The streaming giant has let go of 300 employees, just a month after a previous round of 150 layoffs (plus many part-timers and contractors). Since Netflix announced, earlier this year, that it was losing subscribers, its stock value has fallen by just under 70%. - Variety
The new study by Opera America found that, in North America, only about 20% of employees are people of color, compared with 39% of the population. There's some progress, though: women make up 61% of employees and 54% of leadership positions. - The New York Times
In 2022, the average cost of the most expensive tickets available for West End productions is £140.85, up 21.3% on 2019. The increase has been driven by new productions, with the average top price for long-runners falling over the same period. - The Stage
British street artist Banksy painted his “sad girl” work on the door of the Bataclan in memory of the 90 people killed in worst of the 13 November 2015 jihadist attacks that hit several sites around the city. - The Guardian
We shouldn’t be dismissive of people who believe in pseudoscience. In many cases they’re victims who have fallen for disinformation that’s been put forward by someone else, often people who stand to profit in some way. - Nautilus
Method acting has a history in opera, and it begins earlier than you might think. Even before his Moscow Art Theatre toured the United States and galvanized famous disciples like Lee Strasberg and Stella Adler, Stanislavski was trying out his acting techniques with opera singers. - Van
It would also apply to platforms including YouTube and Spotify and make them promote Canadian music artists by law. Critics of the bill say that as currently worded, it could also apply to amateur videos and user-generated content posted on YouTube. - Global TV
So your Alexa may soon be able to mimic your departed nan, long-lost friend or, presumably, someone off the TV. The goal is to "make the memories last" after "so many of us have lost someone we love" during the pandemic, said Rohit Prasad, an Amazon senior vice president. - Sky News
Now that P.S. 11 band students have returned to the classroom, they are rediscovering their confidence as musicians. But it has been no small task to fill the hole of lost instruction. “Covid obliterated my program. It hasn’t come back for every student the way it was.” - The New York Times
"For (the) students, ballroom dancing is a form of release, finding rhythm in music away from their country's many social and economic pressures. For that one hour, they push Syria's 11-year war from their minds: the politics, the anxiety over the economic crisis and the country's constantly depreciating currency." - AP
It seems to me that the one indisputable thing we can say about our current illiberalisms, of the left and the right: All illiberalisms are intrinsically mechanistic. It is always their goal for mechanization to take command—as long as mechanization serves their ends. - Hedgehog Review
"The USP of the Whitbreads, which morphed into the Costas 14 years before they were abruptly scrapped this month, was that they didn't buy into ... literary snobbery. For 50 years, they spread a wide and egalitarian net across different genres." - The Guardian
It's "an industry falling out of sync with how people use its products. It’s no longer just a cheaper, ad-free alternative to cable, but a crowded field. Netflix’s new zeal for password enforcement breaks the seal on something the streaming companies have long avoided. - Washington Post
The honoree is historian George Chauncey, best known for the multi-award-winning Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890-1940, now considered a landmark in its field. Chauncey was also a key figure in the long struggle for marriage equality. - The New York Times
The historical Arts and Industries Building, on Jefferson Drive SW next to the Smithsonian administration building known as the Castle, is the sole site with a structure and the only one under the control of the Smithsonian. - Washington Post
