“(Two White House) officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the discussions have been preliminary and exploratory, and it was unclear exactly how the federal government would take control of the site in Lower Manhattan. … The museum’s leadership rebuffed the idea.” - The New York Times
“(The move) escalat(es) a bitter contract dispute just weeks before the orchestra is set to open its new season. The vote, announced Thursday, Sept. 4, allows players to walk out if talks with Symphony management fail to produce a deal. The 2025-26 season is scheduled to begin Sept. 12.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
“The contract, ratified a year before the current one expires, includes a $10,000 salary increase in the first year and at least 3% raises in subsequent years, bringing the musician base pay to $128,036 by 2030. It also introduces changes to night rehearsals, offering greater flexibility for the musicians.” - Fox 2 (St. Louis)
"AI has softened the consequences of procrastination and led many students to avoid doing any work at all. As a result, these programs have destroyed much of what tied us together as students." - The Atlantic
Director Chris Columbus: “(It) not only propels the story forward but from a narrative standpoint, he’s taking the audience’s hand and inviting them inside that world. ... Certain film scores almost keep the audience at bay, but John manages to immerse the audience in the warmth, or the terror, of the film.” - Vulture (MSN)
The corporate urge to replace art-making humans with machines is profoundly anti-human. It’s an old story: we have always tried to mechanize creativity and to remove messy human emotions. - LitHub
“We’re doing an outdoor public campaign that involves subways and taxi tops and things like that in the outer boroughs, which are very purposefully an invitation to the city at large. The intention is that we aren’t just trying to reach people that are already seeing 12 shows a year.” - Variety
Contributed revenue fell by 30%, with every source declining from 2023 to 2024. Foundation revenue dropped 25% after modest growth in 2023, and earned revenue declined 18%. The decrease in contributed revenue reflects the continued waning of unprecedented pandemic relief funding that began in 2021. - SMU Cultural Data
From the get-go, Common People Dance Eisteddfod has predominantly attracted middle-aged women. (One year, a team did an interpretive dance on the theme of “the symptoms of perimenopause in a subtropical climate that’s going through climate change”.) - The Guardian
“Nielsen’s Big Data + Panel … The new measurement tool combines Nielsen’s existing panel with data from cable, satellite set-top boxes and smart TVs across 45 million households and 75 million devices through the company’s partnership with big data partners like Roku, Comcast, Dish, Vizio, and DirecTV.” - TheWrap (Yahoo!)
There is a yawning gap between Columbia’s marketing—“Let magician Terry Riley float you on his tangerine carousel into a sunshine universe you might have dreamed of once when everything was easy and colorful and innocent”—and the still-reverberant utopian spirit of the actual music, infused with the composer’s lived experience. - The New Yorker
I’ve never encountered a complete description of what the magazine wants its checkers to check. A managing editor took a stab in 1936: “Points which in the judgment of the head checker need verification.” New checkers, upon receiving their first assignment, are instructed to print out the galleys of the piece and underline all the facts. - The New Yorker
In the staff memo, Lonnie Bunch shared details of his formal response to the White House, indicating that the Smithsonian intends to undertake its own review, rather than be directed by the Trump administration. - Washington Post
“What are the 100 things that unequivocally define Swedish culture? Flat-packed furniture from IKEA? Of course. Pippi Longstocking? Indeed. The touchstone films of Ingmar Bergman? Absolutely. Abba and meatballs? Apparently not.” - The New York Times
It is a mammoth undertaking that involves about 3,500 artists; 1,000 staff members; 16 stages; and a budget of 75 million euros (about $88 million). This summer alone, there were six staged operas and four plays, featuring more than 1,500 costumes, including leopard-print hats and glittering Swarovski-covered masks. - The New York Times
