AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- The Epic Journey Of Ukraine’s Origami Concrete Deer To The Venice Biennale
The journey began in 2018. “Over time [the deer] became a landmark, a well-known feature of the city. It was a peaceable, delicate creature to replace a symbol of military domination and violence. Fast forward to the summer of 2024.” – The Guardian (UK)
- The Great Culture Schism: Money, Audience and Authority
This Week’s Highlights:
The Boston Symphony has been “living on borrowed time” for years, says Keith Lockhart (Boston Globe). The Jungle Theater in Minneapolis has put its building up for sale (Star Tribune). London’s National Gallery — in such precarious shape it has just hired an economist-in-residence — warns that “if they catch cold, the rest of us will get pneumonia” (Financial Times). Boston’s forward-thinking progressive mayor wants to cut the city arts budget by 27% (Boston Art Review). Hampshire College is selling off its campus to retire $25 million in debt (MassLive).
Wealthy amateurs are paying to “conduct” professional orchestras for an evening (The Baffler). San Francisco has named its first arts and culture czar with authority over three city agencies (SF Chronicle). Oxford has opened a billion-dollar humanities complex (The Guardian). The Guardian’s reader-funded American newsroom now has more U.S. readers than the Washington Post does (The Rebooting). And Banksy installed a marching man in Westminster overnight, flag obscuring the face (The Guardian).
So money, audience, and authority are all moving sideways out of the old vertical architecture into arrangements that don’t yet have institutional names. This week I looked into the relative size of non-profit culture and commercial culture, which helps put some of these issues in perspective. The culture universe is bigger than the structures that used to map it — which is the thread I pull in this week’s AJ Chronicles.
All this week’s stories below, organized by topic.
- Director of Production – Union Arts Center
Union Arts Center, home of ACT Contemporary Theatre & Seattle Shakespeare Company, is excited to announce an opening for a Director of Production (DOP). Union Arts Center (UAC) has successfully launched our inaugural season, which includes both contemporary and classical works. This is a momentous opportunity to join our merged organization within a collaborative and creative work environment. See more details about responsibilities and qualifications at https://www.unionartscenter.org/about/work-with-us/
The Director of Production is the head of the Production Department and an integral member of UAC’s senior leadership team. The DoP is responsible for the realization of UAC’s artistic vision, accountable for the quality of production values, and the efficient management of all production and artistic resources.
As Head of the Production Department, the DoP is responsible for developing, planning, budgeting, scheduling, implementing, and supervising all production activities. An essential component of this position is being a consistent role model of inclusive leadership, incorporating performance management best practices such as routinely thoughtfully receiving and delivering feedback.
The DoP reports to the Artistic Director. Direct reports include the Technical Director, Costume Department Manager, and Associate Production Manager. Indirect management of all shop staff. Position requirements include working onsite and managing an irregular schedule, including nights and weekends.
The annual salary for this full-time, exempt position is $110,000. The role is a primarily onsite position. UAC provides comprehensive benefits, including access to medical insurance, with UAC paying 92% of monthly deductible for the HMO plan, and dental and vision insurance with
employee contribution. Long term and life insurance premiums are fully covered by UAC. We offer 11 paid holidays, access to a 403b plan and $6 downtown Seattle parking and free tickets to UAC productions. PTO begins at 20 days per year and employees accrue sick time per Seattle Paid Sick
and Safe Time (PSST).Please apply by email your resume and a cover letter outlining your interest in the position and your qualifications at work@unionartscenter.org. If accommodations may be needed for the application process, please contact work@unionartscenter.org.
- AJ Chronicles: Are Our Attention Spans Killing Culture or Reassembling It?
Depth hasn’t disappeared. Perhaps it’s gone lateral. The vertical architecture that produced “official” cultural memory has cracked, but the appetite for tradition — for context, for lineage, for the why — has migrated to wherever audiences and individuals can build their own context and throughlines. Sometimes those lines are deep obsessive sturdy. Sometimes they are skimming across the surface of micro-videos and news of the day.
The post AJ Chronicles: Are Our Attention Spans Killing Culture or Reassembling It? appeared first on diacritical.
- Kaneza Schaal talks about America 250 at the Detroit Opera
Kaneza Schaal, Theater & Opera Artist & Director, talks about the extraordinary upcoming America at 250 season at Detroit Opera and its impact for audiences and community.
ISSUES
- The Epic Journey Of Ukraine’s Origami Concrete Deer To The Venice Biennale
The journey began in 2018. “Over time [the deer] became a landmark, a well-known feature of the city. It was a peaceable, delicate creature to replace a symbol of military domination and violence. Fast forward to the summer of 2024.” – The Guardian (UK)
- London’s New Banksy Statue Appears In The Middle of The Night
The sculpture depicts a man marching forward off a plinth while carrying a large, billowing flag that obscures his face. A video Banksy posted on social media shows the statue being towed to Westminster in the dead of night, alongside shots of the nearby statue of Winston Churchill. – The Guardian
- Gallery Appoints Economist-In-Residence
“We radically, radically need something new, because old thinking isn’t getting us anywhere. In my 30 years in the cultural sector I’ve never known a situation in which so many major institutions — the National Gallery, Tate — are in such a precarious economic state. If they catch cold, the rest of us will get pneumonia.” – Financial Times
- Check Out The Plans For Putting An Actual Park In The Middle Of Park Avenue
“A century ago, the median down … Park Avenue was much more welcoming than it is today, a place with seating and substantial plantings where you’d consider spending time. … In 2024, (New York City) announced a call for proposals wherein those two lanes would be reclaimed from traffic for leisure and greenery.” – Vulture (MSN)
- The Entire Venice Biennale Jury Has Resigned
“(The move was made) just nine days before the world’s oldest and most important contemporary art fair opens, amid tensions over Russia’s participation and the panel’s decision to bar prizes for countries accused of crimes against humanity.” – AP
MEDIA
- City Of San Francisco Names Its First-Ever Arts And Culture Czar
“Longtime arts and city government veteran Matthew Goudeau has been named San Francisco’s first executive director of arts and culture. … To that end, Goudeau will oversee three of the city’s most important arts entities: the San Francisco Arts Commission, Grants for the Arts and the Film Commission.” – San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
- Money Troubles And Layoffs At California Academy Of Sciences In San Francisco
“The museum and research center … plans to lay off 53 employees and scale back some programs as it grapples with a growing budget deficit driven by rising costs and lagging revenue. The cuts, announced Tuesday, will affect about 9.3% of the academy’s workforce.” – San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
- 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
MUSIC
- The Struggle To Protect Mauritania’s Medieval Library Town
Chinguetti developed as a trading post on the trans-Sahara caravan route to Timbuktu — and, as in Timbuktu, over the centuries Chinguetti families came to amass important collections of medieval manuscripts on religion, law, and science. Now, as the population dwindles and the desert sand encroaches, preserving these collections is a challenge. – The Dial
- Idaho Legislature Changes Book Ban As Court Challenges Continue
The three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit wrote that HB 710 enables a “system of informal censorship” and potentially “encourages formal censorship through the legal process. The First Amendment does not tolerate either outcome.” – Publishers Weekly
- 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
PEOPLE
- The Epic Journey Of Ukraine’s Origami Concrete Deer To The Venice Biennale
The journey began in 2018. “Over time [the deer] became a landmark, a well-known feature of the city. It was a peaceable, delicate creature to replace a symbol of military domination and violence. Fast forward to the summer of 2024.” – The Guardian (UK)
- The Great Culture Schism: Money, Audience and Authority
This Week’s Highlights:
The Boston Symphony has been “living on borrowed time” for years, says Keith Lockhart (Boston Globe). The Jungle Theater in Minneapolis has put its building up for sale (Star Tribune). London’s National Gallery — in such precarious shape it has just hired an economist-in-residence — warns that “if they catch cold, the rest of us will get pneumonia” (Financial Times). Boston’s forward-thinking progressive mayor wants to cut the city arts budget by 27% (Boston Art Review). Hampshire College is selling off its campus to retire $25 million in debt (MassLive).
Wealthy amateurs are paying to “conduct” professional orchestras for an evening (The Baffler). San Francisco has named its first arts and culture czar with authority over three city agencies (SF Chronicle). Oxford has opened a billion-dollar humanities complex (The Guardian). The Guardian’s reader-funded American newsroom now has more U.S. readers than the Washington Post does (The Rebooting). And Banksy installed a marching man in Westminster overnight, flag obscuring the face (The Guardian).
So money, audience, and authority are all moving sideways out of the old vertical architecture into arrangements that don’t yet have institutional names. This week I looked into the relative size of non-profit culture and commercial culture, which helps put some of these issues in perspective. The culture universe is bigger than the structures that used to map it — which is the thread I pull in this week’s AJ Chronicles.
All this week’s stories below, organized by topic.
- Director of Production – Union Arts Center
Union Arts Center, home of ACT Contemporary Theatre & Seattle Shakespeare Company, is excited to announce an opening for a Director of Production (DOP). Union Arts Center (UAC) has successfully launched our inaugural season, which includes both contemporary and classical works. This is a momentous opportunity to join our merged organization within a collaborative and creative work environment. See more details about responsibilities and qualifications at https://www.unionartscenter.org/about/work-with-us/
The Director of Production is the head of the Production Department and an integral member of UAC’s senior leadership team. The DoP is responsible for the realization of UAC’s artistic vision, accountable for the quality of production values, and the efficient management of all production and artistic resources.
As Head of the Production Department, the DoP is responsible for developing, planning, budgeting, scheduling, implementing, and supervising all production activities. An essential component of this position is being a consistent role model of inclusive leadership, incorporating performance management best practices such as routinely thoughtfully receiving and delivering feedback.
The DoP reports to the Artistic Director. Direct reports include the Technical Director, Costume Department Manager, and Associate Production Manager. Indirect management of all shop staff. Position requirements include working onsite and managing an irregular schedule, including nights and weekends.
The annual salary for this full-time, exempt position is $110,000. The role is a primarily onsite position. UAC provides comprehensive benefits, including access to medical insurance, with UAC paying 92% of monthly deductible for the HMO plan, and dental and vision insurance with
employee contribution. Long term and life insurance premiums are fully covered by UAC. We offer 11 paid holidays, access to a 403b plan and $6 downtown Seattle parking and free tickets to UAC productions. PTO begins at 20 days per year and employees accrue sick time per Seattle Paid Sick
and Safe Time (PSST).Please apply by email your resume and a cover letter outlining your interest in the position and your qualifications at work@unionartscenter.org. If accommodations may be needed for the application process, please contact work@unionartscenter.org.
- AJ Chronicles: Are Our Attention Spans Killing Culture or Reassembling It?
Depth hasn’t disappeared. Perhaps it’s gone lateral. The vertical architecture that produced “official” cultural memory has cracked, but the appetite for tradition — for context, for lineage, for the why — has migrated to wherever audiences and individuals can build their own context and throughlines. Sometimes those lines are deep obsessive sturdy. Sometimes they are skimming across the surface of micro-videos and news of the day.
The post AJ Chronicles: Are Our Attention Spans Killing Culture or Reassembling It? appeared first on diacritical.
- Kaneza Schaal talks about America 250 at the Detroit Opera
Kaneza Schaal, Theater & Opera Artist & Director, talks about the extraordinary upcoming America at 250 season at Detroit Opera and its impact for audiences and community.
PEOPLE
- The Epic Journey Of Ukraine’s Origami Concrete Deer To The Venice Biennale
The journey began in 2018. “Over time [the deer] became a landmark, a well-known feature of the city. It was a peaceable, delicate creature to replace a symbol of military domination and violence. Fast forward to the summer of 2024.” – The Guardian (UK)
- The Great Culture Schism: Money, Audience and Authority
This Week’s Highlights:
The Boston Symphony has been “living on borrowed time” for years, says Keith Lockhart (Boston Globe). The Jungle Theater in Minneapolis has put its building up for sale (Star Tribune). London’s National Gallery — in such precarious shape it has just hired an economist-in-residence — warns that “if they catch cold, the rest of us will get pneumonia” (Financial Times). Boston’s forward-thinking progressive mayor wants to cut the city arts budget by 27% (Boston Art Review). Hampshire College is selling off its campus to retire $25 million in debt (MassLive).
Wealthy amateurs are paying to “conduct” professional orchestras for an evening (The Baffler). San Francisco has named its first arts and culture czar with authority over three city agencies (SF Chronicle). Oxford has opened a billion-dollar humanities complex (The Guardian). The Guardian’s reader-funded American newsroom now has more U.S. readers than the Washington Post does (The Rebooting). And Banksy installed a marching man in Westminster overnight, flag obscuring the face (The Guardian).
So money, audience, and authority are all moving sideways out of the old vertical architecture into arrangements that don’t yet have institutional names. This week I looked into the relative size of non-profit culture and commercial culture, which helps put some of these issues in perspective. The culture universe is bigger than the structures that used to map it — which is the thread I pull in this week’s AJ Chronicles.
All this week’s stories below, organized by topic.
- Director of Production – Union Arts Center
Union Arts Center, home of ACT Contemporary Theatre & Seattle Shakespeare Company, is excited to announce an opening for a Director of Production (DOP). Union Arts Center (UAC) has successfully launched our inaugural season, which includes both contemporary and classical works. This is a momentous opportunity to join our merged organization within a collaborative and creative work environment. See more details about responsibilities and qualifications at https://www.unionartscenter.org/about/work-with-us/
The Director of Production is the head of the Production Department and an integral member of UAC’s senior leadership team. The DoP is responsible for the realization of UAC’s artistic vision, accountable for the quality of production values, and the efficient management of all production and artistic resources.
As Head of the Production Department, the DoP is responsible for developing, planning, budgeting, scheduling, implementing, and supervising all production activities. An essential component of this position is being a consistent role model of inclusive leadership, incorporating performance management best practices such as routinely thoughtfully receiving and delivering feedback.
The DoP reports to the Artistic Director. Direct reports include the Technical Director, Costume Department Manager, and Associate Production Manager. Indirect management of all shop staff. Position requirements include working onsite and managing an irregular schedule, including nights and weekends.
The annual salary for this full-time, exempt position is $110,000. The role is a primarily onsite position. UAC provides comprehensive benefits, including access to medical insurance, with UAC paying 92% of monthly deductible for the HMO plan, and dental and vision insurance with
employee contribution. Long term and life insurance premiums are fully covered by UAC. We offer 11 paid holidays, access to a 403b plan and $6 downtown Seattle parking and free tickets to UAC productions. PTO begins at 20 days per year and employees accrue sick time per Seattle Paid Sick
and Safe Time (PSST).Please apply by email your resume and a cover letter outlining your interest in the position and your qualifications at work@unionartscenter.org. If accommodations may be needed for the application process, please contact work@unionartscenter.org.
- AJ Chronicles: Are Our Attention Spans Killing Culture or Reassembling It?
Depth hasn’t disappeared. Perhaps it’s gone lateral. The vertical architecture that produced “official” cultural memory has cracked, but the appetite for tradition — for context, for lineage, for the why — has migrated to wherever audiences and individuals can build their own context and throughlines. Sometimes those lines are deep obsessive sturdy. Sometimes they are skimming across the surface of micro-videos and news of the day.
The post AJ Chronicles: Are Our Attention Spans Killing Culture or Reassembling It? appeared first on diacritical.
- Kaneza Schaal talks about America 250 at the Detroit Opera
Kaneza Schaal, Theater & Opera Artist & Director, talks about the extraordinary upcoming America at 250 season at Detroit Opera and its impact for audiences and community.
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Are Online Worlds The Only Place Children Have Unsupervised Freedom?
According to results from a 2025 Harris Poll, 62 per cent of American kids aged eight to 12 have never walked or biked somewhere without an adult. Roughly the same percentage have never made plans with friends without adult assistance, and almost half have never walked in a different aisle than their parents at a store. – Psyche
- What If There’s No Such Thing As Infinity?
“A lot of mathematicians just find the whole proposal preposterous,” said Joel David Hamkins(opens a new tab), a set theorist at the University of Notre Dame. Ultrafinitism is not polite talk at a mathematical society dinner. – Quanta
- AI And A Permanent Underclass
Whether you talk with engineers, venture capitalists, founders or managers, or with doomers, accelerationists, lefties or libertarians, the so-called San Francisco consensus on the impact of A.I. for workers is bleak. – The New York Times
- 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
