“We discovered early on that if you could make someone who disagreed with you laugh, then you had a hook inside their brain. Once you were in there, you just might be able to change their minds about things.” - Glass Tire
King Mohammed VI's government says it's making art accessible to more ordinary people and promoting Morocco as an island of stability; some artists and critics argue that it's all just attempting to artwash the image of a repressive regime that keeps its censors busy. - Bloomberg CityLab
Because taping a goddamn banana to a wall was not enough, no, the art world needed to do something even more stupid involving food. At sea! - Hyperallergic
More than 250 media outlets have closed since the takeover; those that remain are losing their audience because people are scared of being caught listening to music or watching anything unapproved. A few brave TV stations are still employing women. - The Guardian
The pandemic has created a labor shortage of plant workers and drivers that has clogged up supply chains in the face of rising demand for paint, especially for construction and home improvement projects. - Hyperallergic
"The drama behind the scenes … would make several people's heads melt like the Wicked Witch of the West." Margaret Hamilton caught on fire, the Tin Man's makeup sent Buddy Ebsen to the hospital (that's why Jack Haley replaced him), and the snowflakes were pure asbestos. - /Film
Jill Lepore: Of course, there is such a thing as society. The question now is how the pandemic has changed it. Speculating about what might happen next requires first deciphering these statements, and where they came from. - The Guardian
65% of respondents said they preferred in-person to online cultural activities. Only 9% favored online experiences, while a more significant 26% is defined as “digitally agnostic,” either preferring the two about equally or opting to make decisions based on content. - Hyperallergic
There's no established procedure, alas, so the fate of the archives depends on the particular location and owner. (We're looking at you, News Corp.) But there are some defunct newspapers whose archives have been saved, an excellent example being Denver's Rocky Mountain News. - Tedium
Natalia Osipova of London's Royal Ballet is selling specially-filmed of three duets with fiancé Jason Kittelberger, who says they hope to fund a new dance company with the proceeds of the sales. - The Guardian
His sabbatical will run from Dec. 19 to Jan. 10; he has withdrawn from the Met's January revival of The Marriage of Figaro and the Philadelphia Orchestra's New Year's concerts. - The New York Times
The mud structure in the southern province of Dhi Qar is small, roughly 26 feet by 16 feet and has been dated to 679 CE, less than 50 years after the prophet Muhammad's death. - Al Jazeera
"Vaccine" was the choice because of repeated spikes in traffic: searches of the word this year are up 601% from 2020 and 1,048% over 2019. Also, because of the new mRNA vaccines, the word's definition was expanded. (The runner-up Word of the Year was "insurrection.") - CNN
Sales are down by a third from 2019, and research indicates that many audience members remain wary of attending while COVID case numbers are high. As with Nutcracker for American ballet companies, English theatres depend on panto income to help finance the rest of their seasons. - BBC
Claudia Roth, one of the Green Party's top leaders and vice president of the federal parliament, started her career as a theater worker and later managed a German rock band. The left-leaning three-party coalition now in charge plans to make culture a high priority. - Deutsche Welle
