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
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
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
Several major curriculum publishers have withdrawn products from the market, while others have found that teachers are shying away from lessons that were once uncontroversial, on topics as basic as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
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
“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
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
Not really, but there will be “acoustic and jazz” concerts, poetry readings, dance performances and more — including possible “historical reenactments of gladiatorial battles.” - AP
“The 42-seat luxurious movie theater a place where countless presidents, their families or staff have screened any movie of their choosing, whether the latest Hollywood blockbuster, an Oscar contender or a perennial classic.” - The Hollywood Reporter
Museums are not ready. “Censorship corrodes trust in complex ways. … Solidarity is mostly lacking in the museum world, where the strategy so far seems to be heads down and hope for the best.” (This is, let’s be clear, not a winning strategy.) - Washington Post (MSN)
Located about 70 miles north of Phoenix, Arcosanti is the only “arcology” — Paolo Soleri’s portmanteau for compact, self-sufficient communities that fuse architecture and ecology — to materialize in the real world. - Bloomberg
The White House was never meant to be a palace, nor the Oval Office a throne room. The East Wing was the living artery of the White House, the First Lady’s offices, the Social Office, the machinery of ceremonial democracy where symbolism gets translated into human scale. - Rick Wilson
“Overcoming the contradiction between dream and reality, (Breton and his fellow Surrealists) believed, would complement the class struggle between the global proletariat and its bourgeois oppressors. Surrealism was much more than a merely artistic project — it was also a means toward a larger political end.” - The Conversation
Revenue from the tax, collected on hotel rooms and rental cars in Bexar County, may be used for sports arenas and parks, but also performing arts venues and associated infrastructure. Here's what's on the two ballot proposition in November (one of which would fund a new San Antonio Spurs arena). - San Antonio Report
