ArtsJournal Classic

AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only

DANCE

    IDEAS

    • Trump White House’s Proposed Budget Includes Funding Cuts And Staff Layoffs At Smithsonian

      “For fiscal year 2027, the White House has proposed giving the Smithsonian $961.3 million in federal funding, roughly an 11% cut from the $1.08 billion Congress provided to it fiscal year 2026 and the institution’s lowest proposed funding level since at least 2020.” – ARTnews

    • London’s Royal Ballet And Opera Says It Needs £60 Million Just To Keep Its Building Open

      “The historic Covent Garden venue … has reported a ‘critical’ need to invest in its stage infrastructure and the ‘fabric of our building’. Without doing so, the theatre is at risk of equipment failures and performance cancellations, according to a review of the organisation’s financial health.” – The Times (UK)

    • Hirshhorn Museum’s New Sculpture Garden Has Its Opening Date

      “After a long period of being fenced off and closed to the public, a reflecting pool will soon be reopening after a major renovation. No, not that one. This reflecting pool is in the center of the Hirshhorn Museum’s sculpture garden, which will reopen Oct. 31.” – The Washington Post (MSN)

    • Nobody Boos At A Screen

      Good Morning,

      The U.S. has lost a fifth of its movie theaters and nearly a third of its bowling alleys since 2001 (Fortune). That’s not a taste story, it’s an infrastructure one — the places where strangers used to end up sitting next to each other are disappearing.

      The consequence shows up inside the rooms still standing: moviegoing has stopped being habit meeting spontaneity, and the question of what to see has collapsed into whether to go at all (The Atlantic). Instagram, meanwhile, is building a TV app on the theory that private scrolling becomes a shared activity if you move it to the big screen (The Atlantic).

      But a room still does something a feed can’t. Bayreuth audiences booed the AI-assembled projections in a Wagner staging (Los Angeles Times). Some additional evidence: remembering sequences, processing music and staying present with other people is exactly the demand researchers think helps hold dementia off (Harper’s Bazaar).

      All of our stories below.

    • A Boston Symphony Lesson: Limits Of A Music Critic?

      The answer cannot simply be that the critic is more objective. Objectivity is valuable, but proximity matters as well. Critics attend performances. Audiences hear concerts. Administrators oversee institutions. But only the musicians experience the entire artistic relationship. – Orlando Alonso

    ISSUES

    MEDIA

    MUSIC

    PEOPLE

    • Trump White House’s Proposed Budget Includes Funding Cuts And Staff Layoffs At Smithsonian

      “For fiscal year 2027, the White House has proposed giving the Smithsonian $961.3 million in federal funding, roughly an 11% cut from the $1.08 billion Congress provided to it fiscal year 2026 and the institution’s lowest proposed funding level since at least 2020.” – ARTnews

    • London’s Royal Ballet And Opera Says It Needs £60 Million Just To Keep Its Building Open

      “The historic Covent Garden venue … has reported a ‘critical’ need to invest in its stage infrastructure and the ‘fabric of our building’. Without doing so, the theatre is at risk of equipment failures and performance cancellations, according to a review of the organisation’s financial health.” – The Times (UK)

    • Hirshhorn Museum’s New Sculpture Garden Has Its Opening Date

      “After a long period of being fenced off and closed to the public, a reflecting pool will soon be reopening after a major renovation. No, not that one. This reflecting pool is in the center of the Hirshhorn Museum’s sculpture garden, which will reopen Oct. 31.” – The Washington Post (MSN)

    • Nobody Boos At A Screen

      Good Morning,

      The U.S. has lost a fifth of its movie theaters and nearly a third of its bowling alleys since 2001 (Fortune). That’s not a taste story, it’s an infrastructure one — the places where strangers used to end up sitting next to each other are disappearing.

      The consequence shows up inside the rooms still standing: moviegoing has stopped being habit meeting spontaneity, and the question of what to see has collapsed into whether to go at all (The Atlantic). Instagram, meanwhile, is building a TV app on the theory that private scrolling becomes a shared activity if you move it to the big screen (The Atlantic).

      But a room still does something a feed can’t. Bayreuth audiences booed the AI-assembled projections in a Wagner staging (Los Angeles Times). Some additional evidence: remembering sequences, processing music and staying present with other people is exactly the demand researchers think helps hold dementia off (Harper’s Bazaar).

      All of our stories below.

    • A Boston Symphony Lesson: Limits Of A Music Critic?

      The answer cannot simply be that the critic is more objective. Objectivity is valuable, but proximity matters as well. Critics attend performances. Audiences hear concerts. Administrators oversee institutions. But only the musicians experience the entire artistic relationship. – Orlando Alonso

    PEOPLE

    • Trump White House’s Proposed Budget Includes Funding Cuts And Staff Layoffs At Smithsonian

      “For fiscal year 2027, the White House has proposed giving the Smithsonian $961.3 million in federal funding, roughly an 11% cut from the $1.08 billion Congress provided to it fiscal year 2026 and the institution’s lowest proposed funding level since at least 2020.” – ARTnews

    • London’s Royal Ballet And Opera Says It Needs £60 Million Just To Keep Its Building Open

      “The historic Covent Garden venue … has reported a ‘critical’ need to invest in its stage infrastructure and the ‘fabric of our building’. Without doing so, the theatre is at risk of equipment failures and performance cancellations, according to a review of the organisation’s financial health.” – The Times (UK)

    • Hirshhorn Museum’s New Sculpture Garden Has Its Opening Date

      “After a long period of being fenced off and closed to the public, a reflecting pool will soon be reopening after a major renovation. No, not that one. This reflecting pool is in the center of the Hirshhorn Museum’s sculpture garden, which will reopen Oct. 31.” – The Washington Post (MSN)

    • Nobody Boos At A Screen

      Good Morning,

      The U.S. has lost a fifth of its movie theaters and nearly a third of its bowling alleys since 2001 (Fortune). That’s not a taste story, it’s an infrastructure one — the places where strangers used to end up sitting next to each other are disappearing.

      The consequence shows up inside the rooms still standing: moviegoing has stopped being habit meeting spontaneity, and the question of what to see has collapsed into whether to go at all (The Atlantic). Instagram, meanwhile, is building a TV app on the theory that private scrolling becomes a shared activity if you move it to the big screen (The Atlantic).

      But a room still does something a feed can’t. Bayreuth audiences booed the AI-assembled projections in a Wagner staging (Los Angeles Times). Some additional evidence: remembering sequences, processing music and staying present with other people is exactly the demand researchers think helps hold dementia off (Harper’s Bazaar).

      All of our stories below.

    • A Boston Symphony Lesson: Limits Of A Music Critic?

      The answer cannot simply be that the critic is more objective. Objectivity is valuable, but proximity matters as well. Critics attend performances. Audiences hear concerts. Administrators oversee institutions. But only the musicians experience the entire artistic relationship. – Orlando Alonso

    THEATRE

      VISUAL

      • Guardrails For AI Didn’t Work. So Bring In The Philosophers

        “Efforts [to stop the generation of harmful content] were initially focused around putting in simple black-and-white guardrails, such as forbidding a model from talking about bombs entirely. But these proved clumsy and easy to circumvent. Now, companies are pursuing methods that lean heavily on a philosophical understanding of right and wrong.” – The AI Humanist

      • America Is Losing Its Public Gathering Spaces

        According to its Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages—which counts business establishments by industry down to the county level going back to 1990—the U.S. has lost a fifth of its movie theaters and nearly a third of its bowling alleys since 2001. – Fortune

      • Google Briefly Allowed AI Manipulation Of Google Earth Satellite Images. Bad Idea

        Google briefly allowed anyone to create AI-modified versions of satellite imagery available in Google Earth—before quickly reversing its decision as people shared examples of AI-generated pictures that illustrated the potential for misinformation and disinformation. – Ars Technica

      • Question: Is It Even Possible To Make Non-Creepy Smart Glasses?

        Sure, everyone has phones, but “the phone still needs to be pulled out, held up, and have its camera activated to capture a photo or film a video. Smart glasses, with small built-in cameras and the user’s ability to obfuscate the recording notification, are much sneakier.” – Wired

      • The Power Of Images, Or, How Fake Towns On Maps Sometimes Became Real

        “The logic is simple: two cartographers might easily draw the same real town, but two cartographers can’t independently dream up the same fake one. So if a rival’s map contains the same invented place, it all but proves they copied the map.” – Open Culture

      WORDS