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ISSUES

Arts School In New Jersey’s Largest City Abruptly Closes

Without warning, a note appeared on the website of the Newark School for the Arts that it is “closed until further notice.” Founded in 1968, the school's mission was to provide training in the performing and visual arts to students of all ages and financial backgrounds. - The Violin Channel

Harvard Is Cutting Back On PhD’s. That’s A Problem For Academia

Some might be wondering why anyone should care if, for example, the number of Harvard history Ph.D.s drops from 13 to five. Although these cuts might not look important, they signify something far darker for higher education. - Harvard Crimson

Trump Is The Most Consequential Art President In Our Lifetime. We Need A Counter Policy

Merely nine months in, the Trump administration is poised to become the most consequential, effective arts presidency in American history—peerless in impact since at least Johnson, whose pillars this administration has toppled with surgical efficiency. - Artnet

Workers At The Studio That Makes Grand Theft Auto Allege Union Busting

Rockstar Games fired a bunch of folks last week. “According to the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB), all of the employees fired were part of a private trade union Discord chat and were either already union members or attempting to organize a union at Rockstar.” - The Verge

Steve Coogan Doubles Down On The Last King And Its Accuracy

Coogan: “I noticed the University of Leicester’s website carries Richard Taylor’s statement in full, but not any of my statements. I’m sure that’s just an oversight.” - The Guardian (UK)

The Widower Of Suzanne Somers Says He’s Made An ‘AI Twin’ Of Her

Ethical experts have some questions, and some worries - though Somers’s widower claims she knew all about it, and approved, before she died. - CBC

A Prominent Arts College Offers An AI Major. There’s Pushback

According to SCAD, the Applied AI program will prepare students for professions including AI product developer, AI design strategist, AI story engineer, autonomous agent designer, and “ethical design strategist.” SCAD is also offering a minor in Applied AI that’s open to students across all majors. - Fast Company

It’s True: Ticket Sales Have Nosedived At Kennedy Center Since Trump Takeover

“Nearly nine months after Trump became chair of the center and more than a month into its main season, ticket sales for the Kennedy Center’s three largest performance venues are the worst they’ve been in years. … Tens of thousands of seats have been left empty.” - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)

England’s Arts Funding Agency Suffered A Major Computer Failure In July. The Mess Still Isn’t Cleaned Up.

Arts Council England’s online portal, Grantium, was used by artists to submit and manage funding applications. It crashed in July, leaving thousands of applications in limbo until the portal reopened in late September. Yet, say applicants, ACE refused to extend deadlines and has distributed less money than grantees were promised. - The Guardian

Judge Rules Authors’ Copyright Lawsuit Against OpenAI Can Proceed

In issuing his ruling, Judge Stein compared George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones to summaries of the book created by ChatGPT. The judge wrote that a “discerning observer could easily conclude that this detailed summary is substantially similar to Martin’s original work. - Publishers Weekly

Trump Administration Makes Emergency Appeal To Supreme Court To Fire Head Of The US Copyright Office

The administration’s newest emergency appeal to the high court was filed a month and a half after a federal appeals court in Washington held that the official, Shira Perlmutter, could not be unilaterally fired. - APNews

Politics Is Changing The Ways History Is Being Taught In US Schools

Several major curriculum publishers have withdrawn products from the market, while others have found that teachers are shying away from lessons that were once uncontroversial, on topics as basic as constitutional limits on executive power. - The New York Times

Signs Of London’s Steep Decline

On any measure you care to look at, London’s economy — though still the most productive in Britain —is, at best, stagnant, and, at worst, in outright decline. - Washington Post

The Crisis In Belief Is Running Deep In An Age Of AI

“It’s the human factor I find the major underdiagnosed problem these days, the spiritual crisis now gripping many journalists and democracy enthusiasts. ‘What is civic engagement in the age of exponential lies?’ Maria Ressa, the dissident journalist and Nobel laureate, asked the audience.” - Matt Pearce

Because Arts Nonprofits Don’t Have Enough To Worry About

Turns out GoFundMe created “realistic-looking but unauthorized fundraising pages without permission that included logos and other identifying information from the nonprofits, but suggesting an optional 14% 'tipping fee’ in addition to the normal nonprofit 2.2% fee plus 30 cents for each credit card transaction.” - Oregon ArtsWatch

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