"You're making connections between different parts of the brain which haven't necessarily been connected before and then you're repeating it. It's through this process of repetition that you're helping to strengthen the connections between these different brain areas." - BBC
Mark Williams currently serves as chief artistic and operations officer of the Cleveland Orchestra, reporting to music director Franz Welser-Most. - The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)
Critics, audiences, and activists have both savaged and praised the movie, and the backlash has highlighted the difficulty of conveying an urgent message with comedy. Has political satire lost its power? Or has reality become so absurd that it’s now beyond parody? - The Atlantic
Box office and concession revenues saw significant growth across the second half of 2021. Notably, group performance was at 50% of 2019 levels in July, increasing to 90% in October and with December reaching 88%. - Deadline
"The short video of Aya Youssef, a 30-year-old primary school teacher, shot on a mobile phone shows her wearing a headscarf, trousers and a long-sleeved top as she dances alongside colleagues, smiling as she enjoys a river cruise on the Nile." - Al Jazeera (AFP)
"Terry’s ability to bounce month to month from film noir to the crisis of the symphony orchestra to the talents of Robert Mitchum to the musicality of Nat King Cole to the ever-sticky problem of how and when and whether to separate an artist’s noxious views from his art were the ultimate testament..." - Commentary
After having performances cancelled over and over (and if they're not, performers and programming changing last-minute) — especially in Australia, which has had some of the world's strictest lockdowns — some groups are trying options beyond the rigid pre-packaged subscription. Here's a look at some experiments. - Arts Hub (Australia)
A collective of anonymous workers called Decolonize SAM is calling for a boycott and demanding the museum stop removing unhoused people from museum property, provide de-escalation training for frontline staff, and other intervention strategies that center around harm-reduction and mutual aid. - Hyperallergic
Traditionally, wassailing wasn't just a matter of going house to house at Christmastime, singing and extorting drinks. Crop-blessing wassails in England involved special clothes, marching to an apple orchard by torchlight, yelling to chase away evil spirits, and (yes) singing and drinking. And it's undergoing a revival. - The Guardian
Is it a good or an ethical idea to go to a concert in the vortex of this unprecedented surge, what with local hospitals overwhelmed and understaffed and worse certain to come in the next weeks? Like so many questions during the last two years, we don’t have easy answers. - MSN (LATimes)
The company announced today it will use data from iSpot.tv, a Bellevue, Wash.-based company that measures audiences across linear TV and streaming platforms to provide viewing information on the two major events next month. - Los Angeles Times
"Desaturation is not in and of itself bad. It's a tool that can be used poorly or well. But why is it everywhere now? There's no one answer to that question, but here are my five best guesses as to what might be behind the desaturation of Hollywood." - Vox
While it is mostly made up of classical music, it also includes: an old album of Édith Piaf’s greatest hits; Argentine tango tunes, especially by Astor Piazzolla; and a 25-disc collection of Elvis Presley’s Gospel songs, said Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture. - Catholic Sun
The fragments are accounts and logbooks from the port from which blocks of white limestone (now long gone) that encased the Great Pyramid were sent to Giza. They record how supplies were loaded and shipped, the size of the crews, how they were fed, etc. - History Today
Besides the fact that "the NFT market is essentially a game of hot potato: Ditch it before the music stops, or you're stuck with some lines of code and a hefty financial loss. … The question is whether NFTs are the right medium to encourage connections" between artists and audiences. - Van
