The brainchild of Birmingham Royal Ballet director Carlos Acosta and the band's Tony Iommi, the ballet will premiere in Birmingham in September. It will feature eight Black Sabbath tracks plus new music inspired by them. - BBC
As the streaming boom took off, a number of companies tried to crack the problem of how to make good documentaries at the speed and scale demanded by streamers. - New York Magazine
What motivates the anti-colonialist cancellers? On the surface, of course, they believe that I’m wrong. But only on the surface. They could react, as thoughtful people do react to things they object to, with skeptical, critical curiosity. - Compact
The invisible solar panels ... were created by the Italian company Dyaqua. They can be designed to appear like stone, wood, concrete or brick, so can be hidden on walls and floors, as well as on roofs. (The ones installed at Pompeii match the terra cotta tiles.) - The Art Newspaper
“The fact that it’s not curated gives everybody a lot of freedom and the chance to engage in the innovation this state is known for,” said Martha Gilmer, CEO of the San Diego Symphony. - San Francisco Classical Voice
Following last year's outcry over an even-larger-than-usual mismatch between the supply of and the demand for arts funding, the government has given Creative New Zealand a one-time boost of NZ$22 million (US$13.87 million) — on top of the agency's regular grant budget, most recently NZ$17 million. - The Big Idea (New Zealand)
I don’t think culture is one thing. Sometimes it is a set of understandings and practices that we share with other people who have had the same kind of experiences, like a generation. - Public Books
"Watching these films, I found my class rage dissipating — giving way to pity — in proportion to the degree of suffering onscreen (and the cruelty and relish with which it was inflicted). The targets are cartoonishly deserving, but even caricatures can bleed, weep, and shriek." - Vulture
In his youth, he was expected to take over one of the so-called Big Five—the venerable orchestras of the East and the Midwest. Instead, his achievement at the San Francisco Symphony, together with Esa-Pekka Salonen’s at the L.A. Phil, made the notion of a Big Five untenable. - The New Yorker
The as-yet untitled three-act piece, the brainchild of Birmingham Royal Ballet artistic director Carlos Acosta, will include eight songs by Black Sabbath (including "Paranoid" and "War Pigs") as well as newly-composed music in the band's style. The dramaturg will be Richard Thomas, who wrote Jerry Springer: The Opera. - The Guardian
By now, he’s a seasoned artistic leader who has hired players, weathered contract negotiations, laid long-term plans, raised money, and performed all the practical and ceremonial duties required of a cultural figure in a major city. - New York Magazine
The 57 pieces of correspondence had been languishing unidentified in the archives of the National Library of France. They date from Mary's 18 years of captivity at the hands of her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I; most are complaints addressed to France's ambassador to England. - Ars Technica
No, it's not a matter of left-wing bias — on the part of the software (which is not alive and cannot think) or of the programmers. There may have been bias involved (that isn't clear), but if there was, that bias isn't political, writes Reed Albergotti. - Semafor
"Without this competitiveness, the exhibition wouldn't have the same mass appeal. And that's the source of the Turner Prize's current identity crisis. On the one hand, it embraces artists who up until now have been ignored; on the other hand, it pits them against each other." - Hyperallergic
"NBT is readying to build a new, 21-story Harlem facility that will house a new theater complex as well as retail and affordable housing units. Meanwhile, the theater is making a place for itself on Broadway for the first time with Fat Ham, the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by James Ijames." - Variety
