AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Louisville Ballet CEO Steps Down After 3½ Years Of Turning The Company Around
When Leslie Smart took the helm in early 2023, the company’s existence post-COVID was in doubt. She undertook both cost-cutting and fundraising campaigns, and she ultimately raised over $18.5 million and oversaw record-breaking ticket sales; just last week she announced a $9 million investment in the company’s expansion. – Louisville Courier Journal (AOL)
- A Major New Humanities Center At Oxford
Billed as Oxford’s largest and most programmatically ambitious academic project, the Schwarzman Centre yokes together seven humanities faculties, along with a 500-seat concert hall, a 250-seat theatre, a black-box immersive performance space, a white-box exhibition gallery, a dance studio, a cinema and a museum to house the Bate Collection of historic musical instruments. – The Guardian
- EU Sanctions Director Of The Hermitage
The Council of the European Union announced on April 23 that it is formally sanctioning Mikhail Piotrovsky, the long-time director of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The reasons given are that Piotrovsky is “a close associate of Vladimir Putin.” – ARTnews
- Well, At Least The Australian Ballet Lost Fewer Millions Than It Did The Year Before
The company’s operating loss for 2025 was AU$4.7 million, down from AU$6 million in 2024. Losses are due to the costs of a temporary venue change; the company’s usual home, the Ian Potter State Theatre in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, closed for renovations in March of 2024 and will reopen this October. – AAP
- The Re-Relevance Of Yoko Ono
In the past decade, the defining trend among curators has been to shine a light on artists who were previously “overlooked.” Various groups who were once misunderstood, neglected or ignored have been excavated and exhibited — artists of color, older women artists, women of Abstract Expressionism and so on (though “overlooked” is a deprecating term). – The New York Times
ISSUES
- EU Sanctions Director Of The Hermitage
The Council of the European Union announced on April 23 that it is formally sanctioning Mikhail Piotrovsky, the long-time director of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The reasons given are that Piotrovsky is “a close associate of Vladimir Putin.” – ARTnews
- “Shattered Moral Compass”: Whistleblower Alleges Malfeasance At Palm Springs Museum Of Art
“The whistleblower claims that the museum improperly moved funds between various accounts in order to meet severe cash crunches. The whistleblower alleged that a former director was forced out based on trumped-up staff complaints, and that the museum failed to even interview two qualified candidates to replace him before promoting an internal candidate.” – ARTnews
- Buffalo AKG Art Museum Director Janne Sirén To Step Down
The move comes almost three months after news broke of a six-figure loan the museum made to Sirén for buying a house; the loan reportedly was never repaid. Under Sirén’s leadership, AKG greatly increased its collection, underwent a $230 million renovation and expansion, and achieved record attendance numbers. – ARTnews
- NJ Father/Daughter Team Convicted Of $2M Art Fraud
Erwin Bankowski, 50, and Karolina Bankowska, 26, admitted in federal court in Brooklyn to wire fraud conspiracy and misrepresenting Native American–produced goods. The pair, a father and daughter, now face up to 20 years in prison, along with at least $1.9 million in restitution. – ARTnews
- Zimbabwe’s Plundered Iconic Stone Birds Are Finally Returned
Known as the Zimbabwe Bird, it has long been a symbol of national identity, but behind it lies a complex tale of displacement, colonial plunder and restitution. – BBC (MSN)
MEDIA
- A Major New Humanities Center At Oxford
Billed as Oxford’s largest and most programmatically ambitious academic project, the Schwarzman Centre yokes together seven humanities faculties, along with a 500-seat concert hall, a 250-seat theatre, a black-box immersive performance space, a white-box exhibition gallery, a dance studio, a cinema and a museum to house the Bate Collection of historic musical instruments. – The Guardian
- Differences Between Being An Arts Lover In The UK And In Australia
The experience of attending, supporting and living among the arts differs in ways that are practical, financial and social. – ArtsHub
- Strategies For Fighting Misinformation
What of misinformation that has taken hold, and how can it be debunked? If the misinformation is not going to be widely shared, the best thing to do can simply be to ignore it. Otherwise, however, it is best to get in first, provided our own presentation is clear and sticky. – 3 Quarks Daily
- Chicago Arts Leaders Demand Action On “Ghost” Tickets
“Every day, patrons are being sold what they believe are valid tickets, when, in reality, they are only paying for a chance that someone may be able to secure a seat,” said John Mangum, Lyric’s general director, who was also joined by leaders of The Auditorium and Harris Theater. – WBEZ
- Why We Need More Arts
Organizations that design their entire experience for reflection, response, and real conversation are doing something quietly radical. Not just presenting art, but shaping the conditions that allow it to actually change us. – Seattle Times
MUSIC
- The Guardian Now Has More American Readers Than The Washington Post Has
“(The Guardian) has found a lane in the U.S. news market as a progressive alternative to institutional American media, … backed by a voluntary contribution model that has attracted 700,000 supporters, 500,000 of them recurring. Reader revenue has grown 35% a year for the past two years, with a still-growing 150-person newsroom.” – The Rebooting
- Lost Copy Of Oldest Surviving English Poem Turns Up In Rome
“Scholars from Trinity College Dublin uncovered the manuscript that contains Caedmon’s Hymn at the National Central Library of Rome. Bede, the medieval theologian revered as the father of English history, recorded the nine-line poem in the eighth century.” – The Guardian
- State Legislatures Tweak Library And School Laws Concerning Books (To Protect Them)
“We’ve had success in blue states that want to protect from book banning at the local level, but these efforts have moved to purple or even red states, to the point of Alaska now moving this forward.” – Publishers Weekly
- “Ghost Imaging” Recovers Text Of 1,500-Year-Old Biblical Manuscript
The 6th-century Codex H included a Greek-language copy of the New Testament’s letters of St. Paul. Sometime in the Middle Ages, though, the monks of Mt. Athos broke the book up and re-used the parchment. Fragments have since been identified, but the original text on them was considered irretrievable — until now. – Artnet
- Docs: Adelaide Writers Week Sacrificed To Save Arts Festival
Adelaide writers’ week was sacrificed to save the 2026 Adelaide festival, an event that ploughs more than $60m into South Australia’s economy each year, documents show. – The Guardian
PEOPLE
- Louisville Ballet CEO Steps Down After 3½ Years Of Turning The Company Around
When Leslie Smart took the helm in early 2023, the company’s existence post-COVID was in doubt. She undertook both cost-cutting and fundraising campaigns, and she ultimately raised over $18.5 million and oversaw record-breaking ticket sales; just last week she announced a $9 million investment in the company’s expansion. – Louisville Courier Journal (AOL)
- A Major New Humanities Center At Oxford
Billed as Oxford’s largest and most programmatically ambitious academic project, the Schwarzman Centre yokes together seven humanities faculties, along with a 500-seat concert hall, a 250-seat theatre, a black-box immersive performance space, a white-box exhibition gallery, a dance studio, a cinema and a museum to house the Bate Collection of historic musical instruments. – The Guardian
- EU Sanctions Director Of The Hermitage
The Council of the European Union announced on April 23 that it is formally sanctioning Mikhail Piotrovsky, the long-time director of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The reasons given are that Piotrovsky is “a close associate of Vladimir Putin.” – ARTnews
- Well, At Least The Australian Ballet Lost Fewer Millions Than It Did The Year Before
The company’s operating loss for 2025 was AU$4.7 million, down from AU$6 million in 2024. Losses are due to the costs of a temporary venue change; the company’s usual home, the Ian Potter State Theatre in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, closed for renovations in March of 2024 and will reopen this October. – AAP
- The Re-Relevance Of Yoko Ono
In the past decade, the defining trend among curators has been to shine a light on artists who were previously “overlooked.” Various groups who were once misunderstood, neglected or ignored have been excavated and exhibited — artists of color, older women artists, women of Abstract Expressionism and so on (though “overlooked” is a deprecating term). – The New York Times
PEOPLE
- Louisville Ballet CEO Steps Down After 3½ Years Of Turning The Company Around
When Leslie Smart took the helm in early 2023, the company’s existence post-COVID was in doubt. She undertook both cost-cutting and fundraising campaigns, and she ultimately raised over $18.5 million and oversaw record-breaking ticket sales; just last week she announced a $9 million investment in the company’s expansion. – Louisville Courier Journal (AOL)
- A Major New Humanities Center At Oxford
Billed as Oxford’s largest and most programmatically ambitious academic project, the Schwarzman Centre yokes together seven humanities faculties, along with a 500-seat concert hall, a 250-seat theatre, a black-box immersive performance space, a white-box exhibition gallery, a dance studio, a cinema and a museum to house the Bate Collection of historic musical instruments. – The Guardian
- EU Sanctions Director Of The Hermitage
The Council of the European Union announced on April 23 that it is formally sanctioning Mikhail Piotrovsky, the long-time director of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. The reasons given are that Piotrovsky is “a close associate of Vladimir Putin.” – ARTnews
- Well, At Least The Australian Ballet Lost Fewer Millions Than It Did The Year Before
The company’s operating loss for 2025 was AU$4.7 million, down from AU$6 million in 2024. Losses are due to the costs of a temporary venue change; the company’s usual home, the Ian Potter State Theatre in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, closed for renovations in March of 2024 and will reopen this October. – AAP
- The Re-Relevance Of Yoko Ono
In the past decade, the defining trend among curators has been to shine a light on artists who were previously “overlooked.” Various groups who were once misunderstood, neglected or ignored have been excavated and exhibited — artists of color, older women artists, women of Abstract Expressionism and so on (though “overlooked” is a deprecating term). – The New York Times
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Cory Doctorow: Why The World Is Suddenly Becoming Enshittified
“The internet is getting worse, fast. The services we rely on, they’re all turning into piles of shit. Worse, the digital is merging with the physical, which means that the same forces that are wrecking our platforms are also wrecking our homes and our cars, the places where we work and shop. – Literary Review of Canada
- AI: A Philosophy About Language
The underlying intelligence of a large language model isn’t a function of its architecture, its parameter count, or the volume of compute thrown at its training. It is not even about the training data. It is a function of the social complexity of the civilization whose language it digested. – The Ideas Newsletter
- New Google Paper Argues AI Will Never Be Conscious
The paper shows the divergence between the self-serving narratives AI companies promote in the media and how they collapse under rigorous examination. – 404 Media
- Why AI Is Struggling With Creativity
Many generative AI programs geared toward creative fields have encountered a common problem: rapid initial adoption, followed by declining sustained engagement. – The Conversation
- Why It’s So Difficult To Agree On Truth
These different notions of truth shape everyday discourse as well as philosophical debate. They might help explain why some arguments feel pointless, why political debates circle endlessly, and why certain disagreements never quite meet on common ground. – Psyche
