AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- 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
- “Spring Awakening” Composer Duncan Sheik Is Dead At 56
“(His) alt-pop hit ‘Barely Breathing’ became a Generation X touchstone, but (he) squirmed under the label of MTV heartthrob and eventually decamped to Broadway, winning two Tonys for composing the smash musical.” – The New York Times
- Ravinia Festival Starts On A Second Renovation Project
This summer the Chicago Symphony’s summer home re-opened its concert pavilion after a $70 million revamp. Next on the to-do list, with work starting in October, is a $38 million makeover of the Martin Theatre, the last remaining structure from when Ravinia’s park-like grounds first opened in 1904. – WBEZ (Chicago)
- Pittsburgh Symphony’s Manfred Honeck Gets Big Jobs In London And San Francisco
The 68-year-old (as of Thursday) Austrian will become Principal Conductor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra in 2028, succeeding Santtu-Matias Rouvali. That same season he starts as the San Francisco Symphony’s Festival Director, a new title in which he’ll program and conduct a three-week festival for each of the next five seasons. – Moto Perpetuo
- Plaintiffs In Kennedy Center Case Ask Judge To Consider Putting It In Receivership Or Replacing Board
A joint statement from the plaintiffs said, “If the current leadership of the Kennedy Center is unwilling or unable to exercise its fiduciary duty to protect the historic building and the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the court should consider appointing a receiver or replacing that leadership.” – ARTnews
ISSUES
- AI Companies Are Destroying Books. What Does That Mean For Art?
AI companies, after losing copyright lawsuits over using pirated books found in digital formats, found a way forward, since the law doesn’t prohibit them from buying physical books and destroying them. In another ironic twist, they are looking only for books printed before 2022, because they want books that definitely have not been produced using AI. – ARTnews
- Madrid’s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum To Add A Second Location
Because of overcrowding in the main building’s galleries, the museum will acquire an additional space a few blocks away: the Ice and Automobile Palace, which has been vacant since 2007 and will undergo a €70 million ($81 million) renovation. When it opens, the new branch will display 21st-century works. – ARTnews
- Spaceship Lucas: LA’s New Museum Of Narrative Art
It is a Goliath of a building, 700 feet long with 300,000 square feet of space. In terms of massiveness, visual impact and sheer joyous bravado, it offers as much spectacle as any of his films. But it is not so much its size that amazes, but its uncanny shape. – The Wall Street Journal
- The Problem With Museum Wall Texts – And How To Fix Them
Good texts take time. The field of visitor studies even recommends workshopping texts with an audience. Curators working on relentless deadlines don’t have that kind of luxury. Yet the particular genre of bad text I am thinking of, paradoxically, seems worst at the most elite levels of the industry. – Artnet
- Russia’s Most Famous Medieval Icon Has Suffered Exactly The Damage Conservators Warned About
In 2023, on Putin’s personal orders, the 15th-century icon of the Trinity by Andrei Rublev, Russia’s most revered icon painter, was moved from Moscow’s Tretyakov Gallery and is now at the Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery. Conservators said that, without museum-quality climate controls, the piece could be severely damaged. Well, guess what’s happened. – Meduza (Moscow/Riga)
MEDIA
- Plaintiffs In Kennedy Center Case Ask Judge To Consider Putting It In Receivership Or Replacing Board
A joint statement from the plaintiffs said, “If the current leadership of the Kennedy Center is unwilling or unable to exercise its fiduciary duty to protect the historic building and the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the court should consider appointing a receiver or replacing that leadership.” – ARTnews
- Judge Orders Trump Not To Tear Down Kennedy Center Without 30 Days’ Notice
“A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it as President Donald Trump has threatened.” – AP
- Photogs Get Picture Of Trump Studying Headlines About Demolishing Kenned Center
Late Wednesday night, photojournalists captured images through the windows of Air Force One that showed President Trump reviewing a large poster board with what looked like a rendering of a construction site beneath three very visible words: “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.” – The New York Times
- What Happens Now For The Kennedy Center?
Outside, digital signs that typically advertise upcoming performances instead flashed a red “Emergency alert” announcing the building was closed to the public. Guards stood at the doors. On Wednesday, fencing was erected around the building. – Washington Post
- Why Academic History Matters
Academic history matters. It matters for honing critical engagement, for challenging all-encompassing technological vapidity, for strengthening individuality. It matters because it shows us that process cannot be separated from what we produce. – History Today
MUSIC
- 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
- Barnes & Noble Buys Another Distressed Indie Bookseller
Joseph-Beth Booksellers, which has two locations in metro Cincinnati, is the third independent retail business that B&N has acquired in three years. The chain bought Denver’s Tattered Cover in 2024 and the Bay Area’s Books Inc. last year; both companies had filed for bankruptcy. – Publishers Weekly
- Bookstores Warn Of Threats To Publishers Of Left-Wing Literature
The criminalization of left-wing literature and those who publish or distribute it, the booksellers said, should also concern mainstream bookstores, which should be able to carry “a broad range of viewpoints without fear of government scrutiny or interference. – Publishers Weekly
- Writers Are Going To Extreme Lengths To Prove Their Work Is Human
As AI-generated writing floods the internet, more people are trying to detect which creators are using such tools to spin up copy. That means writers penning all their own work—and people who acknowledge using chatbots for help—are trying to master something they never worried about before: how to sound human. – The Wall Street Journal
PEOPLE
- 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
- “Spring Awakening” Composer Duncan Sheik Is Dead At 56
“(His) alt-pop hit ‘Barely Breathing’ became a Generation X touchstone, but (he) squirmed under the label of MTV heartthrob and eventually decamped to Broadway, winning two Tonys for composing the smash musical.” – The New York Times
- Ravinia Festival Starts On A Second Renovation Project
This summer the Chicago Symphony’s summer home re-opened its concert pavilion after a $70 million revamp. Next on the to-do list, with work starting in October, is a $38 million makeover of the Martin Theatre, the last remaining structure from when Ravinia’s park-like grounds first opened in 1904. – WBEZ (Chicago)
- Pittsburgh Symphony’s Manfred Honeck Gets Big Jobs In London And San Francisco
The 68-year-old (as of Thursday) Austrian will become Principal Conductor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra in 2028, succeeding Santtu-Matias Rouvali. That same season he starts as the San Francisco Symphony’s Festival Director, a new title in which he’ll program and conduct a three-week festival for each of the next five seasons. – Moto Perpetuo
- Plaintiffs In Kennedy Center Case Ask Judge To Consider Putting It In Receivership Or Replacing Board
A joint statement from the plaintiffs said, “If the current leadership of the Kennedy Center is unwilling or unable to exercise its fiduciary duty to protect the historic building and the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the court should consider appointing a receiver or replacing that leadership.” – ARTnews
PEOPLE
- 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
- “Spring Awakening” Composer Duncan Sheik Is Dead At 56
“(His) alt-pop hit ‘Barely Breathing’ became a Generation X touchstone, but (he) squirmed under the label of MTV heartthrob and eventually decamped to Broadway, winning two Tonys for composing the smash musical.” – The New York Times
- Ravinia Festival Starts On A Second Renovation Project
This summer the Chicago Symphony’s summer home re-opened its concert pavilion after a $70 million revamp. Next on the to-do list, with work starting in October, is a $38 million makeover of the Martin Theatre, the last remaining structure from when Ravinia’s park-like grounds first opened in 1904. – WBEZ (Chicago)
- Pittsburgh Symphony’s Manfred Honeck Gets Big Jobs In London And San Francisco
The 68-year-old (as of Thursday) Austrian will become Principal Conductor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra in 2028, succeeding Santtu-Matias Rouvali. That same season he starts as the San Francisco Symphony’s Festival Director, a new title in which he’ll program and conduct a three-week festival for each of the next five seasons. – Moto Perpetuo
- Plaintiffs In Kennedy Center Case Ask Judge To Consider Putting It In Receivership Or Replacing Board
A joint statement from the plaintiffs said, “If the current leadership of the Kennedy Center is unwilling or unable to exercise its fiduciary duty to protect the historic building and the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the court should consider appointing a receiver or replacing that leadership.” – ARTnews
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Doomsday Days: The Growing Awareness Of AI Dangers
Jacob Coxon, the engineer who recently resigned from Anthropic to protest its safety policies, says A.I. could “kill us all by the end of the decade.” But if A.I. is so outrageously dangerous, why should we accept modest proposals to “pace” its development? Why not call in the Turing cops, and pull the plug? – The New Yorker
- How Threats Of A Dismal Future Are Shaping Gen Z
Their perception is that jobs that feel meaningful are being slashed by government or stolen by AI. As a result, she reported, members of Gen Z may just need to find meaning in their hobbies and interests outside of work and pursue jobs that allow them to fully check out at the end of the day. – 3 Quarks Daily
- Why Italianness Is A State Of Mind
Descendants of Italian migrants generally express an intense pride in their heritage, and many continue to live by its sociocultural tenets in spite of decades, or more, of absence. It is as if time away from Italy, and geographical distance, only amplify a yearning for it. – Aeon
- Study: Why Our Brains Mix Up Memories
Scientists already know that confusing memories happens more often than forgetting them altogether. What’s less clear is how the brain gets confused. – The Conversation
- Angela Duckworth Takes On Will Power
High-profile authors are obviously under pressure to offer novel frameworks, but rarely do these second acts feel like an about-face. Duckworth insists that “Situated” is not a reversal but an expansion of her earlier research; as an account of individual success, grit is “necessary but not sufficient,” and must be complemented by the larger picture. – The New Yorker