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The Calculations Of Artists Who Haven’t Canceled Their Kennedy Center Gigs

Many of the artists who went through with their appearance agonized over whether to perform. They faced a version of the dilemma that many people in government, business, and civil society have confronted under the first and second Trump presidencies: When does quitting count as resistance, and when is it surrender? - The Atlantic

What Will Be Lost When Library Services Agency Goes Away

The agency provides financial support to a wide array of cultural and educational institutions, including art, science and history museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens and historic sites. Libraries of all types – public, academic, school and research – also benefit from the agency’s funding. - The Conversation

Maybe Paul Gauguin Was Not The Syphilitic Colonialist Child-Molester People Had Thought He Was

Biographer Sue Prideaux has found materials indicating that the artist did not have syphilis at all, his lover was well over the age of consent at the time and was free to stay with or leave him as she wished, and he actively campaigned against injustice and corruption in the colonial government of French Polynesia. - The Guardian

Trump Appoints New Head Of Library Services (While Promising To Shut It Down)

"I am committed to steering this organization in lockstep with this Administration to enhance efficiency and foster innovation," Keith Sonderling wrote in a press release. - NPR

US Limits Access To Heritage-Listed Library That Straddles US-Canada Border

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House, built in 1904, has been declared a heritage site on both sides of the border and has long been considered a symbol of harmony between Canada and the U.S. The border line literally runs across the floor of the building. - CBC

Mariah Carey Wins Copyright Lawsuit Over “All I Want For Christmas”

Pop singer Mariah Carey defeated a lawsuit claiming she illegally copied elements of her holiday megahit "All I Want for Christmas Is You" from a country song of the same name. - Reuters

Fred Eversley, Sculptor In “Light And Space” Movement, Dead At 83

“Whereas (most Light and Space) artists focused in their work on perception and transcendence, Eversley” — a former aerospace engineer — “was more interested in portraying scientific subjects: black holes, dead star matter, and parabolas, whose arc-like forms generated a career-long inquiry for him, in particular.” - ARTnews

U.S. Museums Might Be Better Off Financially If They Made General Admission Free: Report

The new study from the think tank Remuseum, based at Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas, is titled “Access, Scale, and Market Share” and presents new findings in its analysis of American art museums and proposals about how they can maximize resources and practices to widen their reach to the public. - Artnet

Alexei Navalny, Anne Carson, Hisham Matar Among National Book Critics Circle Award Winners

Navalny’s Patriot, released eight months after his death in a Russian prison, took the autobiography prize. Matar’s My Friends beat Percival Everett’s James for fiction; Carson’s collection Wrong Norma won for poetry; Adam Higginbotham’s Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space won for nonfiction. - AP

San Francisco Symphony’s Music Director Is Not On Next Season’s Schedule

Esa-Pekka Salonen didn’t resign as the orchestra’s music director; he simply said that he wouldn’t renew his contract, which runs through the 2025 season. Nonetheless, he's gone. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

Last Week Trump Ordered This Agency Dissolved. This Week He Appointed Its New Director.

“Last Friday, (he) signed an executive order calling for the dismantling of seven federal agencies. Chief among them was the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which provides critical funding to museums, libraries, and archives. Now, less than a week later, Trump appointed a new head of the agency, Keith E. Sonderling.” - ARTnews

Britain’s National Trust Freezes Hiring Due To Sudden Leap In Costs

“The National Trust has frozen all but essential recruitment and is pausing some projects as it faces a £10 million jump in labour costs this year as a result of higher employment costs stemming from last autumn’s budget.” - The Guardian

Louisville Orchestra CEO Resigns After Less Than Three Years

Graham Parker told the board of his decision “to spend more time with his family” in January and stepped down at the end of February, but public announcement of his departure was delayed, orchestra officials said, “out of respect for Graham.” - Louisville Public Media

What These Newly Deciphered 4,000-Year-Old Tablets Tell Us About The Akkadian Empire

These particular artifacts mostly demonstrate that the people running the empire day-to-day were (pick one or both) thorough, detail-oriented administrators or obsessive bureaucrats. - The Observer (UK)

How Government Layoffs Are Affecting DC Bookstores

"There’s also been a noticeable uptick in conversations among shoppers about the general plight of federal workers and the precarity of government employment these days.” - Publishers Weekly

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