AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- The Broadway Director Who Helped Stage The Milan Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony
Creative coordinator Sammi Cannold: “I think what would surprise people most is how mathematical it is. From the outside, it looks like pure spectacle and emotion. But behind the scenes, it’s geometry, timecode, safety protocols, wind calculations, the positioning of 35 cameras, traffic flow for hundreds of performers, etc.” – Playbill
- How Russian Musicians Think About Russian Music
For some Ukrainian musicians, the new reality they have chosen is “no Russian words from my lips, no Russian music from my hand”, as Nazarii Stets, one of the players of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra (UFO), founded and conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson, puts it. – The Guardian
- Workers At Hollywood’s Writers Guild Union Strike Against The Union
The union maintained that “Guild management has surveilled workers for union activity, terminated union supporters, and engaged in bad faith surface bargaining, showing no intention to come to an agreement on most of WGSU’s core issues.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- An Evolving Notion Of Literacy That Explains Everything
Literacy literally restructured our consciousness, and the demise of literate culture—the decline of reading and the rise of social media—is again transforming what it feels like to be a thinking, living person. – Derek Thompson
- Grand Rapids Ballet Lays Off Executive Director And Eliminates Position
“Grand Rapids Ballet has dismissed executive director Mary Jennings after less than two years in the role, replacing her with an interim CEO as the ballet rethinks its leadership strategy.” – Crain’s Grand Rapids Business
ISSUES
- Judy Chicago Walks Away From “Nightmare” Google Project
The celebrated visual artist Judy Chicago has walked away from a major commission at Google’s headquarters project in the Loop, comparing an aspect of working with the tech giant as “a nightmare.” – Chicago Sun-Times
- Saudi Arabia Commissions World’s Largest Mural, Which It Hopes Will Be Visible From Space
The job — to create a painting 50,000 square meters large, roughly the size of nine football fields, in the Saudi capital, Riyadh — has gone to New York-based artist Domingo Zapata, who is reportedly getting an “unlimited budget.” – Page Six
- Louvre’s No. 2 Official Says Ticket Fraud Is “Inevitable” At Large Museums
“Which museum in the world, with this level of attendance,” said Louvre general administrator Kim Pham, “would not at certain moments have some issues of fraud?” (He would not, however, name another museum with a similar problem.) – AP
- Architect Oscar Niemeyer’s Final Building Was A Diner In Leipzig
The great Brazilian modernist, best-known for the futuristic government buildings in Brasilia, had recently turned 103 when he drew the first sketch for what’s now called the Niemeyer Sphere. When he died almost a year later, he hadn’t finalized the design, but there were enough sketches and specifications to complete it. – The Guardian
- The Cultural Debate About Wall Texts
“When curators withhold information about the works and the artists, they are reinforcing their own curatorial approach, which is a contradiction. Decontextualizing and dehistoricizing is practically a colonialist act.” – Hyperallergic
MEDIA
- California City Reports $1.5 Million Embezzled From Its Arts Funding Agency
“The statement from (Fresno Arts Council), which handled public grants set aside by the local parks and arts tax for the past few years, said the arts council began securing records and initiating ‘appropriate next steps’.” Meanwhile, the City Council has removed the granting process from Arts Council control. – The Fresno Bee (MSN)
- If The UK’s Biggest Institutions Are Struggling, There’s A Structural Problem
If the National Gallery – one of Britain’s leading attractions with over 4 million visitors a year – is struggling to balance its books, it indicates wider structural problems in the arts industry. – The Conversation
- Russia Produces Great Artists. Why Not Great Science?
Russia produces world‑class artists and brilliant scientific inventors, yet few globally successful technologies. Why? – Nightingale Sonata
- In Australia, Arts Education Enrollment Is Plummeting
A comprehensive review of national data shows a steady decline in arts subject enrolments at senior secondary level and a parallel contraction of creative arts degree courses in higher education since 2018. – Limelight
- Head Of Arts At London’s Barbican Centre Is Out After Only 18 Months
Devyani Saltzman was named director of arts and participation in February 2024; she was one of seven senior leaders installed after the Barbican replaced the managing director model. News of her departure comes about a month after the arrival of new CEO Abigail Pogson, and Saltzman is not being replaced. – The Guardian
MUSIC
- How Consolidation Has Wrecked Publishing
Here’s the problem: Those Big Five control over 80% of the trade publishing market. Indie publishers exist, but they need more support—a lot more support—than they’re getting. – The Honest Broker
- Algeria’s Most Famous Author Faces Legal Cases For Misusing A Terror Victim’s Story
Kamel Daoud’s Goncourt-winning novel Houris is about a woman whose throat was slit at age 5 during a terrorist massacre and who can now barely speak. An Algerian woman — whose psychiatrist was Daoud’s wife — has brought legal cases accusing the author of using her life story for the book without permission. – The Guardian
- A Rare Edition Of Shakespeare’s First Folio Was Stolen And Damaged. Now That It’s Been Recovered, Should It Be Repaired?
When in 2010, Durham University got back the Folio which had been stolen in 1998, the book’s leather cover, boards and end papers were gone, as were an engraving, a eulogy by Ben Jonson, and the final page of Cymbeline. The volume has never been repaired, and there are good reasons why. – BBC (Yahoo!)
- The Machines Are Coming for Your Plot Twists
What seemed preposterous in a 1962 novel—story-writing machines—is now Silicon Valley gospel. As AI churns out narratives, we’re left wondering: who’s really telling the story, and does anyone care about the difference? — 3 Quarks Daily
- IMLS Makes America’s Grants Great Again
Federal cultural funding now comes with ideological strings attached, as museums and libraries discover their grant applications must suddenly harmonize with presidential vision statements. Creative freedom, meet creative financing. — Artnet
PEOPLE
- The Broadway Director Who Helped Stage The Milan Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony
Creative coordinator Sammi Cannold: “I think what would surprise people most is how mathematical it is. From the outside, it looks like pure spectacle and emotion. But behind the scenes, it’s geometry, timecode, safety protocols, wind calculations, the positioning of 35 cameras, traffic flow for hundreds of performers, etc.” – Playbill
- How Russian Musicians Think About Russian Music
For some Ukrainian musicians, the new reality they have chosen is “no Russian words from my lips, no Russian music from my hand”, as Nazarii Stets, one of the players of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra (UFO), founded and conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson, puts it. – The Guardian
- Workers At Hollywood’s Writers Guild Union Strike Against The Union
The union maintained that “Guild management has surveilled workers for union activity, terminated union supporters, and engaged in bad faith surface bargaining, showing no intention to come to an agreement on most of WGSU’s core issues.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- An Evolving Notion Of Literacy That Explains Everything
Literacy literally restructured our consciousness, and the demise of literate culture—the decline of reading and the rise of social media—is again transforming what it feels like to be a thinking, living person. – Derek Thompson
- Grand Rapids Ballet Lays Off Executive Director And Eliminates Position
“Grand Rapids Ballet has dismissed executive director Mary Jennings after less than two years in the role, replacing her with an interim CEO as the ballet rethinks its leadership strategy.” – Crain’s Grand Rapids Business
PEOPLE
- The Broadway Director Who Helped Stage The Milan Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony
Creative coordinator Sammi Cannold: “I think what would surprise people most is how mathematical it is. From the outside, it looks like pure spectacle and emotion. But behind the scenes, it’s geometry, timecode, safety protocols, wind calculations, the positioning of 35 cameras, traffic flow for hundreds of performers, etc.” – Playbill
- How Russian Musicians Think About Russian Music
For some Ukrainian musicians, the new reality they have chosen is “no Russian words from my lips, no Russian music from my hand”, as Nazarii Stets, one of the players of the Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra (UFO), founded and conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson, puts it. – The Guardian
- Workers At Hollywood’s Writers Guild Union Strike Against The Union
The union maintained that “Guild management has surveilled workers for union activity, terminated union supporters, and engaged in bad faith surface bargaining, showing no intention to come to an agreement on most of WGSU’s core issues.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- An Evolving Notion Of Literacy That Explains Everything
Literacy literally restructured our consciousness, and the demise of literate culture—the decline of reading and the rise of social media—is again transforming what it feels like to be a thinking, living person. – Derek Thompson
- Grand Rapids Ballet Lays Off Executive Director And Eliminates Position
“Grand Rapids Ballet has dismissed executive director Mary Jennings after less than two years in the role, replacing her with an interim CEO as the ballet rethinks its leadership strategy.” – Crain’s Grand Rapids Business
THEATRE
VISUAL
- An Evolving Notion Of Literacy That Explains Everything
Literacy literally restructured our consciousness, and the demise of literate culture—the decline of reading and the rise of social media—is again transforming what it feels like to be a thinking, living person. – Derek Thompson
- The Anatomy Of (Enduring) Class Struggle
Despite years of Eat-the-Rich–type discourse, we seem to struggle with how money and power operate without falling into either conspiratorial exaggeration (the fantasy of Satan-worshipping elites ritualistically drinking baby blood is centuries old) or fawning admiration for the taste and sophistication of the rich and famous. – The American Scholar
- Arguments For Why People Are Wothwhile
When we speak of dignity, worth, or the respect owed to persons, we are not engaging in idle abstraction. These concepts do real work. They justify constraints on what the powerful may do to the vulnerable. – 3 Quarks Daily
- How Universities Became Centers Of Liberal Thought
In the past thirty or so years, the academy has replaced the church as the center of the liberal moral imagination, providing the sense of a community bound by ethics, a firmament of texts and knowledge that should inform action, and a meeting space for like-minded people. – The New Yorker
- The Man Who Thinks The Enlightenment Was A Mistake
Rod Dreher emerged from the conservative blogosphere in the 2000s and won fans with his daily stream of testy opinions and unguarded anecdotal writing. He seems almost allergic to ideological consistency, has long had readers on the left as well as the right, and sometimes changes his mind over the course of a single paragraph. – The Atlantic
