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- Opera Australia Is Having Some Trouble With A Major Donor
“The future of Opera Australia’s signature event, the annual Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour, is in limbo over a funding dispute with its patron, reclusive Japanese billionaire Haruhisa Handa,” who is reportedly unhappy that the event has been presenting money-making musicals rather than opera in recent years. – Australian Financial Review
- US State Department Wants To Sell Kehinde Wiley Painting: “Too Woke”
On Monday, the New York Times reported that the State Department wants to sell the painting. Campos said in her Instagram post that the “Trump Administration and under my leadership we are turning away from globalist and woke ideologies.” – ARTnews
- An All-Star Dance Company At Over-40
For dancers over 40, retirement is close. A new company, WINNDance, is challenging that assumption, and it’s launching with a roster of names that most companies would kill for. – Gramilano
- AI Tracks Banned From Australian Music Charts
Wholly AI-generated tracks will be banned from the ARIA charts from Monday next week, but some AI-assisted music will remain eligible, an ARIA statement said. – PBS
- Stanley Ritchie, Dean Of Baroque Violinists In North America, Is Dead At 91
Following stints as assistant concertmaster of the Met Opera Orchestra and Vancouver Symphony, he took up period instruments in the 1970s and became North America’s first major soloist on Baroque violin. He was an influential teacher; virtually every period violinist in North America at some point studied with him or his students. – Violinist.com
- “Appointment Viewing” Television Is Back
“In the era of streaming, binge-watching is easier than ever. So, it seems potentially incongruous that appointment viewing — watching a television show when it first airs — is so capable of seizing the collective attention of viewers. But fandom is a powerful force, and appointment viewing has tamed the beast into something fearsome.” – Variety
- HarperCollins Now Has A Manga Imprint, Kazé
“The publisher is rolling out the imprint in partnership with the existing Kazé publishers in France and Germany, which distribute manga for the European market and were acquired by HarperCollins last year. Kazé US will build on that brand for American readers of all ages.” – Publishers Weekly
- Why Labor Unrest Is Sweeping Through Britain’s Museum Sector
“Staff at the V&A voted overwhelmingly to strike; … (workers) at the British Museum, the Science Museum, British Library, and Tate, among others, have all walked out in recent years as unions … coordinate campaigns accusing institutions of mistreating their staff and letting wages fall behind the cost of living.” – Artnet
- UK Publisher To Release Jason Arday’s Memoir Despite Questions About Its Veracity
Simon & Schuster UK made no comment beyond a statement from Arday’s family: “Jason was clear that he wanted his memoir to be published and it is only right that we honour his wishes. … We (will) allow the book to speak for itself and won’t comment further on its content.” – The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!)
- Trump Administration Threatens To Demolish Kennedy Center If Renovations Don’t Proceed
“Without those efforts,” wrote administration attorneys in a court filing, “the Center will deteriorate further into an unsafe, decrepit structure that will be required to be taken down, with a determination to follow on what to build on the site, such as a large outdoor amphitheater overlooking the Potomac River.” – The Guardian
- Avoiding First-Ever Strike, Boston Symphony Management And Musicians Agree On Contract
In a tellingly worded statement, the union president said, “This groundbreaking agreement offers unprecedented artistic collaboration through all aspects of the artistic process. … It is also an innovative and transformative path forward for American orchestras, involving players as never before in the process of artistic decision making and planning.” – WBUR (Boston)
- Dolly Parton Has Died At 80
“Known for her curvy physique, massive blond wigs and skin-tight outfits that served her self-deprecating wit, she was among the most beloved personalities in music and beyond — the rare celebrity whose appeal transcended generations, geography and politics.” – AP
- The Arts Job That’s Really A Rental
Good Morning,
New York’s incoming arts commissioner wants to keep the city’s culture scene affordable (Gothamist). That’s a useful admission about where the leverage actually sits: the binding constraint on urban culture is rent and space, not programming.
A federal judge blocked the auction of more than 100 Titanic artifacts (Washington Post), courts rather than curators holding the line on what counts as heritage. Florida voters flipped the school board at the center of the state’s book-ban fights (Yahoo News). And Kennedy Center revenue cratered after Trump’s name went on the building (Washington Post) — an audience voting the way an audience can.
Two ideas stories worth your time when you have some: solarpunk cities where the tech follows nature’s lead (Aeon), a future that isn’t just the present running faster. And Australia’s recording industry has banned AI-generated tracks from the ARIA charts (Variety), quietly conceding that a chart was always a trust instrument, not a scoreboard.
Also: a landmark South LA theater reopens after 15 years of renovation (Los Angeles Times), and playing Lumière turns out to require a seven-pound flaming candle strapped to each hand (Yahoo Entertainment).
All our stories below.
- Seaside Towns In Brittany Are Fed Up With Parisian Tourists
“The anger is running high across Finistère, where local populations swell to triple their normal size every summer, and heatwave conditions in the south of France have added to the influx this year. … Hostile messages have been scratched on car doors, and holidaymakers from Paris have had insults hurled at them on the street.” – The Telegraph (UK) (MSN)
- Can Poetry Help Make People More Ecologically Aware?
Researchers have argued that eco-poetry can influence how we experience a place, what we notice and what it might become in the future. They suggest that by “sounding” environmental change, speculative poetry offers us a tangible way to engage with, interpret and navigate the uncertainty of the climate crisis. – The Conversation
- Performing An Entire Disney Musical With A Seven-Pound Flaming Candle On Each Hand
“There’s an entire team at work behind the scenes and a good-natured actor who doesn’t mind flames, sweating and being unable to use his hands for the entire run time (of Beauty and the Beast). Making it work is a show unto itself.” – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
- Judge Halts Auction Of Titanic Artifacts
A controversial plan to auction off artifacts recovered from the wreck of the Titanic must be put on hold, a federal judge ruled Monday, after the U.S. government and preservationists raised concerns about the sale and the company’s care of the artifacts. – Washington Post
- Report: Revenue Cratered At The Kennedy Center After Name Change
Ticket sales had already dropped in the10 months following Trump’s takeover, but both ticket sales and donations plunged after the Trump-led board of trustees voted in December to rename the center after him and put his name on the front of the building, according to the records. – Washington Post
- Report: Museum Heists In Europe Are Becoming More Violent
The report highlights a concerning rise in violent and forceful tactics, alongside a growing focus on high-value items such as precious metals, gemstones, and culturally significant artefacts. – Insight EU
- Translating Japanese Video Games Into English Can Be Quite The Challenge
“Modern localization, especially for video games, happens at a massive scale today. … A large update for (a) game can contain about 200,000 words, enough for a lengthy novel; major expansions to its world and story can approach 500,000 words. The English localization team can grow to more than 10 people.” – The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
- The “Worst” Year For Classical Music Institutions?
What she told me was a little alarming: “2025-2026 is the worst year for classical arts organizations since I’ve started doing this work.” The reason for this goes deep into the deficiencies of arts funding. – San Francisco Classical Voice
- The Warnings From The Digital Age That Should Inform The AI Age
The adoption and diffusion of such technologies led to wild-eyed speculation about their possible social and political consequences, a discussion that, characteristically, ricocheted between dreams of a technological utopia and fears of an artificial state. – The Guardian
- Is The Next Gen City A Marriage Of Tech And Nature?
If the Anthropocene began when the Industrial Revolution set industry against the living world, the Symbiocene imagines what should follow: interspecies democracy, life within Earth’s limits, and ecological reciprocity. – Aeon
- Australia’s Recording Industry Bans AI-Generated Music From The Charts
“The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), the trade group representing the country’s music industry, has banned wholly AI-generated songs from its weekly charts that showcase the most popular tracks in Australia.” – Variety
- The Problem(s) With Trying To Define Intelligence
What is Intelligence? simply reduces everything to physical implementations, either in AI neural networks or in the brain, and often conflates the two. – Inference Review
- Latino Group Opposes Paramount/Warner Deal
A prominent Latino group is raising fresh concerns about Paramount Skydance’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, saying the blockbuster deal would crush Latino workers and small businesses that support Hollywood. – Los Angeles Times
- Historic LA Performing Center Reopens After 15-Year Renovation
After a 15-year renovation, South L.A.’s historic Vision Theatre Performing Arts Center is reopening, marking a major milestone for Leimert Park and a $40-million investment in Black arts and culture. – Los Angeles Times
- Hollywood Trade Mag Pays Farewell Tribute To Gustavo Dudamel
“He doesn’t have a pretentious bone in his body, eagerly embracing the way … rockers bashed away at a late-19th-century Russian suite. And just as eagerly, he embraced the world of film music so completely that he became only the second LA Phil music director with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.” – TheWrap
- For These Movement Artists, It’s Not Site-Specific Dance, It’s “Site-Responsive Dance”
“Fluency in a variety of movement techniques — including street dance, acrobatics and, especially, parkour — allows these dancers to shape seemingly unbounded interactions with their environments. Is that chain-link fence asking to be hurdled with a flip? Could those four stories of scaffolding become a creative jungle gym?” – The New York Times
- Dutch Broadcaster Says It Will Boycott Eurovision Song Contest Again
“AVROTROS will not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2027 because the event can no longer be considered neutral, with a participating country still involved in a large-scale military conflict,” the network said, though the decision on the Netherlands’ participation remains up to national public broadcaster NPO. – AP
- Meet Mamdani’s, And NYC’s, New Arts Commissioner
Diya Vij: “We know the presence of art in a neighborhood leads to better outcomes in health, safety and education. We know it matters to the economy, to people’s bodies, to relationships, to their ability to find each other. On a policy level, it’s essential to the full life of a New Yorker.” – Gothamist
- Elections Flip Control Of Florida School Board At Center Of Book Bans And Culture Wars
“Two Democratic-backed candidates beat out conservatives in Tuesday’s school board election in Sarasota, Florida, flipping the board’s majority. Helmed for the past year by a co-founder of Moms for Liberty, … the board is moving in a new direction, the winners said.” – The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
- UK Looks Headed For Record Year In Print Book Sales
According to NielsenIQ BookScan, sales of print books across the British consumer market have passed £1 billion at the earliest point in the calendar year since records began. – The Bookseller (UK)
- Russian Drone Strikes Hit Art Museum In Kherson
“According to a report by United24, the Ukrainian government–run platform, the fire destroyed the museum’s historic plasterwork, parquet flooring, furniture, and books, as well as the building’s electrical and heating infrastructure.” No human casualties were reported. – ARTnews
- The Classical Music Superfans
These stories from the classical music world are particularly jarring. It’s easy to stomach the idea of Swifties doing what they do: that’s part of their culture. But classical music fans have long cultivated an image of sophistication. – The Conversation