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- Bow To Trump’s Vision Of The Country If You Want A Grant, Museums And Libraries Are Told
“The directive to hew to Trump’s preferences unnerved some grant writers, reviewers and former recipients accustomed to nonpartisanship from the agency, stirring debate over what it would mean to accept their funding.” – Washington Post (MSN)
- AMC Started Playing An AI-Generated ‘Film’ Before Movies, But Had To Stop Almost Immediately
“Some called for boycotts. Some found it insulting that if pre-show screen time were being given to short films, AMC would feature AI-generated content rather than human-made movies. Almost all seemed to agree that the move was, as one disgruntled user put it, ‘hot garbage.’” – Fast Company
- From The British Point Of View, What Really Are The BAFTAs Anymore?
One British producer in a year in which exactly one British actor was nominated in the two major acting awards: “The Baftas fall between two stools: it’s both a British awards show and an Oscars bellwether. It makes sense to do both, but it’s a real dilemma.” – The Guardian (UK)
- Why The BAFTAs Are Important, From The Point Of View Of The Oscars
If you’re in Hollywood, well, “the BAFTAs are the British movie industry’s major award show and also widely seen as a bellwether for the Oscars because of the overlap in their voting academies.” – The New York Times
- Toni Morrison, And The Power Of Ambiguity
“Fiction has no obligation to dispel ambiguity. It can make use of it—even intensify it—in order to evoke and transform experience. In Beloved, Morrison does take possession of the master’s tools, but she bends them, breaks them, and then uses them to reshape the house.” – LitHub
- When ‘The Pitt’ Wanted To Portray A Rape Kit Collection Storyline, They Called In Some Experts
The writers didn’t want to focus on the survivor’s trauma. “The story serves to bolster the emotional arc of the show’s healthcare providers, in this case Dana, who assists with the exam from start to finish as the department’s certified SANE nurse.” – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
- Good Morning
It was a week of federal pressure on the arts and institutional turbulence. The Institute of Museum and Library Services quietly rewrote its grant guidelines to require applicants to align with presidential “vision statements” — the ideological strings that will now come attached to federal cultural funding (Artnet). A University of North Texas gallery showing anti-ICE artwork was shuttered without notice — the artist found out from students who told him the windows had been covered (Hyperallergic). A Philadelphia slavery exhibition, removed by executive order last month, was restored by Friday after the city sued and a federal judge set a deadline (AP). And CBS lawyers ordered Stephen Colbert to cancel a planned interview, mid-taping, with a Texas state legislator; the clip went viral online at ten times the show’s usual ratings (The New York Times).
Institutional news was grim across the board. The Met Opera announced its smallest season since moving to Lincoln Center in 1966 — heavy on Aïda, Bohème, and Tosca — the same day its embattled general manager Peter Gelb announced he’ll retire in 2030 (AP, OperaWire). The San Antonio Philharmonic scrapped the rest of its season after losing its music director and getting locked out of its venue (San Antonio Current). The Barbican’s arts director is out after just 18 months (The Guardian). And in Fresno, $1.5 million in public arts grants was allegedly embezzled — the city has since removed the granting authority from the arts council (The Fresno Bee).
The week also brought an unusual number of major deaths: actor Robert Duvall at 95 (Washington Post), documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman at 96 (AP), radio interviewer Michael Silverblatt at 73 (Los Angeles Times), baritone José Van Dam at 85 (Moto Perpetuo), and Philadelphia mosaic artist Isaiah Zagar at 86 (Philadelphia Inquirer). On an odder note: Judy Chicago called working with Google on a commission “a nightmare” and walked (Chicago Sun-Times).
My weekly essay on the week’s top stories — AJ Chronicles — is here. I dig a little deeper into the bigger meaning of the Met Opera’s contraction.
All of the week’s stories below.
- AJ Chronicles: Metropolitan Opera as Poster Child
My weekly pondering on arts and cultural stories for the week of February 22nd. - A New Spirit Of Choreographic Artistry In Olympic Figure Skating
“It seems we’re in a particularly fruitful era of artistic innovation in skating. What’s driving the current wave — and how might it shape the future of the sport? – Dance Magazine
- The World Shunned The Taliban. So Why Do They Seem To Be Thriving?
In January, the Taliban announced a new criminal code that, among other provisions, allows domestic violence and the corporal punishment of children and appears to legitimize slavery through the use of the word “slave.” – The Walrus
- Robert Nichols’s Indelible Railroad Poems Back in Print<a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2026/02/robert-nicholss-indelible-railroad-poems-back-in-print.html" title="Robert Nichols’s Indelible Railroad Poems Back in Print” rel=”nofollow”>
Just received a masterly bilingual edition in English and German of “Slow Newsreel of Man Riding Train” by Robert Nichols. It is the latest in Stadtlichter Presse’s bilingual Heartbeats series devoted to American poets of the Beat generation. - Reading “Animal Farm” In Afghanistan: A Women’s Book Circle Becomes A Form Of Resistance
With the Taliban having outlawed the education of girls and severely restricted women’s other rights, a clandestine group of women gather weekly to read books ranging from Orwell and Hemingway to contemporary Iranian fiction. – The Guardian
- Ohio Comedian Jailed For Making Fun Of Police
Comedian Anthony Novak was nabbed by Parma police, tossed into the county jail and charged “with a felony punishable by up to 18 months in prison,” all for the alleged crime of making fun of said police force. – Deadline
- Can A Rhythmic Beat Be Copyrighted?
The case, known as the Fish Market dispute, asks whether a looping beat widely associated with reggaeton can be protected by copyright. More than 150 artists and producers have been named as defendants, and around 3,600 songs are implicated. – The Conversation
- Who Is Championing Adventure In Classical Music?
Up-and-coming composers, looking for a break-out moment with their immense musical feel and depth, probably have their arms and tapping their feet wondering to themselves: where are our champions of new classical music? – The Critic
- Should Our Museums Be Responsible For Healing Us?
Like many other words that have been “problematised” using post-structural approaches in the humanities, “care” is no longer simply a benign building block of a sentence, but is now part of a broader academic nexus that underpins its public expression. – The Critic
- Melbourne’s Arts Community Alarmed As State Government Funding Keeps Falling
From 2022 to 2026, the grant pool distributed by state arts agency Creative Victoria has fallen by over 25%, from $81.2 million to $59.4 million (Aus), with little hope of any change. Said one arts leader, “(Melbourne) is going to go from the cultural capital to the least funded city in Australia.” – The Guardian
- How Trump Gamed Approval For His Ballroom
“It’s sad that a majority of the commissioners lack expertise in art and architecture,” the person told CNN. “There is only one architect, yet he recused himself from reviewing the ballroom. This means that not a single architect will be reviewing the White House project.” – CNN
- A Major Project To Revive Indigenous Languages
Chicago’s Newberry Library has received $4 million from the Mellon Foundation that will help widen access to Indigenous languages, some of which have been on the brink of disappearance. – WBEZ
- Trump Administration Restores Philadelphia Slavery Exhibition After Court Order
The stories and images that had been on display for two decades were abruptly removed last month following an executive order by President Donald Trump. The city subsequently sued for the exhibit to be rehung and a federal judge set a Friday deadline for its full restoration. – AP
- Germany’s International Broadcaster, Deutsche Welle, Loses Millions In Government Funding
Between a reduction of €10 million ($11.8 million) in federal subsidies and the requirement to cut €11 million ($12.9 million) in expenses due to contractually mandated pay increases, Germany’s equivalent of the BBC World Service will eliminate its Greek broadcasts entirely and scale back its portfolio in other languages. – DPA (Yahoo!)
- Are We Falling Out Of Love With Our AI Confidants?
There are good reasons why people, at least at first, feel positive about their relationship with an AI companion. But new research is showing that these feelings change over time. Artificial empathy, it turns out, comes at a cost. – Psyche
- Attention Spans Are A Design Problem
The same teenager who supposedly lacks attention span can maintain game focus for hours while parsing a complex narrative across multiple storylines, coordinating with teammates, adapting strategy in real time. That’s not inferior cognition. It’s different cognition. And the difference isn’t the screen. It’s the environment. – Aeon
- Why A Small Artist Group Decided Not To Canel Its Kennedy Center Dates
There were the contractors it had hired to build an ice rink on the center’s plaza, and the work visas that took a year to secure for skaters from seven other countries. And although there were internal debates and external demands to cancel, did a small troupe from Montreal really want to wade into American politics? – The New York Times
- Commercialization Of Frida Kahlo Has Gone Way Too Far, Says Her Grandniece
There is by now an untold variety of Frida merch, from watches to candles to tequila to home décor to a branded Miami condo building to (yes) sanitary pads. One reason is that Kahlo’s family members have lost control of the corporation which controls rights to her likeness and work. – The Times (UK)
- Isaiah Zagar, Known For His Psychedelic Philadelphia Mosaics, Is Dead At 86
A self-taught mosaicist, Mr. Zagar used broken bottles, handmade tiles, mirrors, and other found objects to cover walls across the city, particularly in South Philly. His Magic Gardens on South Street has become a landmark, attracting 150,000 visitors a year. – The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
- Seattle Symphony’s Home To Close For Renovations This Summer
“Benaroya Hall, the longtime home of the Seattle Symphony …, will close for six weeks beginning in July for the final phase of a $20 million renovation to the building’s entrances, lobby and public-facing spaces, the Symphony announced Thursday. (No performance spaces are part of the renovation plans.)” – The Seattle Times
- Architectural Drawings Of Trump’s Planned White House East Wing Released
“The drawings picture the East Wing volume extending well into the White House lawn. At roughly 90,000 square feet, its footprint is more than twice the size of the previous East Wing building, which is now fully demolished. … The documentation includes site plans, building plans, elevations, landscape drawings and renders.” – Dezeen
- Internal Kennedy Center Email Reveals Details Of Planned Renovation Work
“The renovations are more modest in scale and scope than what President Trump has publicly outlined for the revamped arts center, and it is unclear whether or not these plans are the extent of the intended renovations.” – NPR
- Black Actress Sues Harvard’s American Repertory Theater For Discrimination, Alleging Permanent Scalp Damage
Nike Imoru said that for last year’s staging of The Odyssey, she was told to get cornrows but was not provided with a competent stylist as Equity’s contract requires — and that the backstage worker who did the work instead left her with permanent damage, including the loss of most of her hair. – CBS News
- Peter Gelb, Controversial Met Opera Boss, Announces Retirement Date
The company’s general manager — who drew widespread praise in his first few years but has recently come under fire as the Met has suffered financially — will depart when his current contract expires at the end of the 2029-30 season. – OperaWire
- Met Operas’s Next Season Will Be Its Smallest Since The 1960s
During its 2026-27 season, the Metropolitan Opera will present only 17 productions, the fewest in a full season since (at least) the company moved into its Lincoln Center home in 1966. More than a third of the total number of performances will be of either Aïda, La Bohème, or Tosca. – AP
- Why Does Bernini’s Beloved Elephant Sculpture In Rome Keep Losing The Tip Of Its Tusk?
Because people keep knocking it off — most recently, this past weekend, when police found the four-inch marble fragment from the left tusk on the pavement nearby. – AP
- Vertical Dance: A Brief History
How a cross between rock climbing, rappelling, circus aerobatics and contemporary dance turned into a performing art of its own. – The Mercury News (San Jose)
- Almost Everything We Knew About Mayan Culture Turns Out To Be Wrong
Outsiders’ power over the story of the Maya is written into the people’s very name. After their arrival in the early 1500s, the Spanish named local populations “Maya” after the ruined city of Mayapán in present day Mexico. Yet the Maya never saw themselves as one people and were never governed under one empire. – The Guardian
