“We're all kind of left reeling,” Craig said. “It does feel, for many of us involved in nonprofit fields, that we are being hit from all directions.” - KCUR
“A series of budget bills (passed) on July 1 have restored the $11.5 million Performing Arts Equitable Payroll Fund, intended to help pay performers and keep small performing arts venues in operation” by offsetting costs of AB5, the 2019 law requiring many performers to be paid as employees rather than freelancers. - KQED (San Francisco)
Yes, $1 was the figure being considered by legislators for the New Hampshire Council on the Arts in the new state budget. In the end, the Council’s budget was cut by only 90%, from $1.5 million to $150,000, leaving The Granite State dead last among US states for arts funding. - WMUR (Manchester, NH)
“The White House has raised concerns about ‘Entertainment Nation,’ a permanent display on view since 2022 that sheds light on the entertainment industry’s impact on American pop culture through a selection of theater, music, sports, movie, and television memorabilia from the last 150 years.” - ARTnews
Following last year’s boycott campaign which led to authors withdrawing from the Edinburgh Book Festival due to sponsorship by asset management firm Baillie Gifford, corporations are reluctant to risk becoming targets of activists by sponsoring Edinburgh events — leading to tighter budgets and programming cuts at the festivals themselves. - Financial Times
On the “America 250” website created by the White House, the account of the nation’s founding is outsourced to Hillsdale College, a far-right institution that was a member of the advisory board for Project 2025. - Los Angeles Times
“The Trump administration says it’s close to working out a sale to a group of ‘non-Chinese' investors, including Oracle, with current majority owner ByteDance maintaining a minority stake.” - The Verge
“The cumulative effect of F1 and its press tour have been a carefully tuned charm offensive meant to obscure, if not outright bury, the alleged violent particulars of his behavior toward ex-wife Angelina Jolie.” - Vulture (Internet Archive)
"A Canadian who duped journalists in an elaborate AI music hoax says he apologizes to anyone hurt by his experiment but that it's been ‘too fascinating’ to turn away from.” - CBC
Likely not, but people, and groups, persist in countries where the consequences can be dire. For instance, “the government of El Salvador has created an entire infrastructure to have not only social, but also digital control of the citizenry.” - Wired
“They can get rid of an object only if it is a perfect duplicate; if it is unsuitable for retention in collections and can be disposed of 'without detriment to students or the public;' if it is damaged beyond repair.” - The Times
The author, who is funneling her profits into a recovery house for women, says, "The damage will be unimaginable. Lots of people will die, lots of wild lands will be destroyed. The damage is terrifying.” - The Guardian (UK)
“The song proved to be the final strike for Ye. First shared in a social media post on X, 'Heil Hitler’ has been widely denounced for its racial epithets and antisemitism. It was also subsequently banned on most streaming platforms.” - Los Angeles Times
Will the occasion underline the country’s divisions, as with Trump's military parade and the No Kings protests? Or can Americans come together over the principles in the Declaration of Independence? The Bicentennial in 1976, also a time of division after the Vietnam War and Watergate, could offer some clues. - The New York Times
