A cultural battle is dividing Odesa, with the Babel statue a flashpoint. The spark was the decolonization law, which was part of a broader effort in wartime Ukraine to sever ties with Russian heritage and build an identity free of its influence. - The New York Times
Almost every professional artist or illustrator I meet tells me they have lost clients and gigs to firms that have turned to AI instead of paying for human work; some have been pushed out of their fields altogether. - Blood in the Machine
It is especially ironic that, just as we began the countdown to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, with commemorations at Lexington and Concord, this contemporary battle over the future of universities took a dangerous new turn. - The Atlantic
Three major scholarly groups have sued the National Endowment for the Humanities and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, arguing that the recent mass cancellation of virtually all the agency’s grants violates the law and must be reversed. - The New York Times
“It’s strange that the Trump administration is trumpeting their priorities to serve diverse America while canceling grants for our August Wilson play." - The New York Times
The skinny budget also eliminates funding for the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences, AmeriCorps, National Endowment for the Arts, and National Endowment for the Humanities. Trump has already made deep cuts at those agencies and put most—if not all—of their employees on leave. - InsideHigherEd
The general admission tickets for the world-famous event in Somerset were released at 09:00 BST on Sunday, and the festival announced on X they were gone by 9:20 BST. - BBC
“Joe Chialo, from the conservative CDU party, had initially sought to defend the cost-saving measures but became a lightning rod for anger over the cuts. However, he said Friday that extra measures now being planned went too far and could ‘lead to the imminent closure of nationally known cultural institutions’.” - AFP (Yahoo!)
Since the founding of the tiny corner of academia known as science fiction studies in the 1970s, there has been a sense that science fiction is of the left, while fantasy is of the right. - Dissent
We wanted to make clear that in many respects, trans and queer have always been with us. You can’t talk about same-sex desire without interrogating what sex you are talking about. - The Gay & Lesbian Review
“As of Feb. 14, the city has a real, big city-style department, the Office of Arts, Culture, Music, and Entertainment. After years of performers, administrators, boards, and venues having to bounce between offices for everything from grants to permits, there’s finally a one-stop shop whose sole concern is the arts.” - The Austin Chronicle
The roots of May Day, or International Workers Day, stretch back over a century to a turbulent and pivotal time in U.S. labor history — labor unions’ struggle for an eight-hour workday during the 1880s. Unions later recommended that workers be honored every May 1. - AP
The new funding, which will support humanities councils in all 50 states and six jurisdictions, comes a month after the National Endowment for the Humanities abruptly cut off federal funding for the councils, as well as most of its existing grants. - The New York Times
“The Mellon Foundation has announced $15 million in ‘emergency funding’ for state humanities councils across the country. The support comes after the Department of Government Efficiency abruptly cancelled some $65 million in (National Endowment for the Humanities) grants earlier this month.” - NPR
“The Trump administration has terminated members of the board that oversees the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum appointed by President Joe Biden — including Doug Emhoff, the husband of former vice president Kamala Harris.” - The Washington Post (MSN)
