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- About Half Of Alaska Public Radio Stations Get Temporary Emergency Funding
Fourteen of the state’s public radio stations, the ones deemed to serve Alaska Native people, will receive a total of $4.5 million from the federal government’s Bureau of Indian Affairs. Those stations were highly dependent on grants from the now-defunded Corporation for Public Broadcasting in Washington, DC. – Anchorage Daily News
- “Mad Max” Director: AI Will Change Art. Technology Always Does
Artificial intelligence, George Miller said, represents “the most dynamically evolving tool in making moving image.” “As a filmmaker, I’ve always been driven by the tools. AI is here to stay and change things. The balance between human creativity and machine capability, that’s what the debate and the anxiety is about.” – Variety
- Lord Of The Irish Dance Michael Flatley At 67
He hasn’t danced for nearly a decade. He has damaged bones and tendons and claims to know all his vertebrae by name. But he’s still fiendishly driven. – The Guardian
- In The Current Environment, Is There Room For Truth-Telling Art?
These episodes highlighted the vulnerability of the US’s state-funded cultural sector under an autocratic populist president determined to suppress artistic expression perceived as intolerably “woke”. – The Art Newspaper
- New Venice Music Biennale Director Spins Another Take On Contemporary Music
The invitation for Caterina Barbieri to lead the Music Biennale gave “a platform to another side of contemporary music that is generally excluded from these more institutional places.” There is “another scene that often doesn’t get taken quite as seriously because it’s not as technically virtuosic.” – The New York Times
- How Contemporary Art Is Taking On Nigeria’s Identity
“Many of these artists deal with the idea that Nigerian culture has to be taken as a multinational and multi-ethnic question, in which artists are free to disrupt and redirect different narratives in service of their own artistic vision. So when we talk about independence in this exhibition, it’s not just about political independence. – The Guardian
- Musicians At Venice’s Opera House Declare Strike To Protest New Conductor
“The strike will be held on Friday 17 October, the date of the opera house’s first performance of a run of Alban Berg’s Wozzeck, which will close its 2024-25 season. The theatre’s musicians and staff have for months called for Beatrice Venezi’s appointment as music director to be revoked.” – The Guardian
- Lexo’s Journey
- Report: Depiction Of Black Characters In Children’s Books Is Significantly Down
A report by charity Inclusive Books for Children found that of the 2,721 books surveyed, only 51 featured a Black main character, down by 21.5% since 2023. – The Guardian
- Dozens Of Bob Ross Pictures To Be Auctioned To Help Support PBS
Ross, with his distinctive afro, soothing voice and sunny outlook, empowered millions of viewers to make and appreciate art through his show The Joy of Painting. More than 400 half-hour episodes aired on PBS (and eventually the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) from 1983 to 1994, the year before Ross died of cancer at age 52. – NPR
- The World’s Digital Infrastructure Runs On American Technology. Europe Wants To Reclaim Its Sovereignty
In the 21st century, those who control digital infrastructure control the conditions of possibility for democracy itself. Europe faces a choice: build sovereign technological capacity or accept digital colonization. – Noema
- Wyoming Librarian Fired In Book-Banning Dispute Wins $700,000 In Lawsuit
“Terri Lesley was fired as the library system director in northeastern Wyoming’s Campbell County in 2023, two years into the dispute … over books with sexual content and LGBTQ+ themes that some people complained were inappropriate for youngsters and sought their removal from youth shelves … at the library in Gillette.” – AP
- This CEO Has Been Peddling An AI Companion. People Revile Him
The backlash has grabbed far more attention than the product itself, so I wondered: How does Avi Schiffmann, the 22-year-old founder and CEO of Friend, feel about being the most despised tech founder in America’s largest city? – The Atlantic
- Sloppy Slop: Why You’re Seeing More Fake Images And Video In Your Feeds
High-engagement, AI-generated posts on Reddit are an example of what is known as “AI slop” – cheap, low-quality AI-generated content, created and shared by anyone from low-level influencers to coordinated political influence operations. Estimates suggest that over half of longer English-language posts on LinkedIn are written by AI. – The Conversation
- Chicago Indie Music Venues Protest Big Live Nation Project
A group of independent music venues in Chicago have come together to protest the building of Lincoln Yards, a $5 billion new development on the city’s North side, which is set to include three to five new concert halls run by Live Nation. – Pitchfork
- Government To Dissolve Antwerp’s Museum Of Contemporary Art
In a move to “thoroughly reform the landscape” and achieve a “more logical distribution” of visual art there, the regional government of Flanders in Belgium will transfer the collection of the museum (known as M HKA) to what will become the Flemish Museum of Contemporary and Current Art in Ghent. – ARTnews
- Chicago’s Commissioner Of Cultural Affairs Resigns After 18 Turbulent Months
“From the beginning, Clinée Hedspeth’s tenure was marked by turmoil. Eighteen percent of the department turned over in her first six months. … Before reaching her year anniversary, Hedspeth faced bullying accusations from several staffers. By spring, many artists were openly calling on Mayor Brandon Johnson to address the dysfunction.” – WBEZ (Chicago)
- In Gift Worth $60 Million, LACMA Gets Its First Klimt, Schiele, And Kokoschka Works
“More than 100 works of Austrian Expressionism worth ‘well over’ $60 million are being gifted to Los Angeles County Museum of Art by the family of Otto Kallir, a renowned art dealer who immigrated to America in 1938 after the German Reich annexed Austria.” – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
- What To Be Aware Of As Broadway Faces Possible Strike
Actors’ Equity members have already voted to authorize a strike; American Federation of Musicians members are close to authorizing one. Box office revenue has hit an all-time high, and performers believe they deserve a piece of it; producers say new musicals have been failing at a shockingly high rate. – The New York Times
- Offstage Drama At Opera Carolina As Ousted Director Makes Attention-Getting Video
“James Meena, former principal conductor and artistic director for (the Charlotte-based company), said he took to Facebook to refute ‘unsubstantiated rumors’ by (board members and staffers) at the opera company that he stole money from the group and that artists weren’t paid because of that.” – The Charlotte Observer (Yahoo!)
- A Playwright, Two Filmmakers, A Cartographer, A Basket Weaver: Meet The 2025 MacArthur Fellows
Among the arts folks who won this year’s $800,000 no-strings grants are playwright Heather Christian, photographers Tonika Lewis Johnson and Matt Black, artist/filmmakers Garrett Bradley and Tuan Andrew Nguyen, artist/curator Gala Porras-Kim, composer Craig Taborn, author Tommy Orange, cartographer Margaret Wickens Pearce, and traditional Wabanaki basket weaver Jeremy Frey. – NPR
- László Krasznahorkai Wins Nobel Prize For Literature
“Often described as postmodern, Krasznahorkai is known for his long, winding sentences, dystopian and melancholic themes, and the kind of relentless intensity that has led critics to compare him to Gogol, Melville and Kafka. Satantango, was famously adapted into a seven-hour film by director Béla Tarr.” – The Guardian
- DeVos Institute Global Executive Arts Management Fellowship
The DeVos Institute Global Executive Fellowship is a three-year, fully-subsidized program for arts and culture executives. The Institute invites applications for the 2026-2028 cohort from leaders of arts and culture non-profits worldwide by November 6, 2025.
Led by DeVos Institute Chairman Michael M. Kaiser and President Brett Egan, the high-intensity program provides training and guidance in strategic planning, leadership, fundraising, marketing, board governance, human resources, and financial planning coupled with peer learning, networking, and time for personal reflection. It is designed as both a catalyst for leaders at critical points in their careers, as well as a high-touch, long-term investment in a generation of leaders who will support one another, and their fields of service, for a lifetime. Founded in 2001, the Fellowship network has over 250 alumni around the United States and in over 50 countries.
Individuals engage in the Fellowship at a point of career inflection when they are well-positioned to make a significant investment in their work. It serves CEOs, Executive Directors, General Managers, and similar who have strategic responsibilities across all core functions of their organization.
Fellows attend a four-week residency in July/Early August for three consecutive years and engage in activities between residencies.
Apply by Nov. 6, 2025 here: https://tinyurl.com/fellowsaj
- Hildur Guðnadóttir On Her Scores For “Joker”, “Tár”, And “Hedda” — And What Women Composers Still Face In Hollywood
“I’ve been asked, straight up, if I could ‘handle’ composing for a big film because I’m a woman. I was asked that after I won the Oscar (for Joker). This isn’t ancient history.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- Akram Khan Talks About His Last Work For His Dance Company Before It Dissolves
After 25 years, the Bangladeshi-British choreographer is closing down his touring troupe to pursue new creative directions. In a Q&A, he discusses the Akram Khan Company’s final project: Thikra: Night of Remembering, which uses dancers trained in Bharatanatyam for a ritual work inspired by the ancient Nabataean culture of Petra and AlUla. – ArtReview
- Sotheby’s Sells Its Longtime Manhattan Headquarters
The move marks the latest step in a real estate overhaul that includes its 2023 acquisition of the Breuer Building, the Whitney Museum’s former home on Madison Avenue, and Gantry Point, a new 240,000-square-foot complex in Long Island City. – ARTnews
- Major UK Galleries Report Precipitous Drop In Sales
Both galleries reported a nearly 90% decline in pre-tax profits, coinciding with a rumored multiyear art market downturn marked by a global decline in public auction sales and a slew of gallery closures in the United States. – Hyperallergic
- Europe’s Great Rare Books Theft Spree
The Warsaw book heist was not an isolated incident but one of the final stops on an unprecedented grand tour of bibliophilic crime, which snaked its way from north-east to south-west Europe between spring 2022 and winter 2023. – The Guardian
- Louis CK Defends His Decision To Appear At Saudi Arabia’s First Stand-Up Comedy Festival
“There’s a woman who’s a lesbian and Jewish, who did a show (at the Riyadh Comedy Festival), and she got a standing ovation. … So, the fact that that’s opening up and starting to bud, I wanna see it, I wanna be part of it. I think that’s a positive thing.” – The Guardian
- America’s Largest Supplier Of Books To Libraries To Shut Down
Baker & Taylor let go about 520 employees yesterday and plans to wind down the business by January. Employees who were laid off had their severance plans canceled as well. B&T had undergone some layoffs earlier this year, but recently had as many as 1,500 full-time and part-time employees. – Publishers Weekly
- As We’re On The Verge Of AI, It’s Useful To Reconsider The Luddites
“Ultimately they said: ‘We only want to prevent the implementation of technology as it is harmful, as it is injurious to the working man.’ So they weren’t trying to stop technology. What they were trying to do was stop the monopoly of the wealth that technology created. – The Guardian
- The Jimmy Kimmel Affair Exposed Growing Rift Between Networks And Affiliates
As affiliates, they’re not happy. And as they lobby the FCC to abolish the cap on how many stations one company can own (currently maxed at a number that all together reaches no more than 39% of TV households in the country), a bulked-up Nexstar and Sinclair are flexing their power and heft. – Variety
- Future Of Chicago’s Only Arts-Focused Public High School Is Suddenly In Doubt
Citing “unsustainable” deficits, the board that oversees the Chicago High School for the Arts has decided not to renew its contract with Chicago Public Schools and will cease operating the school after next spring. ChiArts is a privately managed contract school – similar to a charter – funded by public and donor dollars. – WBEZ (Chicago)
- Longtime ARTnews Owner Milton Esterow, 97
Esterow purchased ARTnews in 1972 from Newsweek, which at the time was a division of the Washington Post Company, and owned it until 2014, when ARTnews was sold in 2014 to Sergey Skaterschikov. – ARTnews
- Australian Arts Industry Hampered By Rise In Touring Costs
‘We have no shortage of invitations to show our work overseas, but our level of secure, ongoing funding is not enough to underpin these international tours.’ – ArtsHub
