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- “Spring Awakening” Composer Duncan Sheik Hospitalized In Critical Condition
“We would like to share an update with Duncan’s fans and the public,” read a statement on Instagram from Sheik’s family. “Duncan is currently receiving medical care and remains in critical but stable condition. … We will not be sharing any further medical details at this time.” – TheWrap
- Pittsburgh Symphony’s Manfred Honeck Gets Big Jobs In London And San Francisco
The 68-year-old (as of Thursday) Austrian will become Principal Conductor of London’s Philharmonia Orchestra in 2028, succeeding Santtu-Matias Rouvali. That same season he starts as the San Francisco Symphony’s Festival Director, a new title in which he’ll program and conduct a three-week festival for each of the next five seasons. – Moto Perpetuo
- Plaintiffs In Kennedy Center Case Ask Judge To Consider Putting It In Receivership Or Replacing Board
A joint statement from the plaintiffs said, “If the current leadership of the Kennedy Center is unwilling or unable to exercise its fiduciary duty to protect the historic building and the grounds of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the court should consider appointing a receiver or replacing that leadership.” – ARTnews
- Judge Orders Trump Not To Tear Down Kennedy Center Without 30 Days’ Notice
“A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Kennedy Center to provide 30 days’ notice before making any major physical changes to the building, including demolishing it as President Donald Trump has threatened.” – AP
- Strike Is Over: San Francisco Opera And Its Orchestra Strike Deal On Contract
“San Francisco Opera management and its orchestra musicians have reached a tentative agreement on a new contract, ending a strike that began nearly a week ago and forced the cancellation of multiple performances at the start of the company’s 2026-27 season.” – San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
- Hostage Culture, Now With Fencing
Good Afternoon,
The Kennedy Center is closed, fenced, and flashing “Emergency alert” where the show listings used to be (Washington Post). The president says it gets “ripped down” unless his name goes on it (ABC News), and photographers caught him aboard Air Force One studying a poster reading “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED” (The New York Times). The Atlantic calls it a shakedown: the leverage isn’t law, it’s the board’s affection for the institution (The Atlantic). Down the Mall, the administration is printing signs to accuse the Smithsonian Museum of American History of bias (The Atlantic). Same play: seize the building, relabel the contents.
Buildings are having a moment elsewhere too. AI companies, having lost copyright fights over pirated files, are now buying physical books printed before 2022 and destroying them — the last stock of text guaranteed untouched by machines, treated as ore (ARTnews).
The demand side keeps refusing the decline script: 89% of British adults say they’d attend an orchestral concert, up ten points since 2018, with the young leading (Gramophone). And Singapore will pay you 80 cents to read for 50 days (The Guardian). Cheaper than a fence.
Peter Max, who put the ’60s on coffee mugs and cruise ships, has died at 88 (Washington Post).
All of our stories below.
- Photogs Get Picture Of Trump Studying Headlines About Demolishing Kenned Center
Late Wednesday night, photojournalists captured images through the windows of Air Force One that showed President Trump reviewing a large poster board with what looked like a rendering of a construction site beneath three very visible words: “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED.” – The New York Times
- Singapore Is Paying Its People To Read Books
“Under the scheme, readers accrue points that can be redeemed for a few cents. People will have to log 50 daily reading sessions (of 15 minutes or more) on a government website to earn S$1 (80 cents US). … One reading session is allowed daily.” – The Guardian
- AI Companies Are Destroying Books. What Does That Mean For Art?
AI companies, after losing copyright lawsuits over using pirated books found in digital formats, found a way forward, since the law doesn’t prohibit them from buying physical books and destroying them. In another ironic twist, they are looking only for books printed before 2022, because they want books that definitely have not been produced using AI. – ARTnews
- How Marcello Angelini Remade Tulsa Ballet
“During Angelini’s (31-year) tenure as artistic director, Tulsa Ballet has grown from a well-regarded regional troupe — best known for its efforts to preserve the Ballet Russe traditions championed by its founders, Roman Jasinski and Moscelyne Larkin — into a versatile dance company that many critics consider among the best in the United States.” – Tulsa Flyer
- Journalism Inside Libraries
“I once described the larger ambition as opening 16,000 community-led newsrooms, one in every public library in the country.” Now he believes the goal should be “creating 16,000 places where neighbors can look more closely at where they live and make something public from what they find.” – NiemanLab
- London Philharmonic Survey: Interest In Orchestral Music Is Up, Particularly Among Young People
The RPO findings show that there is a rising interest among young people – the nationally representative poll of 2,000 adults revealing that 89 per cent of adults would be interested in attending a concert or performance featuring classical or orchestral music. This figure is up from 79 per cent in 2018. – Gramophone
- What Happens Now For The Kennedy Center?
Outside, digital signs that typically advertise upcoming performances instead flashed a red “Emergency alert” announcing the building was closed to the public. Guards stood at the doors. On Wednesday, fencing was erected around the building. – Washington Post
- Madrid’s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum To Add A Second Location
Because of overcrowding in the main building’s galleries, the museum will acquire an additional space a few blocks away: the Ice and Automobile Palace, which has been vacant since 2007 and will undergo a €70 million ($81 million) renovation. When it opens, the new branch will display 21st-century works. – ARTnews
- Why Academic History Matters
Academic history matters. It matters for honing critical engagement, for challenging all-encompassing technological vapidity, for strengthening individuality. It matters because it shows us that process cannot be separated from what we produce. – History Today
- FCC Says It Could Earn Billions From New Wireless Spectrum Auctions
Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr said Wednesday that a series of upcoming wireless spectrum auctions over the next couple of years could generate more than $100 billion in proceeds. – Reuters
- What Happens To Warner Bros. If The Paramount Merger Falls Apart?
“To be clear, the deal collapsing wouldn’t be fatal to Warner Bros. Discovery. CEO David Zaslav would walk away with a $7 billion break-up fee that could offer additional flexibility as an independent company. But experts who spoke to TheWrap are skeptical that management would continue to go it alone long-term.” – TheWrap (MSN)
- American Music at 250 – Take 9: Can an Orchestra Still Embody the Soul of a City? Gustavo Dudamel and the New York Philharmonic
The current issue of “The New York Review of Books” includes my essay on state of American orchestras
- Spaceship Lucas: LA’s New Museum Of Narrative Art
It is a Goliath of a building, 700 feet long with 300,000 square feet of space. In terms of massiveness, visual impact and sheer joyous bravado, it offers as much spectacle as any of his films. But it is not so much its size that amazes, but its uncanny shape. – The Wall Street Journal
- Inside The Unraveling Of The Ed Sheeran Tour
How Sheeran, a musician known for his crowd-pleasing, inoffensive everyman appeal, landed in this situation illustrates the hazards of planning a lucrative, global music tour at a time of intense geopolitical unrest and cultural division over violent conflicts. – The Wall Street Journal
- Trump’s Shakedown Of The Kennedy Center
“Trump is taking the Center hostage and threatening to in effect kill it unless he gets his way.” The president is counting on the board’s civic spirit and affection for the institution—neither of which he evidently possesses—to strong-arm it into giving him what the law and courts would not allow. – The Atlantic
- Trump Administration Wants To Put Up Signs Accusing The Smithsonian Of Bias
The Trump administration is currently preparing temporary signs that will accuse the National Museum of American History of ideological bias, according to a letter I obtained sent by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. – The Atlantic
- Universal Seems To Be Backing Away From Alex Gibney’s “Musk” Documentary
“Universal Pictures, which controls rights to the film outside North America, (is evidently) having second thoughts on a documentary it paid a significant sum to acquire. The company has not dated the movie, has not communicated with the filmmaking team about its plans, and generally appears to be rethinking the release.” – The Hollywood Reporter
- A Look At The Numbers Behind San Francisco Opera’s Orchestra Strike
“The basic disagreement is … not simply over a percentage raise. It is also over how much work the orchestra should be guaranteed and how the Opera should structure itself now that it stages far fewer operas than it once did.” – San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
- Trump Says Kennedy Center Will Be “Ripped Down” If He Can’t Put His Name On It
“I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition. Because frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close. It’ll end up being ripped down,” he told reporters. He said the previous day that he won’t spend congressionally-designated money for the center’s renovation unless the building bears his name. – ABC News
- What It Was Like Inside The Kennedy Center On Its Last Day Open
“More than half of each floor had been closed. The gift shop was papered over. The box office was open, but there were no tickets to upcoming performances to sell. … A group of young students were shuffling through one last tour. … Security guards were stationed by areas already cordoned off with red tape and ‘Do Not Enter’ signs.” – The Washington Post (MSN)
- After A False Start, Salzburg Festival Chooses Director To Replace Fired Markus Hinterhäuser
Austrian media were reporting that there would be two leaders: stage director Barrie Kosky (artistic) and Dutch National Opera chief Sophie de Lint (administration). Negotiations with that pair collapsed at the last minute, so the Festival board turned to Peter de Caluwe, until last year director of La Monnaie in Brussels. – Moto Perpetuo
- Some Surprises In This Season’s List Of Most-Produced Plays And Playwrights
There’s a new play atop the list: Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor Is the Villain, followed by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Purpose and Bess Wohl’s Pulitzer-winning Liberation. Among playwrights, once-perennial leader Lauren Gunderson is down to fourth place; the late August Wilson is number one, followed by Belflower and Jacobs-Jenkins. – American Theatre
- Peter Max, Whose Day-Glo Art Epitomized The ‘60s, Has Died At 88
“Through savvy marketing, his … color-saturated, almost hallucinatory depictions of stars, sun rays and people in profile showed up on walls and coffee mugs, on clothing, clocks, stationery, and even airplanes and cruise ships. In some ways, Mr. Max created the graphic equivalent of the rock-and-roll revolution in music.” – The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
- Assistant Professor of Dance in the College of Fine Arts
The School for Classical & Contemporary Dance (SCCDance) in the College of Fine Arts at Texas Christian University invites applications for the position Assistant Professor of Dance to teach contemporary dance technique and related courses. The SCCDance seeks candidates who are experienced, committed, engaged, and passionate artist-educators who will provide a balance of expertise with current faculty members. This is a full time on-campus tenure-track faculty position. The successful candidate will join a collaborative faculty, dedicated staff, and motivated students in a community of artist-scholars and a culture defined by care and excellence. The start date of the position is August 2027.
Required:
• Terminal degree in Dance or related area; or with degree completion expected by start date; or MA with minimum seven (7) years of professional performing/teaching experience in Dance.
• Minimum three (3) years pre-professional teaching experience.
• Evidence of creative or scholarly research activity, and/or trajectory, consistent with tenure track expectations.Preferred:
• Experience teaching at the university or college level in dance and related courses.
• Experience teaching a diasporic or culturally rooted dance form, including but not limited to: West-African, hip-hop, house, folklórico, Gaga, Dunham, técnica cubana, Butoh, Bollywood, etc.
• Experience teaching classroom-based courses in dance (theory, history, teaching methods, anatomy, etc.).Required Application Materials & Application Instructions
- Cover letter/Letter of Application including the following: teaching philosophy, research/creative activity
- (2 pages maximum);
- Curriculum vitae with links to website or professional activity;
- Contact information for three professional references.
Review of applications will begin on November 1, 2026. The position will remain open until filled. All applications will be held in confidence.
After the initial review of applications, candidates advancing to the second round of consideration may be asked to submit supporting materials, including evidence of academic and artistic excellence, and research and/or creative work. These may also include evaluations, teaching observations, syllabi, links to a professional activity website, and/or letters of recommendation. All materials are to be submitted online.
Questions regarding the application process may be directed to Human Resources at hrtalentacquisition@tcu.edu or 817-257-7790. Other questions may be directed to the search committee chair, Dr. Suki John, Professor of Dance, at s.john@tcu.edu.
- Director of the School for Classical & Contemporary Dance
The School for Classical & Contemporary Dance in the College of Fine Arts at Texas Christian University invites applications for the position of Director of the School for Classical & Contemporary Dance (SCCDance) and Associate/Full Professor of Dance. The Director serves as the senior administrator of the academic unit and reports to the Dean of the College of Fine Arts. This is an in-person on-campus tenured faculty position with an administrative appointment. The start date of the position is Summer 2027.
This leadership role offers an opportunity to shape the future of the performing arts at TCU by continuing our established record of creative and scholarly distinction, interdisciplinary collaboration, and national visibility for the School for Classical & Contemporary Dance. The next Director of the SCCDance will serve as an active steward of programs and initiatives, joining a collaborative faculty, dedicated staff, and motivated students in fostering a community of artist-scholars and a culture defined by care and excellence.
The Director will:
● provide academic and artistic leadership and contribute to TCU’s goal of becoming an R1 institution, ensuring that the strategic plans of the School, College, and University are aligned and effectively implemented.
● manage the SCCDance’s budgets, financial resources, and facilities; work with College of Fine Arts leadership on the renovation of Ed Landreth Hall as a shared performance space.
● oversee personnel matters including faculty and staff recruitment, retention, mentoring, evaluation, and the promotion and tenure process; make hiring recommendations to the Dean.
● develop and oversee activities related to student recruitment, auditions, admissions, and retention, including scholarships and awards, in collaboration with faculty and staff.
● coordinate faculty course loads, teaching assignments, and scheduling.
● facilitate program development, curriculum design, assessment, and university accreditation requirements; maintain accreditation from and serve as the Institutional Representative to the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD).
● collaborate with faculty and staff to produce SCCDance concerts and sustain the guest artist program.
● support and develop the health and wellness initiatives that distinguish the School; maintain and foster the SCCDance culture of collaboration, care, and community with all faculty, staff, and students.
● positively represent the School to TCU and the public; work with the Dean on fundraising initiatives, including cultivating relationships with alumni, donors, and community partners.
● work with faculty to strengthen and expand the SCCDance’s research/creative activity portfolio, with a focus on increasing externally funded research output that enhances Dance programs.
● teach a reduced load in the candidate’s area of specialty and maintain a record of scholarly/creative activity and service.Required Application Materials & Application Instructions:
● Cover letter/Letter of Application including the following: administrative and leadership experience and philosophy, teaching experience and philosophy, research/creative activity highlights (3 pages maximum)
● Curriculum vitae
● List of three references with contact information for eachReview of applications will begin on November 15, 2026. The position will remain open until filled. All applications will be held in confidence.
After the initial review of applications, candidates advancing to the second round of consideration may be asked to submit supporting materials, including evidence of administrative, academic, and artistic leadership, and research and/or creative work. These may also include evaluations, observations, links to a website, and/or letters of recommendation. All materials are to be submitted online.
Questions regarding the application process may be directed to Human Resources at hrtalentacquisition@tcu.edu or 817-257-7790. Other questions may be directed to the search committee co-chairs, Dr. Jessica Zeller, Professor of Dance, at j.zeller@tcu.edu or Dr. Marc Reed, Director of the TCU School of Music, at marc.reed@tcu.edu.
- The Village Bistros Of Rural France Are Disappearing
“In 1900 there were an estimated 500,000 such establishments; by the 1960s more than half had closed. Today, only about 30,000-40,000 remain and even they are reportedly shutting at a rate of two a day. … The reasons for the closures … are economic and sociological.” – The Guardian
- Doomsday Days: The Growing Awareness Of AI Dangers
Jacob Coxon, the engineer who recently resigned from Anthropic to protest its safety policies, says A.I. could “kill us all by the end of the decade.” But if A.I. is so outrageously dangerous, why should we accept modest proposals to “pace” its development? Why not call in the Turing cops, and pull the plug? – The New Yorker
- Ruben Santiago-Hudson On His Long, Lively Relationship With August Wilson
“August Wilson and I were very close, but also we fell out a lot. Every time he and I had a debate, the word from the cast was always ‘They’re going to fire you.’ And instead of firing me, he would write another role for me.” – The New York Times
- How Threats Of A Dismal Future Are Shaping Gen Z
Their perception is that jobs that feel meaningful are being slashed by government or stolen by AI. As a result, she reported, members of Gen Z may just need to find meaning in their hobbies and interests outside of work and pursue jobs that allow them to fully check out at the end of the day. – 3 Quarks Daily