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- When A Financial Tech Company Stages An Industrial Musical On Broadway
“Bill Pay itself was extremely meta and self-aware, a post-postmodern pageant that would have given David Foster Wallace an aneurysm. … (It) felt like an indicator of where the broader cultural zeitgeist is headed: back to a not-so-recent past where wealthy companies devoted heaping shares of their budgets toward sheer pandering.” – Slate (Yahoo!)
- Opera Is Increasingly Expensive To Make. So How Will We Pay For It?
You can look at the finances of San Francisco Opera and what has changed in the last 45 or so years to understand what the company is dealing with. – San Francisco Classical Voice
- Court Upholds Thomson Reuters’ Landmark AI Copyright Win
The ruling marks the first federal appeals case to reject a fair use argument for using publisher content, without permission or compensation, to train a commercial AI product. – NiemanLab
- Chicago’s WBEZ And The Sun-Times Merged Four Years Ago. How’s It Going?
There’s that real energy of the live report of the Chicago Sun-Times, whereas WBEZ has always been a little bit more of an experience. You want to sit down and you want to capture those driveway moments where you really are connecting with people. – Medill Local News Initiative
- How An Old Warehouse Furnished With Scavenged Everything Became London’s Coolest Theatre
The Yard opened in an old industrial estate in July 2011; it was supposed to be a three-month pop-up but stayed for 14 years, presenting edgy stagings of classics and new work — and occasionally sending a production on to the National Theatre. Now it’s reopening after a £7 million renovation. – The Nerve (UK)
- Let’s Get Real: Intelligence Is About More Than Optimization
That slide from engineering model to human anthropology is easy to miss. We begin by saying: this is how machines work. Then, almost without noticing, we say: this is what intelligence is. And then, more dangerously still: perhaps this is what we are. – Aeon
- Calder Sculpture (His Last Work) Is Restored To US Senate Office Building
The piece was the only one created by Calder to have a separate stabile and a mobile. Set against Hart’s white marble walls and filling nearly the entire nine-story atrium, it was the kind of avant-garde, modern sculpture that defined Calder’s final works. – The New York Times
- Trump Explores Landmarking The Oval Office So Future Presidents Can’t Reverse His Changes
In the Time interview, the president said he was exploring the possibility of a new federal designation for the Oval Office, which he suggested could protect the office from being torn down and preserve his changes to it. – Washington Post
- Here Are The 2026 Dance Magazine Award Recipients
“This year’s Dance Magazine Awards will honor Germaine Acogny; Ayodele Casel; Final Bow for Yellowface; Cleo Parker Robinson; and Alice Sheppard. The Lydia Joel Award — recognizing behind-the-scenes dance leaders — will go to Alicia Adams, formerly of the Kennedy Center.” – Dance Magazine
- Is Writing Really The Best Way To Learn?
Writing can be useful cognitive scaffolding for memory and self-regulated learning, but the notion that it is the best process for developing thinking skills is a fairly recent idea, traceable to the 1970s writing-across-the-curriculum movement. – The New York Times
- Seattle Public Library Program To Make Banned Books Available Anywhere Hits 1M Checkouts
Books Unbanned is designed to give young people multiple ways to access digital books regardless of where they live or what their local library can provide. The library said some participants sign up because their local libraries have been censored or underfunded. – KOMO Seattle
- An Alternative Explanation Of Consciousness
Antonio Damasio argues, we “possess the celebrated gift of consciousness because of the continued presence and abundance of your homeostatic feelings.” According to Damasio, the conventional theories of consciousness have it backwards. – Undark
- Wave Of Robberies Has Europe’s Museums Wondering What Is And Isn’t Worth Displaying
“Replicas have long been used by museums when originals are too fragile, valuable or difficult to travel, and the recent spate of thefts has encouraged some to consider this practice more widely. … Visitors are finding more stand-ins and, in some cases, an empty space where a treasure used to be.” – BBC (Yahoo!)
- One Third Of Britain’s Arts Centres Have “No Financial Cushion”: Report
“Drawing on financial data and member surveys of more than 131 arts centres, the report concludes that … one third of arts centres across the UK have ‘little or no financial cushion’ with which to absorb further increases in costs, reductions in funding or unexpected expenditure.” – The Stage
- And The Name Of The Merged Paramount-Warner Bros. Megastudio Will Be … Skydance
“David Ellison on Friday shared on X that once Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery combine, the new corporate brand will take the name of the studio he founded 20 years ago. But while that will be the corporate name, Paramount and Warner Bros. will serve as sub-brands.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- After 11 Years, Spain’s Spectacular Royal Museums At El Escorial Have Reopened
El Escorial, the largest building erected anywhere during the Renaissance, was both a monastery and a royal palace; since the 1960s, the compound 45 miles northwest of Madrid has housed museums of painting and of architecture. In 2015 those museums were closed for updating; only now can the public visit again. – Art in Context
- That French Novel With The Plagiarism Accusation? It’s Now Number One On France’s Bestseller List
Haitian-Canadian novelist Thélyson Orélien’s C’était ça ou mourir (It Was Either That Or Die) was France’s literary sensation of the fall when another author claimed that Orélien used AI to write the novel. The Prix Goncourt removed the book from contention, but nevertheless, it’s currently the bestselling novel in France. – Rolling Stone
- What Librarians Want To Tell Their Fellow Americans About Libraries
“We spoke with dozens of librarians at the A.L.A. conference this summer. They came from rural towns and major cities, elementary schools and universities, local branches and big government agencies. … They want you to know about book bans and budget cuts, but also about career counseling and pop-up medical clinics.” – The New York Times
- Kennedy Center Is Selling Off Its Pianos
This week movers were photographed carting off the complex’s Steinway pianos, and a staffer at Steinway’s showroom in Washington, DC told a reporter that it was selling those pianos because the Kennedy Center is “closed.” – AlterNet (MSN)
- Dudamel’s Mahler and the Classical Music Challenge
- The Jacksonville Symphony seeks Vice President/Chief Advancement Officer.
ZRG Aspen Leadership Group is proud to partner with the Jacksonville Symphony in the search for a Vice President/Chief Advancement Officer.
Reporting to the President & Chief Executive Officer, the Vice President/Chief Advancement Officer will be responsible for planning, implementing, overseeing, and assessing Jacksonville Symphony’s development plans in support of the organization’s strategic vision and growth. As a key member of the leadership team, the CAO will effectively represent the organization’s development interests to constituencies, both internal and external, and will work in close collaboration with the CEO, the Development Committee, and the Annual Gala Committee to achieve philanthropic goals and build a case for support.
The CAO’s primary responsibility will be to develop the overall strategy for the annual fund, estate planning and completion of the current capital campaign, especially the identification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of major donors. In this effort, the CAO will primarily focus on high-net-worth individuals as well as cultivating relationships with major local and national foundations and corporations.
In addition to establishing and maintaining a personal portfolio of current and prospective major donors, the CAO will manage the development team, as well as oversee the data support function within the department, including prospect research. The CAO will succeed and lead by example in a mission-driven working environment that balances the need and relevance of programs with the efficiency of best business practices, fiscal accountability, and institutional impact.
The Jacksonville Symphony is North Florida’s leading nonprofit performing arts organization offering live performances in Jacoby Symphony Hall at the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts and other venues throughout the area. Founded in 1949, the Symphony has earned a distinguished national reputation for artistic excellence, innovative programming and meaningful community engagement. Led by President and CEO Steven Libman and Music Director Courtney Lewis, the Jacksonville Symphony reaches over 180,000 individuals through over 95 performances each season. The Symphony also provides musical instruction for youth and operates the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestras.
The Jacksonville Symphony stands on the cusp of a transformative era, one that will see it reach new heights of musical achievement and community impact. Through the Orchestrating Excellence campaign, it will invest in a series of exciting goals that promise to not only enhance the Symphony’s artistic distinction but also deepen the connection with the community it serves. The Symphony’s plans are ambitious, reflecting its commitment to excellence and belief in the transformative power of music.
With excellence as their guidepost, the Jacksonville Symphony is pursuing a working campaign goal of $50 million that will result in the Symphony’s financial strength and resilience necessary to sustain their musical excellence and service to the community into the Symphony’s next chapter. $45 million has already been raised toward the Orchestrating Excellence campaign’s $50 million goal.
A bachelor’s degree and at least ten years of experience are required for this position. The Jacksonville Symphony will consider candidates with a broad range of backgrounds. If you are excited about this role and feel that you can contribute to the Symphony, but your experience does not exactly align with every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply. All applications must be accompanied by a cover letter and résumé. Cover letters should be responsive to the mission of the Jacksonville Symphony and the responsibilities and qualifications specified in the position prospectus.
The salary range for this position is $150,000 to $170,000. The Jacksonville Symphony offers a comprehensive package of benefits, including medical, dental, and vision insurance, a 403(b)-retirement plan with employer match, paid parental leave, and generous paid time off.
The Jacksonville Symphony is committed to the inclusion of all qualified candidates. If you require reasonable accommodation in completing this application, interviewing, or participating in the selection process, please contact Tonya Malik-Carson at tonyamc@aspenleadershipgroup.com
To apply for this position, visit: https://apptrkr.com/9869057
- Seventy Thousand Met Opera Tickets, By Lottery
Good Morning,
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani is paying for 70,000 Metropolitan Opera tickets to be given away by lottery, and a conservative columnist says the Right should be embarrassed that a self-proclaimed socialist thought of it first, though he expects it to convert only “a few thousand” New Yorkers (UnHerd). In Hungary, bookshops file nearly every short Japanese-style poem under haiku, senryū included, and the poet Zsolt L. Rakusz says the form took hold there because Hungarian poets already had the epigram (Asymptote).
Houston’s Ensemble Theatre, the city’s oldest Black theater company, opens its 50th season; it began in a converted pet store at 1010 Tuam Street with 60 to 75 seats (Texas Observer). Nathalie Stutzmann, music director of the Atlanta Symphony, conducted the first Rienzi ever heard in Bayreuth’s Festspielhaus and says she wants Atlanta to have a sound people can recognize, the way they once knew Ozawa’s Boston (ArtsATL).
Ben Affleck says he used AI “for lots of things” in Animals, his Netflix thriller opening October 9, but won’t say which, comparing it to a magician announcing the plant in the audience; he sold his AI company InterPositive to Netflix for nearly $600 million (The Hollywood Reporter).
And the San Antonio Philharmonic sued Harmonium of Texas, the orchestra founded by its former music director Jeffrey Kahane, the day before Harmonium’s first rehearsals, alleging he used donor and email lists to start it (San Antonio Express-News).
All of our stories below.
- How Haiku Became Hungarian
A foreign poetic form becomes local not when writers reproduce its original conventions faithfully, but when they discover what the form can do in a new language. In Hungary, Japanese short poetry encountered a literary environment already fluent in irony, epigrammatic compression, linguistic play, and knowing when to leave things out. – Asymptote
- Staying Human In The Age Of AI
The first step to building a better future is to acknowledge the reality of today. AI is not going away, and it is immensely capable across a wide range of domains. According to a recent Stanford study, 88% of organizations are using AI and the number is growing. – Think Like a Game Designer
- The Real Achievement Of Garry Trudeau’s “Doonesbury”
“(It) hasn’t simply been individual story lines, or how they jived with the historical reality in which we read them, but also the depth and breadth of human experience they charted. … Trudeau held the powerful to account, (yet) kept his attention on everyday people our politicians and (celebrities) often neglected.” – The New Republic
- The Conservatives’ Case For Mamdani’s Opera Ticket Giveaway (“Why Didn’t We Think Of It?”)
Realistically, Mamdani and his colleagues may convert a few thousand New Yorkers who would otherwise never have set foot in the Met. Even so, they will have achieved more than armies of arts administrators and music teachers, not to mention the conservative guardians of culture who deplore musical wokery. – Unherd
- Why Coltrane Still Matters
First and foremost, to him, the relationship between music and communicating with the divine was ultimately the most important thing. To him, music and doing it with excellence, was about communing with the divine, and his ultimate expression of that that everybody cites is, of course, the album “A Love Supreme.” – The Harvard Gazette
- Ben Affleck Says He Used AI Extensively In His New Movie
“I used [AI] for lots of things in that movie. I’m a little bit hesitant to point out what they are — or even talk about it — because in my business, we’re trying to foster the illusion of reality, right?” – The Hollywood Reporter
- Why Reddit Is Shutting Down Its RSS Feeds
In a word (well, two words), AI bots. – TechCrunch
- Atlanta Symphony’s Nathalie Stutzmann On Working With Orchestras
“I think musicians are artisanal people. Every morning we have to try to do better. We have to start again — to practice. Why do we practice every day? Why do we question every day a score? Why do we reread a score that we have known for 40 years?” – ArtsATL
- “Glee”s Outsized Impact On Broadway
In the 11 years since the last episode of “Glee” aired, one thing has become clear: The TV series was a game changer for musical theater. – The New York Times
- Stage Manager – The Most Stressful Job In The Arts
In theatre – and across dance, opera, musicals and concerts – the stage manager is like the air traffic controller of the production. Without them, chaos would ensue, yet they rarely get acknowledged. – ArtsHub
- Houston’s Oldest Black Theater Company Is Now 50
“Back in the mid-1970s, the late George Hawkins, founder of the Ensemble Theatre, imagined a place where Black actors could find work and perform plays that mattered. Even after he passed away, in 1990, his legacy and that dream continue to grow as the Ensemble prepares for its 50th-anniversary season starting this fall.” – Texas Observer
- Utah Bans Even More Books From Public Schools
Utah just banned seven more books from all public schools — the most it has ever banned in a single go since the state’s sensitive materials law went into effect. The additions bring the total number of books now prohibited in Utah public schools to 44. – Salt Lake Tribune
- World Monuments Fund: Funding Is The Biggest Threat To World Heritage
Of 372 nominations for the 2027 Watch list, 65% of nominators cited funding shortages and economic development as a primary challenge, up from 55% in 2024. – The Art Newspaper
