AJ Four Ways: Text Only (by date) | headlines only
DANCE
IDEAS
- When Ice Cream Beats the Vermeers
Good Morning,
The Museum of Ice Cream and its cousin the Museum of Balloons are printing money while traditional museums count their deficits (The New York Times). The lesson isn’t that audiences got dumber, it’s that they’ll pay handsomely for an experience they can photograph, and a Rothko isn’t sexy enough for TikTok. Ah, the Selfie Generation.
Traditional institutions are suffering for it. DePaul shut down its art museum’s daily operations but kept the collection on campus, removing art from the public discourse (WBEZ). In Australia, art prizes have lately become pay-to-play, charging artists to enter the very contests meant to discover them (ArtsHub) and the expenses add up fast.
Elsewhere, the Trump administration erased mentions of slavery from two more historic sites in Philadelphia (MSN). So is our culture’s problem fake news or incorrect facts? A smart essay argues our crisis isn’t a facts problem but an interpretation-of-facts problem (Persuasion). Control which facts survive and interpretation takes care of itself.
Also: David Sedaris confesses to a Duolingo habit serious enough to alarm his fans (The Guardian).
All of our stories below.
Doug
- Executive Director – Kansas City Ballet working with Management Consultants for the Arts
Kansas City Ballet (KCB) seeks a strategic and visionary leader to co-lead one of America’s longest-established professional ballet companies. As the organization’s chief administrative leader, the next Executive Director will develop institutional resilience and drive team momentum for long-term success. Partnering with Artistic Director Devon Carney and the Board of Directors, the next Executive Director will champion bold entrepreneurial strategies to build resources, expand connections, and ensure KCB’s continued artistic and operational growth. Kansas City Ballet has engaged Management Consultants for the Arts to lead the search, and interested candidates may apply for this position by visiting this link: https://www.mcaonline.com/searches/executive-director-kc-ballet
The salary range for the Executive Director role starts at $200,000 and benefits will be highly competitive with other ballet companies of comparable size and stature. KCB has engaged Management Consultants for the Arts to facilitate this search, with the project led by Jonathan West and Shruti Adhar. The search committee, consisting of 8 KCB Board members, is led by Barbara Storm, immediate past president of the Board. Kansas City Ballet plans to make its decision by Fall 2026.
Founded in 1957 by Tatiana Dokoudovska, KCB has been led artistically by a series of creative and dedicated professionals. These include Todd Bolender, William Whitener, and since 2013, Devon Carney. More information on Kansas City Ballet can be found at https://kcballet.org/.
- Executive Director – The Town Hall
The Town Hall (Town Hall), the storied performance hall in the heart of New York City’s theater district, invites applications for its Executive Director position. Combining a deep passion for a broad range of cultural creativity and the desire to shape the next chapter for one of New York City’s most celebrated venues, the role will be charged with expanding Town Hall’s reach, impact, and importance in the intersection of performing arts, education outreach, and civic engagement. The new Executive Director will serve as the chief executive of this legendary 1,500-seat venue, overseeing a dynamic portfolio of programming that has long brought diverse communities together through music, discourse, and one-of-a-kind performances. At a pivotal moment in the organization’s history, the incoming Executive Director will have the opportunity to deeply influence the next chapter of a venue that has served New York City and the world for more than a century, ensuring it remains a vital, vibrant, and accessible gathering place for generations to come. The Town Hall has engaged Management Consultants for the Arts to lead the search, and interested candidates may apply for this position by visiting this link: https://www.mcaonline.com/searches/town-hall-executive-director
Town Hall endeavors to make a hiring decision by the fourth quarter of 2026, with the selected candidate transitioning into the position by the start of the new year. The salary range starts at $225,000 annually and includes a full benefit package. The Town Hall is an equal opportunity employer that celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Any offer of employment will be conditional upon satisfactory completion of a background check and reference conversations.
The Town Hall is one of America’s great civic and cultural institutions. Founded in 1921 by suffragists and located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, the venue was built as a space for public discourse and democratic engagement. Its 1,500-seat National Historic Landmark auditorium is renowned for landmark concerts, lectures, political debates, and artistic milestones that have shaped American cultural life. Today, Town Hall presents a wide-ranging calendar of programming — including music of virtually every genre, comedy, spoken word, literary events, education outreach, and civic programming — while maintaining a commitment to the accessibility and community spirit that has defined the institution from its earliest days. More information on The Town Hall can be found at https://www.thetownhall.org/.
- ‘The Wild Heart’ Dylan Mattingly Makes Debut on Nonesuch Records
<a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2026/07/the-wild-heart-dylan-mattingly-makes-debut-on-nonesuch-records.html" title="‘The Wild Heart’
Dylan Mattingly Makes Debut on - David Sedaris Confesses His Duolingo Addiction
“My problem arose when I discovered Duolingo’s competitive aspect, when I learned that it is essentially a game. … This means forgoing any real learning, and earning easy points by simply reading sentences out loud.” An excerpt from his latest book, The Land and Its People. – The Guardian
ISSUES
- It’s Expensive To Enter Australia’s Art Prize Competitions. But Hard To Give Them Up
In today’s landscape, prizes are no longer a nice little extra, or a back pat that arrives at the end of a long and successful career. They’re a serious part of the machinery. – ArtsHub
- DePaul Museum Just Closed. But Its Collection Will Stay On Campus
The DePaul Art Museum announcement came two months after the university laid off 114 full-time and part-time staff. Administrators referenced financial troubles due to a significant drop in international graduate student enrollment, increased demand for financial aid and the rising costs of benefits. – WBEZ
- Zelenskyy Suggests A Replacement For The Long-Toppled Lenin Monument In Kyiv
The statue of the father of the USSR was pulled down by demonstrators during the Euromaidan demonstrations in 2013; the pedestal has stood empty ever since. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has officially proposed that a bust of Ivan Mazepa, who led the Cossack state from 1687 to 1709, should go in that spot. – ARTnews
- As Many Traditional Museums Struggle, The Museum Of Ice Cream And Museum Of Balloons Are Raking The Visitor Dollars In
“When audience levels have plateaued at many traditional museums, the ability of entertainment companies styled as arts institutions to siphon away visitors poses a new challenge to the industry.” As one think-tank director said, “The culture has diverged, and museums could have done more to seem relevant to people.” – The New York Times
- New Seizures Of Looted Met Museum Art: Total Now $95M
Investigators since 2017 have seized more than 120 artifacts from the Met ranging in value from $20,000 to $26 million, plus hundreds of smaller items, such as rare pottery fragments, belt clasps, ax heads, safety pins and goddess figurines, according to an inventory by the office of Manhattan district attorney Alvin L. Bragg. – The New York Times
MEDIA
- The Think Tank Leading Trump’s War On Education
The think tank has crafted model legislation to remake colleges and universities as race-blind institutions, fueled the campaign to oust Claudine Gay as president of Harvard, and turned City Journal, its quarterly magazine, into a platform for attacking diversity programs, grade inflation, and university presidents’ capitulation to the demands of left-leaning students and faculty. – Chronicle of Higher Education
- Trump Administration Wiped All Mention Of Slavery From Two More Historic Sites In Philadelphia
In addition to the much-litigated case of the George Washington house site, all references to enslaved people were quietly removed from Independence Hall and from the wall panel text for the Thomas Jefferson portrait at the nearby Second Bank of the United States. – The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
- General Custer And The Changing Cultural Record
Artists and writers have interpreted and reinterpreted George Armstrong Custer, who died in a storied battle that just had a major anniversary. – The New York Times
- Philadelphia Cultural Fund And Mural Arts Philadelphia To Make Deep Cuts After Funding Reductions From City
“The Cultural Fund will be forced to reduce the number of grants it had been expecting to distribute in the coming year, from 332 to 232. It has changed its eligibility requirements, eliminating grants to a pool of midsize organizations.” Mural Arts, meanwhile, is reducing its budget by 26%. – The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
- New York’s Little Island Has Cut Its Performance Schedule In Half
Last summer the outdoor venue on stilts in the Hudson River presented 100 performances over four months; this year’s season is offering 56 performances over six weeks. The stated reason for the change is that funder Barry Diller “wants to take programming in a different direction.” – The New York Times
MUSIC
- Tween Girls Read A Variety Of Books While Tween Boys Stick With Grade-School-Age Fiction: Study
“Among the boys aged 11 to 14 who were surveyed, eight of the 10 most read books were from Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Girls’ reading was spread across a wider range of authors and genres including Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper … and Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games.” – The Guardian
- What I Learned About Myself Through Translating
“Translators like to say, we discover our authors,” writes translator and novelist Anton Hur. “But maybe we’re wrong. Maybe the books choose us.” – American Scholar
- For The First Time, The Complete Text Of A Vesuvius Scroll Has Been Deciphered
These 1,800 papyrus scrolls from Herculaneum, the only such library collection from ancient Rome to survive, were carbonized by the Vesuvius eruption; the scrolls would crumble if physically unrolled, so scientists are using X-ray and AI technology to decipher them. The first scroll to be completely readable is a text about Stoicism. – Smithsonian Magazine
- Mounting Scientific Evidence That Reading On Screens Results In Lower Comprehension
Reading comprehension was significantly lower when the students read on screens. The researchers also found that the number of “transitions,” where students would go back and re-read the text before submitting their answers, more than doubled—and in some cases tripled—when kids read on screens. – Time
- Why You Need To Be A Better Reader
Navigating today’s digital information landscape requires strong critical evaluation skills. Reading plays a central role in this process by serving not only as a means of acquiring information but also of distinguishing credible claims from misinformation. But only a specific kind of reading builds that capacity. The difference is between passive and active reading. – The Conversation
PEOPLE
- When Ice Cream Beats the Vermeers
Good Morning,
The Museum of Ice Cream and its cousin the Museum of Balloons are printing money while traditional museums count their deficits (The New York Times). The lesson isn’t that audiences got dumber, it’s that they’ll pay handsomely for an experience they can photograph, and a Rothko isn’t sexy enough for TikTok. Ah, the Selfie Generation.
Traditional institutions are suffering for it. DePaul shut down its art museum’s daily operations but kept the collection on campus, removing art from the public discourse (WBEZ). In Australia, art prizes have lately become pay-to-play, charging artists to enter the very contests meant to discover them (ArtsHub) and the expenses add up fast.
Elsewhere, the Trump administration erased mentions of slavery from two more historic sites in Philadelphia (MSN). So is our culture’s problem fake news or incorrect facts? A smart essay argues our crisis isn’t a facts problem but an interpretation-of-facts problem (Persuasion). Control which facts survive and interpretation takes care of itself.
Also: David Sedaris confesses to a Duolingo habit serious enough to alarm his fans (The Guardian).
All of our stories below.
Doug
- Executive Director – Kansas City Ballet working with Management Consultants for the Arts
Kansas City Ballet (KCB) seeks a strategic and visionary leader to co-lead one of America’s longest-established professional ballet companies. As the organization’s chief administrative leader, the next Executive Director will develop institutional resilience and drive team momentum for long-term success. Partnering with Artistic Director Devon Carney and the Board of Directors, the next Executive Director will champion bold entrepreneurial strategies to build resources, expand connections, and ensure KCB’s continued artistic and operational growth. Kansas City Ballet has engaged Management Consultants for the Arts to lead the search, and interested candidates may apply for this position by visiting this link: https://www.mcaonline.com/searches/executive-director-kc-ballet
The salary range for the Executive Director role starts at $200,000 and benefits will be highly competitive with other ballet companies of comparable size and stature. KCB has engaged Management Consultants for the Arts to facilitate this search, with the project led by Jonathan West and Shruti Adhar. The search committee, consisting of 8 KCB Board members, is led by Barbara Storm, immediate past president of the Board. Kansas City Ballet plans to make its decision by Fall 2026.
Founded in 1957 by Tatiana Dokoudovska, KCB has been led artistically by a series of creative and dedicated professionals. These include Todd Bolender, William Whitener, and since 2013, Devon Carney. More information on Kansas City Ballet can be found at https://kcballet.org/.
- Executive Director – The Town Hall
The Town Hall (Town Hall), the storied performance hall in the heart of New York City’s theater district, invites applications for its Executive Director position. Combining a deep passion for a broad range of cultural creativity and the desire to shape the next chapter for one of New York City’s most celebrated venues, the role will be charged with expanding Town Hall’s reach, impact, and importance in the intersection of performing arts, education outreach, and civic engagement. The new Executive Director will serve as the chief executive of this legendary 1,500-seat venue, overseeing a dynamic portfolio of programming that has long brought diverse communities together through music, discourse, and one-of-a-kind performances. At a pivotal moment in the organization’s history, the incoming Executive Director will have the opportunity to deeply influence the next chapter of a venue that has served New York City and the world for more than a century, ensuring it remains a vital, vibrant, and accessible gathering place for generations to come. The Town Hall has engaged Management Consultants for the Arts to lead the search, and interested candidates may apply for this position by visiting this link: https://www.mcaonline.com/searches/town-hall-executive-director
Town Hall endeavors to make a hiring decision by the fourth quarter of 2026, with the selected candidate transitioning into the position by the start of the new year. The salary range starts at $225,000 annually and includes a full benefit package. The Town Hall is an equal opportunity employer that celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Any offer of employment will be conditional upon satisfactory completion of a background check and reference conversations.
The Town Hall is one of America’s great civic and cultural institutions. Founded in 1921 by suffragists and located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, the venue was built as a space for public discourse and democratic engagement. Its 1,500-seat National Historic Landmark auditorium is renowned for landmark concerts, lectures, political debates, and artistic milestones that have shaped American cultural life. Today, Town Hall presents a wide-ranging calendar of programming — including music of virtually every genre, comedy, spoken word, literary events, education outreach, and civic programming — while maintaining a commitment to the accessibility and community spirit that has defined the institution from its earliest days. More information on The Town Hall can be found at https://www.thetownhall.org/.
- ‘The Wild Heart’ Dylan Mattingly Makes Debut on Nonesuch Records<a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2026/07/the-wild-heart-dylan-mattingly-makes-debut-on-nonesuch-records.html" title="‘The Wild Heart’
Dylan Mattingly Makes Debut on - David Sedaris Confesses His Duolingo Addiction
“My problem arose when I discovered Duolingo’s competitive aspect, when I learned that it is essentially a game. … This means forgoing any real learning, and earning easy points by simply reading sentences out loud.” An excerpt from his latest book, The Land and Its People. – The Guardian
PEOPLE
- When Ice Cream Beats the Vermeers
Good Morning,
The Museum of Ice Cream and its cousin the Museum of Balloons are printing money while traditional museums count their deficits (The New York Times). The lesson isn’t that audiences got dumber, it’s that they’ll pay handsomely for an experience they can photograph, and a Rothko isn’t sexy enough for TikTok. Ah, the Selfie Generation.
Traditional institutions are suffering for it. DePaul shut down its art museum’s daily operations but kept the collection on campus, removing art from the public discourse (WBEZ). In Australia, art prizes have lately become pay-to-play, charging artists to enter the very contests meant to discover them (ArtsHub) and the expenses add up fast.
Elsewhere, the Trump administration erased mentions of slavery from two more historic sites in Philadelphia (MSN). So is our culture’s problem fake news or incorrect facts? A smart essay argues our crisis isn’t a facts problem but an interpretation-of-facts problem (Persuasion). Control which facts survive and interpretation takes care of itself.
Also: David Sedaris confesses to a Duolingo habit serious enough to alarm his fans (The Guardian).
All of our stories below.
Doug
- Executive Director – Kansas City Ballet working with Management Consultants for the Arts
Kansas City Ballet (KCB) seeks a strategic and visionary leader to co-lead one of America’s longest-established professional ballet companies. As the organization’s chief administrative leader, the next Executive Director will develop institutional resilience and drive team momentum for long-term success. Partnering with Artistic Director Devon Carney and the Board of Directors, the next Executive Director will champion bold entrepreneurial strategies to build resources, expand connections, and ensure KCB’s continued artistic and operational growth. Kansas City Ballet has engaged Management Consultants for the Arts to lead the search, and interested candidates may apply for this position by visiting this link: https://www.mcaonline.com/searches/executive-director-kc-ballet
The salary range for the Executive Director role starts at $200,000 and benefits will be highly competitive with other ballet companies of comparable size and stature. KCB has engaged Management Consultants for the Arts to facilitate this search, with the project led by Jonathan West and Shruti Adhar. The search committee, consisting of 8 KCB Board members, is led by Barbara Storm, immediate past president of the Board. Kansas City Ballet plans to make its decision by Fall 2026.
Founded in 1957 by Tatiana Dokoudovska, KCB has been led artistically by a series of creative and dedicated professionals. These include Todd Bolender, William Whitener, and since 2013, Devon Carney. More information on Kansas City Ballet can be found at https://kcballet.org/.
- Executive Director – The Town Hall
The Town Hall (Town Hall), the storied performance hall in the heart of New York City’s theater district, invites applications for its Executive Director position. Combining a deep passion for a broad range of cultural creativity and the desire to shape the next chapter for one of New York City’s most celebrated venues, the role will be charged with expanding Town Hall’s reach, impact, and importance in the intersection of performing arts, education outreach, and civic engagement. The new Executive Director will serve as the chief executive of this legendary 1,500-seat venue, overseeing a dynamic portfolio of programming that has long brought diverse communities together through music, discourse, and one-of-a-kind performances. At a pivotal moment in the organization’s history, the incoming Executive Director will have the opportunity to deeply influence the next chapter of a venue that has served New York City and the world for more than a century, ensuring it remains a vital, vibrant, and accessible gathering place for generations to come. The Town Hall has engaged Management Consultants for the Arts to lead the search, and interested candidates may apply for this position by visiting this link: https://www.mcaonline.com/searches/town-hall-executive-director
Town Hall endeavors to make a hiring decision by the fourth quarter of 2026, with the selected candidate transitioning into the position by the start of the new year. The salary range starts at $225,000 annually and includes a full benefit package. The Town Hall is an equal opportunity employer that celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. Any offer of employment will be conditional upon satisfactory completion of a background check and reference conversations.
The Town Hall is one of America’s great civic and cultural institutions. Founded in 1921 by suffragists and located in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, the venue was built as a space for public discourse and democratic engagement. Its 1,500-seat National Historic Landmark auditorium is renowned for landmark concerts, lectures, political debates, and artistic milestones that have shaped American cultural life. Today, Town Hall presents a wide-ranging calendar of programming — including music of virtually every genre, comedy, spoken word, literary events, education outreach, and civic programming — while maintaining a commitment to the accessibility and community spirit that has defined the institution from its earliest days. More information on The Town Hall can be found at https://www.thetownhall.org/.
- ‘The Wild Heart’ Dylan Mattingly Makes Debut on Nonesuch Records<a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2026/07/the-wild-heart-dylan-mattingly-makes-debut-on-nonesuch-records.html" title="‘The Wild Heart’
Dylan Mattingly Makes Debut on - David Sedaris Confesses His Duolingo Addiction
“My problem arose when I discovered Duolingo’s competitive aspect, when I learned that it is essentially a game. … This means forgoing any real learning, and earning easy points by simply reading sentences out loud.” An excerpt from his latest book, The Land and Its People. – The Guardian
THEATRE
VISUAL
- Do We Have A Facts Problem Or An Interpretation-Of-Facts Problem?
Citizens can agree on verifiable facts and still inhabit different worlds, because facts do not interpret themselves. To see why, we need to look beyond narrow factual disagreements to the competing systems of interpretation through which people select, categorize, frame, connect, explain, and narrate facts. – Persuasion
- Why It’s So Difficult To Calculate Benefits And Costs Of Technology Innovation
When a tool reliably performs a cognitive operation, the internal capacity for that operation tends to weaken with disuse. People who know they can look up something on Google develop weaker memory for the information itself, and habitual GPS users show measurable decline in hippocampal-dependent spatial navigation. – Aeon
- Why Leisure Is A Tough Gig
Give people an hour with nothing scheduled, and many fill it with thoughts of to-dos: the unanswered email, the errand that’s been put off, the project due next week. Free time is sometimes less a chance to rest than an opportunity to take inventory of our obligations. – The Atlantic
- Does Listening To Music While You Work Help You Focus?
Researchers generally agree that the relationship between music and learning is complex. The effects of music on studying and other cognitively demanding tasks appear to depend on the type of task performed, the kind of music and the students themselves. – The Conversation
- When Being A Critic Was Glamorous
If you look at these people—literally look at photos or watch footage—you discover that they were either beautiful or charismatic, or both. They all appeared on television. Among fiction writers of that time, maybe Philip Roth had some of that swagger, quick wit, amused air, though he also had a professorial, sweater-wearing side. – The Ideas Letter
