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Striking British Library Workers Expose Dire Low Pay Consequences

According to their union, they are offered pay deals so dire that many of them work multiple jobs and live in substandard housing. Seventy-one per cent of respondents to a union survey find their salary insufficient to meet basic needs. - The Guardian

Hollywood Has Slipped Dramatically In Diversifying

To my shock, when I looked at the numbers, I found that not only are things not significantly better, 2025 has been worse than any moment in recent times; worse, in fact, than pre-#MeToo. - The Ankler

Choreography In Space: Exploring The Possibilities

“How? The answer in (one) case was Velcro-covered suits, … just one form of technology that dancers are using to simulate the effects of weightlessness here on Earth. But for some, the end goal is to experience a true lack of gravity by bringing dance to space.” - Dance Magazine

Staffers Call Strike At Britain’s Tate Galleries

Workers at all four galleries — Tate Britain and Tate Modern in London, Tate St. Ives in Cornwall, and Tate Liverpool — represented by the Public and Commercial Services Union voted 98% to 2% to walk out from November 26 to December 2 over a pay offer they insist is too low. - The Guardian

Some US Bookstores Have Set Up Food Banks To Help Cut-Off SNAP Recipients

“With the (federal government) shutdown creating anxiety and uncertainty for those who depend on government aid, many independent bookstores took on a new role as hubs for food donations.” - The New York Times

US Museums Have Had A Pretty Rough 2025, Finds Survey

An American Alliance of Museums survey of over 500 museum directors found that one-third of responding museums have lost government grants or contracts under the Trump administration, one-fourth of them have had to cut targeted programs (e.g., for students or senior citizens), and over one-fourth have canceled programs for the general public. - The Guardian

Disney’s Standoff With YouTube Could Cost It Quite A Lot

“Disney may lose $30 million in revenue per week as its carriage dispute with YouTube TV has left ABC, ESPN and more of the media giant’s channels and programming dark on the Google-owned platform for 12 days.” - TheWrap (Yahoo!)

Antiquities Stolen From National Museum Of Damascus

Thieves smashed open a door on Sunday night and reportedly took ancient Roman marble statues and gold items. The museum had reopened for good, with its collection intact, only this past January after extended closures due to the Syrian civil war and subsequent uprising against the Assad regime. - ARTnews

Actress Sally Kirkland, 86

A Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award winner and Oscar nominee for the 1987 film Anna, in which she plays a great Czechoslovak actress trapped in New York’s avant-garde scene, she had over 260 roles in a decades-long career, from Andy Warhol to The Sting to 2006’s Factory Girl. - The Hollywood Reporter

Musicians Of Venice’s Opera House Lead March Through City To Protest Music Director

“On Monday, musicians, singers and stagehands (from Teatro La Fenice) marched through Venice with workers from other Italian opera houses. … They were joined by season-ticket holders, music students and Venetians worried about the future of artistic independence at La Fenice — and across Italy.” - AP

Bart Sher: Theatre As Catalyst For Change

“I think theatre is a catalyst for change,” Sher said. “I don’t think you make theatre pieces to tell people how to change. We tell stories that express people’s ability to handle ambiguity, deal with problems, see conflicts and make decisions.” - New York Observer

Inside The Negotiations That Ultimately Kept Broadway Actors From Striking

As the union’s executive director, Al Vincent Jr., tells it, Actors’ Equity was much closer to declaring a work stoppage than we might think. - The Hollywood Reporter

We Have A Growing AI Slop Problem

 Of course, with mass production comes surplus and, then, refuse. We containerize actual trash because otherwise debris gets on everything else and makes everything less good. AI is, arguably, doing the same on the internet. It’s clear we think of a lot of AI as trash, though we’re not doing much to clean it up.  - Fast Company

The Brilliant Critic Who Took On Raising American Literature

Cowley’s power and influence lay in opening, not shutting, the door to a new generation. He came of age at an especially fertile literary moment, after World War I, and he had a special interest in the work of his contemporaries, in the homegrown modernism of Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ernest Hemingway. - The Atlantic

Controversy Over Appointment Of Palm Springs Art Museum’s New Director

Christine Vendredi may well have proven to be the best candidate, but that the bungled process of simply elevating the chief curator to the directorship behind the scenes also did a disservice to the new director, as it “put her legitimacy in question.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

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