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  • The AI that has Colonized our Creativity

    Everyone’s talking about AI, and you’re being pestered to use it every time you open your phone. But are you aware the extent that AI has taken over how much of what you see and hear online?

  • Good Morning

    Today’s AJ highlights: The Kennedy Center is dissected in a report calling its atmosphere under the new administration “emptier, showier, and way more political,” detailing an aesthetic and strategic “Trumpian revamp” (Washington Post (MSN)). The financial instability of public media is also in the spotlight, with major concern over the defunding threats facing PBS Kids as streaming “slop” fills the void (Boston Globe). And the high-stakes merger drama continues, with a commentator issuing a heartfelt plea to Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos to “not screw up” the creative integrity of HBO and Warner Bros. (Los Angeles Times (MSN)).

    La Scala’s grand opening featuring a Russian opera was met with a flash mob of Ukrainian flag-wavers protesting the staging of Russian culture amidst the ongoing conflict (Seattle Times (AP)).

    We also pause to appreciate two giants who shaped their fields: the late architect Frank Gehry is celebrated for being the rare visionary whose designs profoundly changed the experience of music (Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)), and Guy Cogeval, the art historian and curator who turned the Musée d’Orsay into a global “Blockbuster Site,” has died at 70 (The New York Times).

    Finally, distractions: science confirms that some holiday music—like Ariana Grande and Andy Williams—can tank your work productivity, but Brenda Lee is safe (Fast Company).

    All of our stories below.

  • It’s Just Science: Some Christmas Music Really Tanks Productivity

    Those who love torturing customers and co-workers alike might have to listen to the science. The fact is, Ariana Grande and Andy Williams are out. “On the other hand, Brenda Lee’s ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ emerged as the most productivity-friendly holiday track.” – Fast Company

  • Gehry Was The Rare Architect Who Also Changed Music

    “The ‘Goldberg Variations’ was Gehry’s favorite work. He loved its otherworldliness and its worldliness. He loved its invitation to dance and to dream. He loved its astonishing sense of design, complex yet flowing with the ocean’s grace, its depth and its inviting surface.” – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)

  • The Kennedy Center Under The 47th President: Emptier, Showier, Way More Political

    “What is the Kennedy Center now? For one thing, it’s getting a Trumpian revamp. He ordered new marble and the repainting of the exterior columns in austere white. Portraits of the first and second couples now hang in the center’s Hall of Nations.” – Washington Post (MSN)

  • Guy Cogeval, Art Historian And Curator Who Turned The Musee D’Orsay Into A Well-Traveled Blockbuster Site, Has Died At 70

    “In a country with a reverential approach to its artistic heritage, the flamboyant Mr. Cogeval — ‘deceptively reserved and genuinely eccentric,’ according to Le Figaro newspaper — was a subversive figure. He was unconcerned, even pleased, by the criticism.” – The New York Times

  • According To A Linguist Who Works At A Language App, Here Are 2025’s Most Mispronounced Words

    We all know that a lot of folks get the new mayor of New York’s name wrong – sometimes deliberately. And then there’s a museum in Paris that had a famous theft this year. But Denzel Washington? Really? – NPR

  • A Flash Mob Waves Ukrainian Flags As La Scala’s Grand Opening Features A Russian Opera

    “A dozen activists from a liberal Italian party held up Ukrainian and European flags in a quiet demonstration removed from the La Scala hubub that aimed ‘to draw attention to the defense of liberty and European democracy, threatened today by (President Vladimir) Putin’s Russia.’” – Seattle Times (AP)

  • Dear Ted Sarandos, We Beg Of You Not To Screw This Up

    Please, please, please, PLEASE do not screw this up, Netflix. We want HBO to be HBO, Warner Bros. to be Warner Bros. – and we need movie theatres. Cinemas. Big screens … maybe for your movies, Ted. – Los Angeles Times (MSN)

  • As Slop Fills Streaming And Public Media Is Defunded, What Will Happen To PBS Kids?

    Parents and researchers are very worried – and rightly so. – Boston Globe

  • Artist Imprisoned In Iran For Six Years Says Creativity, And Sewing, Kept Her Alive

    Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: “They can take away the world you live in, but they can’t take away what’s happening in your mind, your imagination and your creativity. Holding on to that was how we survived.” – The Guardian (UK)

  • Don’t Put Hannah Arendt On A Pedestal

    “Nearly a year into a second Trump presidency and 50 years after Arendt’s death, she is still routinely invoked as the key to understanding our moment. It’s been a strange afterlife for an idiosyncratic thinker who believed that politics was inherently contingent and unpredictable.” – The New York Times

  • The Sphere May Be The Horrifying Future Of Entertainment For All Of Us

    “There is no escape in the Sphere. The walls are screens. The ceilings are screens. The floor, swooping underneath you at an impossible angle, is a screen, too.” – Slate

  • Mad Men’s Special Effects Foreman Has Some Things To Say About The Events Of Recent Days

    Such events being HBO’s Mad Men remaster that showed a little too much. “We always tried to camouflage ourselves as much as possible, but these days they tend to just say ‘we’ll erase it in post.’ Only this time, apparently they didn’t erase us.” – The Verge (Archive Today)

  • Performance Professionals Are Learning From Toddlers

    “Some artists are … making very young children a part of the choreographic process, or creating music designed to get them moving. They’re considering why these tiny dancers bring us such joy, and what lessons they might have for grown-ups.” – The New York Times

  • Four European Countries Boycott Eurovision Over Israel’s Participation

    Ireland, Spain, Slovenia, and the Netherlands have all withdrawn from the 2026 competition. The Dutch broadcaster: “After weighing all perspectives, Avrotros concludes that, under the current circumstances, participation cannot be reconciled with the public values that are fundamental to our organisation.” – The Guardian (UK)

  • What Changed About Hamnet Between Page And Screen

    The book is not only made up of words but also concerns words. The author, who co-wrote the screenplay: “To make a 400-page novel into a 100-page script, there’s a lot of stripping back.” But then they had to add in more Shakespeare. – The New York Times

  • This Oscar Winner Has Been In The Business For More Than Six Decades

    Youn Yuh-jung, Oscar winner for Minari, doesn’t want to be seen as an icon, however. “In Korea, they usually say, ‘Is there any message for the younger generation?’ So I usually say, I’m not the Pope, I don’t have any message.” – Variety

  • According To The BBC, These Are The Ten Most Iconic Gehry Buildings

    From Spain to France to the Czech Republic and, well, Spain again, here are the BBC’s faves. – BBC

  • And We Know It’s Good For Netflix

    The deal with Warner Bros. “gives the streaming giant an identity it didn’t have before and a back catalog that will rival that of Disney+. It could also transform the streaming giant into something far more akin to a traditional movie and TV studio—if that’s what it wants to be.” – Wired

  • Hey, Hang On, Netflix Might Be Great For Warner Bros.

    Well, good, anyway. “Staffers at the company are taking comfort in what Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters said about HBO on a call with Wall Street analysts just after the deal was announced. … ‘They are saying all the right things,’ the WBD insider said, somewhat hopefully.” – Vulture

  • Tenure-Track Assistant Professor of Arts Administration

    The Arts Administration program at Elon University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position that begins in August 2026.

    This position requires someone who brings a broadly integrated and interdisciplinary perspective to Arts Administration. Candidates must hold a PhD or MFA in Arts Administration or a closely related field by the start date. Teaching responsibilities will include undergraduate courses in arts administration, as well as courses in the Elon Core Curriculum and potentially their disciplinary area of expertise.

    The successful candidate will support a twelve-year-old program that focuses on how arts administration shapes culture and cultural policy by the strategic development of arts programs, organizations, and creative careers. The Arts Administration program at Elon empowers students to put this integrative knowledge of human care and business tactics into practice to serve artists, audiences, and other stakeholders with diverse backgrounds, cultures, experiences, and perspectives.  We prepare students for careers in the creative sector with a commitment to connecting art and public life to create inclusive communities.  We envision a fearless, self-sustaining, civically-engaged global arts community.  We want to nurture the next generation of arts leaders and cultural entrepreneurs to build this community. 

    Candidates for this position should demonstrate a strong commitment to excellence in teaching and enthusiasm for working in a liberal arts setting. Candidates who have experience working with a diverse range of people, and who can contribute to the climate of inclusivity are encouraged to identify their experiences in their cover letter.

    Elon is a dynamic private, co-educational, comprehensive institution that is a national model for actively engaging faculty and students in teaching and learning in a liberal art-based residential campus. To learn more about Elon, please visit the University website at www.elon.edu.

    Review of applications will begin immediately. Applications received by January 15, 2026 will be given full consideration, but review of applications received after January 15, 2026 may continue until the position is filled. Upload a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, statement of teaching philosophy, two syllabi from arts administration courses taught and/or prospective courses, academic writing sample, graduate transcripts, and three professional references to the PageUp application platform. Email the search committee chair, Professor David McGraw, dmcgraw@elon.edu, with any questions regarding the search.

    Elon University is an equal employment opportunity employer committed to a diverse faculty, staff and student body and welcomes all applicants. Elon University values and celebrates the diverse backgrounds, cultures, experiences, and perspectives of our community members. Diversity not only includes race and gender identity, but also age, disability status, veteran status, sexual orientation, religion, and many other parts of one’s identity. All our employees’ points of view are key to our success, and inclusion is everyone’s responsibility. 

    Minimum Required Education and Experience

    Candidates must hold a PhD or MFA in Arts Administration or a closely related field by the start date.

    MORE

  • Our Changing Notions Of The Purpose Of Monuments

    Rather than construct an imagined past as a universal tradition, as with conventional monuments… contemporary artists understand ambivalence and impermanence as key conditions of resistance, whether in the form of ephemeral materials, representations that flit across binaries, or speculative propositions for the future that challenge linear readings of history. – Hyperallergic

  • Where Drag Meets The Viola (There’s A Joke In There Somewhere)

    Stuck at home in Palo Alto with two parents who teach in Stanford’s music department, Ezra Costanza created the drag character Obsidienne Obsurd, a genderless Chinese-American genderless drag musician with an exuberant wardrobe, makeup palette, and playlist. – San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

  • Architect Frank Gehry, 96

    Gehry, who arrived in L.A. as an aimless teenager just after World War II and went on to become the most famous and one of the most influential architects in the world over a prolific six-decade career, died Friday at his home in Santa Monica following a brief respiratory illness. – Los Angeles Times

  • The Notion Of Decline Of Our Education System Is A Long-Running Trope

    The suspicion that Americans are becoming more illiterate has long been irresistible to the educated class. In the present day, this happens to be objectively true. But across time and cultures, we hear the alarm of declinism. – The Atlantic

  • Norman Foster’s New JP Morgan Tower In Manhattan: An Obscene Essay In Steel

    The sheer amount of structural steel – 95,000 tonnes in total – is obscene for a building that contains just 60 storeys in its 423-metre height, half the number of floors you might expect in such a colossus. It uses 60% more steel than the Empire State Building, which is taller and has more square footage. – The Guardian

  • Ex-Director Of Dance At Kennedy Center Says Her Firing Wasn’t A Surprise

    Jane Raleigh: “There was definitely an overarching feeling of waiting for the shoe to drop. I was committed to staying until I was removed, (but) I did believe from the beginning that everyone would be fired at some point. … Basically every payday Friday was mass firings day.” – Forward

  • This Year’s Best New Architecture

    Editors of Dezeen pick their favorites, including new cultural institutions, homes, hotels, skyscrapers and even an architecture school. – Dezeen

  • Fascinating: Research Find That Fantastical Programming Impairs Cognitive Attention In Children

    The researchers found a significant negative effect for fantastical content. Children who watched programs featuring impossible events tended to perform worse on attention and executive function tasks immediately afterward. – PsyPost

  • Report: Trump’s Kennedy Center Is Stiffing Artists On The Fees

    Representatives for three performers tell THR they’re still waiting on checks months after their shows. – The Hollywood Reporter

  • Pathé Will Return To Making English-Language Films

    “French production and exhibition giant Pathé is looking to ‘re-launch’ its English-language film business with the appointment of FilmNation president of motion pictures Ben Browning as co-CEO of Pathé U.K.” – The Hollywood Reporter

  • Why Trump Fired His Ballroom Architect. And Here’s His Replacement

    Trump and McCrery had clashed over the president’s desire to keep increasing the size of the building, but it was McCrery’s firm’s small workforce and inability to hit deadlines that became the decisive factor in him leaving, one of the people said. – Washington Post

  • How AI Is Changing How Architecture Is Conceived

    Across design firms, respondents emphasized two immediate gains: speed and the ability to generate options. – ArchDaily

  • Why Does AI Write Like That? And Why Are People Willing To Read It?

    If you’re anything like me, you did not enjoy reading that paragraph. Everything about it puts me on alert: Something is wrong here; this text is not what it says it is. It’s one of them. – The New York Times