AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- Dance Is A Subjective Art Form. So How Do Judging And Scoring In Dance Competitions Work?
“Because every competition’s scoring rubric is slightly different, dancers may not always understand why they received a certain score or ranking. … What do competitors and coaches need to know about the competitive-dance world’s many judging systems, and how can they glean useful information from the often-mysterious numerical scores?” – Dance Magazine
- Lefty Firebrand And Former Congresswoman Katie Porter Is Leaving Politics To Be A Book Influencer
After very disappointing finishes in California’s Democratic primary races for Senate in 2024 and governor in 2025, Porter says “I am closing the door on being a candidate” and will turn one of her social media accounts into a book-oriented channel called Katie Porter Turns the Page. – The Sacramento Bee
- Art Institute Of Chicago Lays Off Its Entire Custodial Staff, Will Outsource
“The cultural institution announced it will no longer employ 23 custodial workers on June 29. … The employees’ last day is Aug. 14, but a museum spokesperson said they will have the opportunity to re-apply for their positions with the new company, GDI Integrated Facility Services, based in Canada.” – Chicago Sun-Times
- Louvre Reopens Gallery Where Crown Jewels Were Stolen — But It’s Empty
The Apollo Gallery had been closed to the public ever since last October’s broad-daylight theft of the French crown jewels on display there. Now it’s open again, with nothing on display. Fortunately, the room itself is pretty spectacular. – AFP (MSN)
- European Union Okays Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger — With Conditions
“The European Commission … said that even with a Paramount-Warner combo, enough competitors would exist across markets like film production and streaming in its 27-nation bloc. Still, when it comes to distributing movies to theaters, the Commission warned of high concentration,” leading to worse terms for cinema operators. – AP
ISSUES
- Art Institute Of Chicago Lays Off Its Entire Custodial Staff, Will Outsource
“The cultural institution announced it will no longer employ 23 custodial workers on June 29. … The employees’ last day is Aug. 14, but a museum spokesperson said they will have the opportunity to re-apply for their positions with the new company, GDI Integrated Facility Services, based in Canada.” – Chicago Sun-Times
- Louvre Reopens Gallery Where Crown Jewels Were Stolen — But It’s Empty
The Apollo Gallery had been closed to the public ever since last October’s broad-daylight theft of the French crown jewels on display there. Now it’s open again, with nothing on display. Fortunately, the room itself is pretty spectacular. – AFP (MSN)
- The Next Director Of Britain’s Tate Galleries Will Be —
— Jessica Morgan, currently director of New York’s Dia Art Foundation. “Morgan will need to guide the organisation through a difficult financial landscape, raise poor staff morale and grapple with fluctuating visitor numbers.” – The Guardian
- Monumental Chilean Mural Painted Over By Pinochet Is Being Uncovered
Beginning and End, a 452-square-foot mural painted by Julio Escámez, was unveiled in 1972 by the Allende-aligned government of the city of Chillán, 250 miles south of Santiago. After Pinochet’s coup, he ordered the mural destroyed, and it was thought lost; in 2021, conservators discovered that it had been only painted over. – Artnet
- Ten New Stadiums That Will Change The Form
MEDIA
- Vanderbilt University’s New San Francisco Campus Will Include An Arts College
“The Jen-Hsun and Lori Huang College of Art, Architecture and Design will be ‘a cornerstone’ of Vanderbilt’s planned campus on the … site it is purchasing from California College of the Arts.” Huang College, backed by $75 million from a co-founder of Nvidia, will emphasize how the arts intersect with engineering and technology. – San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
- Director Of Smithsonian’s American History Museum Grilled By GOP House Members
In a House Subcommittee on Delivering Government Efficiency hearing titled “Rewriting American History: Examining the Smithsonian’s Efforts to Reshape the Past,” National Museum of American History director Anthea Hartig faced such questions as “When did you know you were a woman?” and “Was Mickey Mouse racist?” – ARTnews
- Revisiting The Tortured History Of America’s Culture Wars
“One of the sad things about this story is that we did not emerge with a more active, permanent activist constituency for the arts in America. We got complacent and people were exhausted. – The Guardian
- Data: A Widening Gap In Financial Health Of Arts In American Cities
We found that as federal relief funding waned, the gap between the strongest- and weakest-performing cities widened sharply. – SMU Data Arts
- UK’s Culture Secretary Will Stay On Under New Prime Minister
“Despite new Prime Minister Andy Burnham undergoing an extensive cabinet reshuffle, incumbent culture minister Lisa Nandy is set to remain in post. Nandy, who has been a member of Parliament since 2010 …, was appointed secretary of state for culture, media and sport by previous Prime Minister Keir Starmer in July 2024.” – Variety
MUSIC
- The Complications Of Freedom-To-Read Campaigns
The freedom to read is a feel-good cause, and maybe an issue typically associated with concerned parents and school boards could use a little glamour. But Dua Lipa’s project highlights how the public discourse around bans has become detached from the ground reality of access to books. – The Atlantic
- Judge Approves Largest-Ever Copyright Infringement Case
The Anthropic payout will deliver $3,000 per work across an estimated 500,000 works, shared among the authors and publishers who hold rights to them. While the settlement is believed to be the largest in the history of U.S. copyright law, many authors and creators still don’t view it as a win. – TechCrunch
- The Rise Of AI-Slop-Written Biographies
The book is flattering, fabricated and absolutely packed with em dashes. It bears all the signs of A.I. slop. I clicked on the author, one John Crane Miller. His bio page described him as a “seasoned biographer and cultural analyst,” and his portrait was a widely used stock photo. – The New York Times
- Banning Books Is Not Enough: One Florida County Questions Whether There Should Even Be School Libraries
The school board of Clay County (mostly suburbs of Jacksonville) has ordered an unusually large selection, even by Florida standards, of titles off its public school bookshelves. Now some of its members are debating “what would be a high-level function for that space” instead. (One official suggested school stores.) – WUSF (Tampa)
- Judge Approves $1.5 Billion Settlement Of Author/Publisher Lawsuit Against Anthropic
“A federal judge has approved a $1.5 billion copyright settlement in which artificial intelligence company Anthropic will pay thousands of authors about $3,000 per book after using pirated copies of their works to train its Claude chatbot.” – AP
PEOPLE
- Dance Is A Subjective Art Form. So How Do Judging And Scoring In Dance Competitions Work?
“Because every competition’s scoring rubric is slightly different, dancers may not always understand why they received a certain score or ranking. … What do competitors and coaches need to know about the competitive-dance world’s many judging systems, and how can they glean useful information from the often-mysterious numerical scores?” – Dance Magazine
- Lefty Firebrand And Former Congresswoman Katie Porter Is Leaving Politics To Be A Book Influencer
After very disappointing finishes in California’s Democratic primary races for Senate in 2024 and governor in 2025, Porter says “I am closing the door on being a candidate” and will turn one of her social media accounts into a book-oriented channel called Katie Porter Turns the Page. – The Sacramento Bee
- Art Institute Of Chicago Lays Off Its Entire Custodial Staff, Will Outsource
“The cultural institution announced it will no longer employ 23 custodial workers on June 29. … The employees’ last day is Aug. 14, but a museum spokesperson said they will have the opportunity to re-apply for their positions with the new company, GDI Integrated Facility Services, based in Canada.” – Chicago Sun-Times
- Louvre Reopens Gallery Where Crown Jewels Were Stolen — But It’s Empty
The Apollo Gallery had been closed to the public ever since last October’s broad-daylight theft of the French crown jewels on display there. Now it’s open again, with nothing on display. Fortunately, the room itself is pretty spectacular. – AFP (MSN)
- European Union Okays Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger — With Conditions
“The European Commission … said that even with a Paramount-Warner combo, enough competitors would exist across markets like film production and streaming in its 27-nation bloc. Still, when it comes to distributing movies to theaters, the Commission warned of high concentration,” leading to worse terms for cinema operators. – AP
PEOPLE
- Dance Is A Subjective Art Form. So How Do Judging And Scoring In Dance Competitions Work?
“Because every competition’s scoring rubric is slightly different, dancers may not always understand why they received a certain score or ranking. … What do competitors and coaches need to know about the competitive-dance world’s many judging systems, and how can they glean useful information from the often-mysterious numerical scores?” – Dance Magazine
- Lefty Firebrand And Former Congresswoman Katie Porter Is Leaving Politics To Be A Book Influencer
After very disappointing finishes in California’s Democratic primary races for Senate in 2024 and governor in 2025, Porter says “I am closing the door on being a candidate” and will turn one of her social media accounts into a book-oriented channel called Katie Porter Turns the Page. – The Sacramento Bee
- Art Institute Of Chicago Lays Off Its Entire Custodial Staff, Will Outsource
“The cultural institution announced it will no longer employ 23 custodial workers on June 29. … The employees’ last day is Aug. 14, but a museum spokesperson said they will have the opportunity to re-apply for their positions with the new company, GDI Integrated Facility Services, based in Canada.” – Chicago Sun-Times
- Louvre Reopens Gallery Where Crown Jewels Were Stolen — But It’s Empty
The Apollo Gallery had been closed to the public ever since last October’s broad-daylight theft of the French crown jewels on display there. Now it’s open again, with nothing on display. Fortunately, the room itself is pretty spectacular. – AFP (MSN)
- European Union Okays Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger — With Conditions
“The European Commission … said that even with a Paramount-Warner combo, enough competitors would exist across markets like film production and streaming in its 27-nation bloc. Still, when it comes to distributing movies to theaters, the Commission warned of high concentration,” leading to worse terms for cinema operators. – AP
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Reality Is Breaking Down
The rapidly degenerating digital culture is the third leg of the stool of the “reality distortion field” that has engulfed the U.S. – Artnet
- The Power Of Coffee Houses To Change History
It was debated whether coffeehouses were truly a place of creativity or frivolous laziness. Many resolved to leave the coffeehouse behind, as if it were a vice, and then failed to kick the habit. – Aeon
- Why Costco Is Thriving As The Antithesis Of Amazon
While most retailers today assume that consumers want ever greater assortment, Costco’s popularity speaks to a countervailing desire for less choice. Indeed, the pre-selection of items for sale in their warehouses is part of the value proposition. – The Walrus
- A Short History Of Being Burned Out
Burnout’s meaning shifted from literal to figurative over time. It began as a description of candles burning out or fuel being used up, then shifted to a barn burning down and a worker’s energy or body being depleted in the rebuilding. Eventually it came to simply describe a worker’s exhaustion. – The Conversation
- Why Is Everything Weird? Blame The Uni-Context
How do all other norms—our morals, our ethics, our sense of what is good for us and for others—change when we continually imagine ourselves to be living in a universal room with everybody else? – Derek Thompson