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- “What if JFK had not been assassinated? People talk about: What would have been the impact in Vietnam? What interests me is: What would have been the impact on the American arts?”
- Half the artists, twice the valuation
Good Morning,
Pace Gallery is cutting 50 artists and 50 staff — about half its roster — and with them, the idea that mega-gallery expansion was the art market’s future (The New York Times). Also this week, Suno, the AI music-generation company, more than doubled its valuation to $5.4 billion (The Hollywood Reporter). Capital available for culture is relocating — out of representing artists, into simulating them.
Colorado passed a landmark law letting artists protect their rights by incorporating (The Colorado Sun). All eleven Edinburgh festivals want to build a common ticketing platform — shared infrastructure instead of eleven competing box offices (The Guardian). And Chicago launched a new fund for emerging theater companies, the layer of the field that usually gets crumbs (WBEZ).
Sad news: Marjane Satrapi, whose Persepolis changed what comics could carry, has died at 56 (Deadline). And in London, this year’s Serpentine Pavilion is — finally — actually serpentine (The Guardian).
All of our stories below.
Doug
- Venues In England Are Scared To Program South Asian Dance: Arts Council Report
Managers of smaller venues fear that they would lose too much money presenting unfamiliar performers in an unfamiliar genre, said the report, which also flags the lack of university- or conservatory-level training in South Asian classical dance forms in England. – Hyphen (UK)
- Gary Dunning
My introduction of Gary Dunning at New England Conservatory’s Commencement ceremony on Sunday May 17, 2026. He received an honorary degree.
Let me speak of Gary Dunning who has spent decades reminding Boston — and reminding this country, demonstrating — that the arts are not a luxury. They are a lifeline.
Gary Dunning has led one of Boston’s most admired cultural institutions for 15 years — first as president and executive director of the Celebrity Series of Boston, and most recently as the guiding force behind its transformation into Vivo Performing Arts.
By the way, this afternoon, I have something unusual… It’s annoying actually. I have — it’s rare — I have a split personality. Or, perhaps, there’s a Gary Dunning whisperer here? The guy’s aware, it seems, of all the artists that have been presented in Boston during Gary Dunning’s years here.
You bet I am. And I will just lead off with Andras Schiff (who played the piano right here on this stage), and Richard Goode (right here on this stage), and Isaak Perlman, and Renée Fleming, and…Fritz Kreisler, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and Maria Callas…
OK, but wait a minute, those last three names — Rachmaninoff? — that must have been a long time before Gary Dunning arrived.
Where was I? I’m back, to tell you that before he was in Boston, Gary Dunning served as executive director of the American Ballet Theatre, the Houston Ballet, and New York’s Big Apple Circus. Decades of service to the arts. Decades of showing up for artists, for audiences — and for communities that often feel the stage isn’t for them.
Also, you know, in Boston, he presented Maurizio Pollini, and Deborah Voight, and David Sedaris, and Joshua Bell.
Ok. I believe it.
Under Gary Dunning’s leadership, the Celebrity Series launched the Debut Series, created Stave Sessions, that bring contemporary music to unexpected places. The Neighborhood Arts program was built, bringing free performances to many in this city.
And when Gary Dunning realized that his organization’s name was an obstacle to its mission — the word “celebrity” was getting in the way — he didn’t wait for someone else to fix it. He oversaw a complete rebranding, launching Vivo Performing Arts just this past January. That’s a mark of a leader: knowing when to build.
Any more from the whisperer?
Well, he presented Chick Correa, and Herbie Hancock, and the Berlin Philharmonic.
Yeah, ok. Gary Dunning’s done a lot. He led a capital campaign that tripled his organization’s net assets. He championed equity, and accessibility. He introduced more than 350 first-time featured acts — artists making debuts in Boston.
Gary Dunning said: “Whether on a stage or in a neighborhood park, live performance is what we do, and the place where creativity comes alive.”
Boston has been alive because of Gary Dunning. President Kalyn, it is my honor to present Gary Dunning for the honorary degree — Doctor of Music.
- A Frequent Book-Prize Juror Explains How These Awards Actually Work
Rebecca Makkai has judged six major awards in the past eight years (a pace she does not recommend), and she shares some things she’s learned that she thinks most people don’t realize. For instance, she explains, the process is both purer and more random than you’d guess. – SubMakk
- Pace Gallery Cuts 50 Artists, 50 Staff
“The whole art gallery art system became too big, too commercial, too impersonal and too corporate,” Marc Glimcher, the chief executive, said in an interview this week. – The New York Times
- Hollywood Is Using AI – Like It Or Not
The AI revolution in Hollywood is not just real, but taking form in tangible projects that people can now see. Whether it’s animated shorts, experimental theatrical projects or full-blown movies and shows, AI is showing that it can not only cut down on costs and production time, but push the boundaries of storytelling. – The Wrap (MSN)
- Chaos At 60 Minutes
If Bilton stays, as he presumably will, the organization will try to muddle its way forward, damaged and listing and leaking to the gossip columns. Meanwhile, no answers were forthcoming about why Weiss was so determined to burn “60 Minutes” down. – The Wrap (MSN)
- City Of Chicago Launches New Fund For Emerging Theater Companies
“The program, Next Stage Chicago, will provide a maximum of $50,000 to up to eight nonprofit theater companies that have been in business for at least three years but no more than 10.” – WBEZ (Chicago)
- All 11 Edinburgh Festivals Propose A Common Ticket Platform
The festivals involved in the plan, including the main international festival, will soon invite bidders to investigate how to merge the ticketing operations and data of all 11 events, which in 2024 sold nearly 4m tickets in total. Others include the book festival and the film festival. – The Guardian
- Are The Arts Simply Incompatible With Right Wing Government?
A belief that what is good will be paid for by consumers, and that the state should stand back and play as small a part as possible. Applying this to the arts means that they are not a public good but instead a sector that should be shaped by market principles, competition, and measurable returns. – The Big Idea
- Japan Embraces ‘Zines
“I think print media is incredibly open. You can hand it to someone, you can read it together,” Obara says, calling mobile phones “very insular.” – Japan Times
- The Leading AI Music-Generation Company, Suno, Has More Than Doubled Its Market Value To $5.4 Billion
“The (latest) funding round” — a sale of stock which raised $400 million — “comes just six months after Suno previously announced a $250 million funding round that had valued the company at $2.45 billion.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- Why Trump’s Arch Is So Wrong
Triumphal arches are thuggish. They’re the architectural equivalent of a domestic abuser standing, arms crossed, legs athwart, in front of the bedroom door. I prefer the democratic, American tradition of modest, respectful, open-air monuments. – The Atlantic
- Monet Heirs Case Against Wildenstein Allowed To Continue
The complex case revolves around a 2004 transaction, in which Monet’s great-nephew agreed to relinquish a rare Monet painting depicting the artist’s father, Adolphe, to the internationally renowned Wildenstein gallery, in exchange for several paintings of lesser value. – ARTnews
- Venice Biennale Artists Protest Awards Inclusions
More than 100 artists are threatening legal action against the Venice Biennale Foundation for ignoring their demands that the foundation withdraw their names from consideration for the “Visitors’ Lion” awards at the current edition over the inclusion of national pavilions by Israel and Russia. – ARTnews
- They’re Going To Extraordinary Lengths To Move The Bayeux Tapestry To London Safely
After two dry runs with facsimiles, France’s culture ministry is confident that the fragile 900-year-old textile will be fine. They’ve developed an ingenious container contraption to absorb all shocks on the roads, and the date and details of the transport are a closely-guarded secret. – BBC (Yahoo!)
- This Year London’s Serpentine Pavilion Is Actually Serpentine
“Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo (of Mexico City’s Lanza Atelier) have gone back to basics and produced one of the most literal Serpentine pavilions in years, featuring an actual serpentine, expressed as a wavy wall of rust-coloured brick.” – The Guardian
- YouTube Now Has, On Average, More Daily Viewers Than Netflix
“Average daily usage per YouTube account (worldwide) rose from 87.2 minutes in 2024 to 99.1 in 2025, according to analysis conducted by the Digital i agency across 20 international markets. The figure for Netflix dropped from 100.5 to 93.4 minutes.” – The Guardian
- New Jersey PBS Finally Finds Its New Operator: Montclair State University
“A consortium led by Montclair State University has won a competitive process to take over New Jersey’s public television station.” The move comes months after New York PBS station WNET declined to renew its contract to run the New Jersey outlet. – New Jersey Globe
- Colorado Passes Landmark Law: Artists Can Now Protect Their Rights By Becoming Corporations
“Senate Bill 133 creates Colorado Artist Companies, or A Corps, a new subset of limited liability corporations that guides artists through the complexities of setting up a business while ensuring they retain creative control over their work, which can include everything from songs, paintings and poems, to less obvious output, like creative coursework.” – The Colorado Sun
- Artists Say They’ll Sue Venice Biennale If They’re Included In Public-Vote Prizes
“Dozens of artists participating in this year’s Venice Biennale contemporary art show are threatening legal action if their names are not removed from the ballot allowing visitors to vote for the best national pavilion and overall participants in the absence of a jury” — they all resigned — “to award the prestigious Golden Lions.” – AP
- Marjane Satrapi, Creator Of “Persepolis,” Is Dead At 56
She achieved international fame for the graphic memoir of her girlhood in Khomeini’s Iran, and then for co-directing the animated film adaptation. Based in Paris, she went on to direct other films, animated and live-action, and publish graphic works, and remained a lifelong advocate for the rights of Iranians, particularly women. – Deadline
- Is Trump’s Wreckage of the Kennedy Center an Opportunity for Something Better?
The Kennedy Center is a treasure. Not just for what it has been, but because of what it represents. But the practicalities of providing a roof for a bunch of artistic enterprises that essentially have nothing much to do with one another — or worse, having to squabble dysfunctionally among themselves for resources — are an argument for the need for something better. - Juilliard Flunks the Government’s New Math
Good Morning,
The Education Department wants to judge college programs by what their graduates earn — and by that measure, Juilliard fails. So do Yale’s master’s programs in visual arts and music, and Harvard’s in museum studies (The New York Times). Programs that flunk could lose access to federal student loans entirely (ARTnews). It’s the purest version yet of a familiar demand: culture, prove your worth on somebody else’s terms.
The New School is cutting roughly a third of its full-time faculty (Chronicle of Higher Education). New York added $150 million to its theater tax credit, and much of it is landing on shows backed by Disney and billionaires (Bloomberg Law News). When money follows metrics, the metrics favor whoever was already big.
Australia just recorded the highest arts attendance in its history (Creative Australia). Demand isn’t the problem. And in Mississippi, a gospel radio station says a new data center forced it off the air (Inside Radio).
All of our stories below.
Doug
- The Composer-Conductor Who Pioneered European Opera In Japan
Manfred Gurlitt was reluctant to leave Germany when the Nazis came to power, but he ultimately had to flee and ended up in Tokyo. By 1941 he was music director of the Tokyo Philharmonic; a decade later, he had founded his own opera company and taught most of Japan’s opera singers. – Bachtrack
- The New School Makes Some Painful Cuts
The New School will employ 65 fewer full-time faculty members in the fall than it did last year, Kessler said. Based on the most recent federal data, that reduction would amount to roughly 36 percent of its 2024 full-time faculty work force. – Chronicle of Higher Education
- Radio Station Says New Data Center Has Forced It Off The Air
“Rainey Broadcasting has told the FCC that development surrounding a massive data center and semiconductor manufacturing project forced gospel WFQY Jackson, MS (970 AM) from its longtime location. Yet … a rival broadcaster (is) arguing the Commission should determine whether the station had already been silent before the site was lost.” – Inside Radio
- Getting Students Inside Dance
“That’s the entire mission of the school Not ‘You come to us’ but ‘We bring dance to you.’ And we want people in the room who can say, ‘I was just like you and now I’m out in the world dancing.’” – The New York Times
- A Story Of Gay Life In Early America
The two women lived openly as a same-sex couple from 1807 to 1851 in Weybridge, VT, where they ran a successful tailoring business. Despite some local misgivings, they were largely accepted. Neighborhood children apprenticed with them, and Sylvia served as a deacon in the local Congregational Church. – ArtsFuse
- Will The Smithsonian’s Smallest Museum Survive?
Anacostia, since renamed the Anacostia Community Museum, was the first federally funded museum focused on Black history, as well as the first federally funded community museum; it is still the only Smithsonian to archive and document daily life in the nation’s capital. – The Atlantic
- Stadtlichter Presse Makes My Heart Beat Stronger<a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2026/06/stadtlichter-presse-makes-my-heart-beat-stronger.html" title="Stadtlichter Presse Makes My Heart Beat Stronger” rel=”nofollow”>It’s
- Here’s What Trump’s Washington Arch Would Look Like
Much of the public debate around the arch has centered on how it would affect other nearby memorials, particularly the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. – Washington Post
- A New Wave Of Women’s Ragebait Lit
“These books may have inspired more than their share of hot takes … but the conversations around them allow us to question where we are and what our feminist ideals have become … (now that) so many of the problems that felt like they were somehow close to being solved … have become drastically worse.” – Harper’s Bazaar
- Ben Folds: The National Symphony Is In Peril
The NSO doesn’t even know if it has a home, given the previously announced two-year closure of the Kennedy Center. This is a very bad sign. Further, the tools for survival are entangled in the Kennedy Center’s legal and financial troubles. – Variety
