) often neglected.” – The New Republic
PEOPLE
- The Jacksonville Symphony seeks Vice President/Chief Advancement Officer.
ZRG Aspen Leadership Group is proud to partner with the Jacksonville Symphony in the search for a Vice President/Chief Advancement Officer.
Reporting to the President & Chief Executive Officer, the Vice President/Chief Advancement Officer will be responsible for planning, implementing, overseeing, and assessing Jacksonville Symphony’s development plans in support of the organization’s strategic vision and growth. As a key member of the leadership team, the CAO will effectively represent the organization’s development interests to constituencies, both internal and external, and will work in close collaboration with the CEO, the Development Committee, and the Annual Gala Committee to achieve philanthropic goals and build a case for support.
The CAO’s primary responsibility will be to develop the overall strategy for the annual fund, estate planning and completion of the current capital campaign, especially the identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of major donors. In this effort, the CAO will primarily focus on high-net-worth individuals as well as cultivating relationships with major local and national foundations and corporations.
In addition to establishing and maintaining a personal portfolio of current and prospective major donors, the CAO will manage the development team, as well as oversee the data support function within the department, including prospect research. The CAO will succeed and lead by example in a mission-driven working environment that balances the need and relevance of programs with the efficiency of best business practices, fiscal accountability, and institutional impact.
The Jacksonville Symphony is North Florida’s leading nonprofit performing arts organization offering live performances in Jacoby Symphony Hall at the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts and other venues throughout the area. Founded in 1949, the Symphony has earned a distinguished national reputation for artistic excellence, innovative programming and meaningful community engagement. Led by President and CEO Steven Libman and Music Director Courtney Lewis, the Jacksonville Symphony reaches over 180,000 individuals through over 95 performances each season. The Symphony also provides musical instruction for youth and operates the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras.
The Jacksonville Symphony stands on the cusp of a transformative era, one that will see it reach new heights of musical achievement and community impact. Through the Orchestrating Excellence campaign, it will invest in a series of exciting goals that promise to not only enhance the Symphony’s artistic distinction but also deepen the connection with the community it serves. The Symphony’s plans are ambitious, reflecting its commitment to excellence and belief in the transformative power of music.
With excellence as their guidepost, the Jacksonville Symphony is pursuing a working campaign goal of $50 million that will result in the Symphony’s financial strength and resilience necessary to sustain their musical excellence and service to the community into the Symphony’s next chapter. $45 million has already been raised toward the Orchestrating Excellence campaign’s $50 million goal.
A bachelor’s degree and at least ten years of experience are required for this position. The Jacksonville Symphony will consider candidates with a broad range of backgrounds. If you are excited about this role and feel that you can contribute to the Symphony, but your experience does not exactly align with every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply. All applications must be accompanied by a cover letter and résumé. Cover letters should be responsive to the mission of the Jacksonville Symphony and the responsibilities and qualifications specified in the position prospectus.
The salary range for this position is $150,000 to $170,000. The Jacksonville Symphony offers a comprehensive package of benefits, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 403(b)-retirement plan with employer match, paid parental leave, and generous paid time off.
The Jacksonville Symphony is committed to the inclusion of all qualified candidates. If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, or participating in the selection process, please contact Tonya Malik-Carson at tonyamc@aspenleadershipgroup.com
To apply for this position, visit: https://apptrkr.com/9869057
- Seventy Thousand Met Opera Tickets, By Lottery
Good Morning,
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is paying for 70,000 Metropolitan Opera tickets to be given away by lottery, and a conservative columnist says the Right should be embarrassed that a self-proclaimed socialist thought of it first, though he expects it to convert only “a few thousand” New Yorkers (UnHerd). In Hungary, bookshops file nearly every short Japanese-style poem under haiku, senryū included, and the poet Zsolt L. Rakusz says the form took hold there because Hungarian poets already had the epigram (Asymptote).
Houston’s Ensemble Theatre, the city’s oldest Black theater company, opens its 50th season; it began in a converted pet store at 1010 Tuam Street with 60 to 75 seats (Texas Observer). Nathalie Stutzmann, music director of the Atlanta Symphony, conducted the first Rienzi ever heard in Bayreuth’s Festspielhaus and says she wants Atlanta to have a sound people can recognize, the way they once knew Ozawa’s Boston (ArtsATL).
Ben Affleck says he used AI “for lots of things” in Animals, his Netflix thriller opening October 9, but won’t say which, comparing it to a magician announcing the plant in the audience; he sold his AI company InterPositive to Netflix for nearly $600 million (The Hollywood Reporter).
And the San Antonio Philharmonic sued Harmonium of Texas, the orchestra founded by its former music director Jeffrey Kahane, the day before Harmonium’s first rehearsals, alleging he used donor and email lists to start it (San Antonio Express-News).
All of our stories below.
- How Haiku Became Hungarian
A foreign poetic form becomes local not when writers reproduce its original conventions faithfully, but when they discover what the form can do in a new language. In Hungary, Japanese short poetry encountered a literary environment already fluent in irony, epigrammatic compression, linguistic play, and knowing when to leave things out. – Asymptote
- Staying Human In The Age Of AI
The first step to building a better future is to acknowledge the reality of today. AI is not going away, and it is immensely capable across a wide range of domains. According to a recent Stanford study, 88% of organizations are using AI and the number is growing. – Think Like a Game Designer
- The Real Achievement Of Garry Trudeau’s “Doonesbury”
“(It) hasn’t simply been individual story lines, or how they jived with the historical reality in which we read them, but also the depth and breadth of human experience they charted. … Trudeau held the powerful to account, (yet) kept his attention on everyday people our politicians and (celebrities) often neglected.” – The New Republic
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Staying Human In The Age Of AI
The first step to building a better future is to acknowledge the reality of today. AI is not going away, and it is immensely capable across a wide range of domains. According to a recent Stanford study, 88% of organizations are using AI and the number is growing. – Think Like a Game Designer
- By Biological Definition, AI Is Life
There is nothing artificial about systems built from real atoms, powered by real electricity, running in real machines. The systems reproduce, vary, adapt, undergo selection and gather energy from their environment. By any working definition that draws on biology rather than philosophy or religion, that is life. – Noema
- It’s Getting More And More Difficult To Tell What’s Real
Life on the internet has become, among other things, a test of patience and an experience of gruelling duration; the ad somehow continued for more than three minutes. A captive audience, it turns out, gets crude digital puppetry as its just deserts. – The New Yorker
- Humanists Versus AI
The vibes, less pollable but perhaps no less palpable, are noxious. Students boo speakers who extol A.I. in commencement addresses, and consumers deride celebrities and brands that embrace the technology. – The New Yorker
- What The Latest Studies Say About How Our Brains Change Using AI
Across millions of math sessions by a group that ranged from fifth graders to college students, the researchers compared performance from before 2022, when ChatGPT first came out, with the work that followed its arrival. – The New York Times