AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- In A State That Does Not Fund Public Education Well, Artists Band Together To Bring The Arts To Rural Schools
“The work could especially help the approximately 100 districts in the state where some, if not all, schools are only offering classes Monday through Thursday, primarily because of funding restrictions.” – Oregon ArtsWatch
- The Vancouver Symphony Gets A New CEO
Keith Cerny, who’s from the U.S. and most recently was the CEO for the Fort Worth Symphony, is a classically trained pianist, conductor, and economist. – Vancouver Sun
- The Romantasy Diaper Controversy
You know what often comes after years of (hot) sex, at least for some couples? That’s right: Babies. But do they, and their needs, belong in the hottest book series on the market? – Slate
- This Tapestry Artist From Kazakhstan Has Been Long Overdue For International Recognition
“Batima Zaurbekova is among Kazakhstan’s most celebrated artists. Beyond its borders, however, her name is far less known. The gap says less about her work than about who has been doing the looking—and framing.” – Artnet
- The Phoenix Symphony Will Resume Concerts This Week
One of the business leaders helping get the music flowing again: “Getting our musicians on stage again was our top priority. … Now we must build a financial and operating model that allows the Symphony to thrive, not simply survive from one season to the next.” – Arizona Republic (MSN)
ISSUES
- This Tapestry Artist From Kazakhstan Has Been Long Overdue For International Recognition
“Batima Zaurbekova is among Kazakhstan’s most celebrated artists. Beyond its borders, however, her name is far less known. The gap says less about her work than about who has been doing the looking—and framing.” – Artnet
- National Capital Planning Commission Approves Construction Of Trump Arch
The motion to approve the project passed by an 8-4 vote after listening to over 100 public remarks largely against the project after a nearly 9-hour meeting. – The Hill
- Livestream Of Trump Arch Public Testimony Meeting Crashed
The livestream went down during public testimony largely against the project and after a tense exchange with Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.). NCPC tech experts were looking into the issue, Reuters reported. – The Hill
- Federal Judge Blocks Construction Of Trump Arch In Late Night Ruling
Just before midnight Friday, District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan issued an order — finalized and made public minutes later – barring the government from any construction work for 14 days, granting a request filed days earlier by the governments of D.C. and Virginia. – NPR
- Long-Unseen Georgia O’Keeffe Painting Turns Up Behind Fur Coats In Someone’s Aunt’s Closet
“(The painting) Near Abiquiu was previously only known from a 1931 photograph. It laid hidden under a row of fur coats for nearly 40 years, until a woman known only by her middle name, Betsy, was helping her now-deceased aunt, an accomplished former Foreign Service worker, prepare for hospice.” – Artnet
MEDIA
- Art Is Good For Your Health? Can’t We Do Better?
In other words, the key sell for engaging with art in this case is that there is science – a real expertise! – backing it up, to reassure those on the fence that it’s not all a clanging, nebulous waste of time. – The Guardian
- Other U.S. Cities Are Boosting Arts Funding, But Chicago’s Will Remain Flat
“The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events is set to receive about $62.5 million next year in the proposed budget. That’s up less than 1% from the arts budget that passed City Council last year.” – WBEZ (Chicago)
- Arts Education Incubator “The Crucible” Shuts Down In Oakland
The layoffs deepen the uncertainty surrounding the 27-year-old nonprofit, which closed its 56,000-square-foot West Oakland facility Oct. 25 and canceled classes and events. The board has said it cannot yet say when, or whether, the organization will reopen. – San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
- How Canada Is Benefitting From Trump’s American Brain Drain
For Canada, Trump’s war on facts presents a window of opportunity. “As other countries constrain academic freedoms and undermine cutting-edge research, Canada is investing in—and doubling down on—science,” Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said when announcing the initiative in December 2025. – The Walrus
- New NEA Data On Americans’ Arts Participation
The dataset now spans 2003–2025 and includes newly added data from 2024 and 2025. It is available through the NADAC website for free download and online analysis. – NEA
MUSIC
- The Romantasy Diaper Controversy
You know what often comes after years of (hot) sex, at least for some couples? That’s right: Babies. But do they, and their needs, belong in the hottest book series on the market? – Slate
- Strand Bookstore To Repay $1.5M COVID Relief Funds
The century-old Strand Bookstore has agreed to pay the federal government nearly $1.5 million to resolve a claim that it was not eligible for a pandemic-relief loan it obtained because the store’s owner is married to a member of Congress. – The New York Times
- Library Use Going Up As Economy Stresses
It is something of a truism in the library world that, when economic conditions worsen, people use libraries more. Patrons and librarians across the U.S. tell NPR they’re seeing that pan out now. – NPR
- A Contender For The Prix Goncourt Was Disqualified For Using AI. Now The Winner Says He Used It, Too.
“Philippe Jaenada, who won the Prix Goncourt on Tuesday for L’Inconnue du quai de Javel (The Unknown Woman of the Quai de Javel), told France Inter radio on Wednesday that he had turned to AI ‘three times’ while writing it.” – The Guardian
- Baillie Gifford Prize For Nonfiction Goes To Edmund Richardson’s “Alexander: God, King, Man”
The “immersive” biography of Alexander the Great, which includes Richardson’s translations of source material from 12 different languages, is the first work about ancient history to win the £50,000 ($67,000) award. – AP
PEOPLE
- In A State That Does Not Fund Public Education Well, Artists Band Together To Bring The Arts To Rural Schools
“The work could especially help the approximately 100 districts in the state where some, if not all, schools are only offering classes Monday through Thursday, primarily because of funding restrictions.” – Oregon ArtsWatch
- The Vancouver Symphony Gets A New CEO
Keith Cerny, who’s from the U.S. and most recently was the CEO for the Fort Worth Symphony, is a classically trained pianist, conductor, and economist. – Vancouver Sun
- The Romantasy Diaper Controversy
You know what often comes after years of (hot) sex, at least for some couples? That’s right: Babies. But do they, and their needs, belong in the hottest book series on the market? – Slate
- This Tapestry Artist From Kazakhstan Has Been Long Overdue For International Recognition
“Batima Zaurbekova is among Kazakhstan’s most celebrated artists. Beyond its borders, however, her name is far less known. The gap says less about her work than about who has been doing the looking—and framing.” – Artnet
- The Phoenix Symphony Will Resume Concerts This Week
One of the business leaders helping get the music flowing again: “Getting our musicians on stage again was our top priority. … Now we must build a financial and operating model that allows the Symphony to thrive, not simply survive from one season to the next.” – Arizona Republic (MSN)
PEOPLE
- In A State That Does Not Fund Public Education Well, Artists Band Together To Bring The Arts To Rural Schools
“The work could especially help the approximately 100 districts in the state where some, if not all, schools are only offering classes Monday through Thursday, primarily because of funding restrictions.” – Oregon ArtsWatch
- The Vancouver Symphony Gets A New CEO
Keith Cerny, who’s from the U.S. and most recently was the CEO for the Fort Worth Symphony, is a classically trained pianist, conductor, and economist. – Vancouver Sun
- The Romantasy Diaper Controversy
You know what often comes after years of (hot) sex, at least for some couples? That’s right: Babies. But do they, and their needs, belong in the hottest book series on the market? – Slate
- This Tapestry Artist From Kazakhstan Has Been Long Overdue For International Recognition
“Batima Zaurbekova is among Kazakhstan’s most celebrated artists. Beyond its borders, however, her name is far less known. The gap says less about her work than about who has been doing the looking—and framing.” – Artnet
- The Phoenix Symphony Will Resume Concerts This Week
One of the business leaders helping get the music flowing again: “Getting our musicians on stage again was our top priority. … Now we must build a financial and operating model that allows the Symphony to thrive, not simply survive from one season to the next.” – Arizona Republic (MSN)
THEATRE
VISUAL
- In A State That Does Not Fund Public Education Well, Artists Band Together To Bring The Arts To Rural Schools
“The work could especially help the approximately 100 districts in the state where some, if not all, schools are only offering classes Monday through Thursday, primarily because of funding restrictions.” – Oregon ArtsWatch
- AI May Be Changing The Ways People Think
Some psychiatrists and philosophers interested in AI-human relationships suspect that AI psychosis may just be the most visible example of a much broader phenomenon: the subtle reshaping of ordinary human belief by conversational AI. – Big Think
- Our Primal Need To Be Needed
We have a real need to be needed. And yet many forces—thinking machines, aging, economic and social dislocation—appear to be making us feel redundant. Are we building a world in which no one is particularly necessary? Do we already live in such a world? – The New Yorker
- Defining The Artificial State
We have not a single piece of meaningful legislation in the United States Congress about artificial intelligence. We have essentially nothing about social media. This is something that we’re now battling out in the courts. – The Walrus
- The Telephone’s Role In Changing Intimacy
This may strike you as a little paranoid. The rise of the telephone, in the past century and a half—from the rotary diallers at home and the boxes in the street to the smartphones in every pocket—is associated with a change that, broadly speaking, we consider positive. – The New Yorker