Next month marks the 30th anniversary of Boom Chicago, an Amsterdam venue featuring Chicago-style improv comedy in English, where Seth Meyers, Jordan Peele, Amber Ruffin, and Jason Sudeikis are among the alumni. - The New York Times
"The thievery ring operated for more than two decades at 20 museums and stores across the eastern United States and parts of the Midwest." In 2002, the group allegedly took Pollock's painting Springs Winter (1949) and a Warhol silkscreen, La Grande Passion, from the Everhart Museum in Scranton, Pa. - ARTnews
Anna-Maria Helsing, a Finn who became the BBC Concert Orchestra's principal guest conductor in 2020, will step up to succeed the late Bramwell Tovey as chief conductor as of October 1, with an initial contract term of three years. - The Independent (UK)
Kahchun Wong, a 36-year-old native of Singapore who won the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in 2018 and has since worked as chief conductor of the Nuremburg Symphony and the Japan Philharmonic, will succeed Mark Elder as of September 2024. - The Straits Times (Singapore)
Vicky Varga, a twenty-four-year veteran of Edmonton Public Library, described how the city had moved toward fully integrating social work into the activities of its main library branch. - The Walrus
As the world became almost unfathomably strange, many people reacted by demanding seriousness; social and political critics understandably turned very sober. And this too marginalized satire, which addresses serious issues by mocking them. - 3 Quarks Daily
AI-driven image-making—far from heralding some future post-human development—appears to be reviving long-dormant visual strategies that dominated the arts, and art theories, of the past. - Artforum
Sydney cemented the idea that grandiose political and architectural ambitions — some would say hubris — can merit the expenditure of much larger sums than bean counters would countenance. Some of these facilities ultimately proved transformative for their cities and nations. - Bloomberg
With the group now back in power, Bamian holds new symbolic and economic importance to the cash-strapped region: Officials see the Buddha remnants as a potentially lucrative source of revenue and are working to draw tourism around the site. - Washington Post
“We've been basically in a recovery mode since the 2020-21 pandemic. And I think that's the real reason why things have been stressed more. We've had some management and infrastructure issues that didn't adapt well to those two major business disruptions.” - Jefferson Public Radio
"The museum was built on the site of Gadsden’s Wharf, where an estimated 100,000 enslaved African individuals disembarked between 1783 and 1807. The new museum will explore the historical and cultural impact of the African diaspora" - vital as South Carolina bans discussion of race in schools. - Hyperallergic
"Sometimes, when they'll cast these wonderfully handsome men as Peter Parker - and, you know, some fans will complain like, that's not what Peter Parker looks like. But to be honest, that's how John Romita drew him." - NPR
Candace Hicks: "No one else is reading the same books as me in the same order, so in a way, my reading is my life’s work. The hand-stitched notebooks that I make recording the coincidences I uncover are a by-product of that process." - LitHub
