“The argument really felt like a national security case and a First Amendment case walk into a bar. There’s two totally different cases, and you could feel everybody toggling back and forth, depending on which of those they thought they were going to win in the moment.” - Slate
On Wednesday, the Palisades fire claimed Will Rogers’s historic ranch house and other structures on the Will Rogers State Historic Park, according to a news release by the California State Parks. - Artnet
"(The move) follows years of campaigning by politicians, musicians and the theatre industry to stop professional 'resellers' hoovering up tickets at the expense of fans and selling them on for huge mark-ups in alliance with platforms such as Viagogo and StubHub, which take a cut of the profits." - The Guardian
Figures from every corner of politics have used the hall for events and rallies, amplifying the legend “that this is where the idea of American liberty is born.” Frederick Douglass argued here before packed houses of abolitionists in 1849 and 1858. That same year, Jefferson Davis, future leader of the Confederacy, gave a speech.” - Smithsonian
"Ushers at the Kimmel Center, the Academy of Music, and Miller Theater have struck a tentative deal on a new labor contract. If approved, the contract would give the members of the union a 23% raise over five years." - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
"What’s gone missing, in a society that long ago excused itself from seriousness, is a broader sense that art is urgent business, that your life, in some sense, depends on it. With that goes the mass audience. With that goes not only the possibility of meaningful criticism, but also its point." - Persuasion
If Sherlock Holmes really is the last of the classic fairy-tale heroes, he may also be the first to have been protected by modern intellectual-copyright law. - The Atlantic
At the Koepel in Haarlem, "a cafe fills the ground floor with chatter. Above, nearly all the former cells are being rented. There’s a podcast studio, art school ateliers and gallery spaces, while the darkened cinema bar offers a more intimate charm." - The Guardian
Nicola Benedetti, a Grammy-winning classical violinist who became the festival’s director in 2022, said in an interview with the Guardian she feared the creative arts that underpinned it were at risk of stagnating because of repeated funding cuts. - The Guardian
These are desperate times for art organizations and music venues in Berkeley, pummeled by rising labor and production costs and lower theater attendances. - BerkeleySide
"The attendants working in the Academy of Music, Kimmel Center (Marian Anderson Hall, Perelman Theater, and other venues in the complex), and the Miller Theater voted down a Dec. 30 contract offer." The previous contract expired last July. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
Will it be banned? “That’s the pressing question keeping creators and small business owners in anxious limbo as they await a decision that could upend their livelihoods.” - Seattle Times (AP)
Studios plan to use artists to create characters or looks - and then “fine-tune” them, owning them forever, using AI. As you might imagine, this “would seem to signal potential for talent exploitation and diminished future opportunities for artists and animators.” - Variety
"Journalism is not a business that responds well to the usual American capitalist imperative to treat your customers as victims to be tricked and sucked dry. The overall health of the free press is therefore a handy barometer” to tell how things stand (they don’t look good). - How Things Work
