"Normally, a paid version of the service operates at 290 museums across Italy. One of the company Bauadvisor's dog-sitters meets the owner outside the museum and takes the dog for a walk. … This promotional, free version of the service will take place for one day every month … in a different Italian city." - CNN
Most game makers keep their expenditures secret; Call of Duty was recently reported to have cost over $700 million so far. But multiplayer space simulator Star Citizen publishes its figures, updated in real time, on its website. Currently it's approaching $800 million and may reach the billion-dollar mark next year. - The Guardian
The 57-year-old Finn, currently music director of the Gulbenkian Orchestra and Choir in Lisbon and of the Finnish National Opera & Ballet, begins his term with the 2026-27 season. He succeeds former Houston Symphony and Calgary Philharmonic music director Hans Graf, who departs Singapore at the end of next season. - The Straits Times (Singapore)
The paper, which was owned by the Sun-Times for six years before being sold to a not-for-profit in 2018, has continued to be plagued by the issues facing local news generally in the US. Six non-union staffers have been laid off and the publisher has resigned. - Chicago Sun-Times
The city government is facing possible bankruptcy due to a £52 million budget gap over the next five years. Among the drastic measures being seriously considered are winding down and ending the Cultural Investment Programme (which distributes funding grants to arts institutions) and closing three local historic sites. - The Guardian
"The nonprofit outlet has built a brand on connecting the knowledge of professors and researchers to both the news cycle and a general audience … But could it also work on a sub-national level ... and try to make a dent in the local news crisis? That’s the idea behind The Conversation Local." - Nieman Lab
Timothy O’Connor, former chief executive of the Harvest Rain Theatre Company in Brisbane, Australia, faces charges from seven accusers aged from 12 to 29; alleged offenses include rape, attempted rape, sexual assault, indecent treatment of a child, recordings in breach of privacy, fraud, common assault and indecent acts. - ArtsHub (Australia)
The urge to track our reading habits is never so strong as it is near the turn of the year, when cultural forces press us to revise ourselves. Like the things we eat or the ways we move our bodies, the books we consume get talked about as yet another avenue for self-improvement. - The Walrus
The danger of blaming the Ivy League for today’s overreliance on blunt ranking-and-sorting instruments is that we may be tempted to wait for the Ivy League to fix it. Instead, let’s agree that we also need leaders who flourished in local community colleges, regional universities, apprenticeships. - The Atlantic
"(Chuckles) ripple through the crowd when Nicole Kidman laps up milk from a saucer on her hands and knees in Babygirl, when Lily-Rose Depp contorts herself inhumanly in Nosferatu, when Mikey Madison is bound and gagged in Anora, when Daniel Craig is shooting heroin in Queer." - The New York Times
VR brings clarity to architectural design. While traditional blueprints and 3D renderings can mainly convey spatial relationships, lighting conditions and material finishes, VR immerses users in a realistic simulation of the space. - The Conversation
Fire extinguishers in hand, the museum said, the Getty’s staff scours the sparse ground beneath their boots as well as the canopies of oak trees overhead. They look for embers. - The Wall Street Journal
"A group of civic, business and community leaders calling themselves 'Team Culture' wants to reimagine major parts of downtown — filling vacant, often shadowy spaces with light and art." - Chicago Sun-Times
Imagination of a sort is central to all experience. We construct our perceived world from incomplete information, interpreted via inner representations of our environment, that generate predictions of what is actually out there and how it will respond to our actions. - The Guardian
Ron Rivlin said he had lost more than two dozen Warhols — he owns a gallery in West Hollywood that specializes in Warhol — along with works by Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, John Baldessari and Kenny Scharf. - The New York Times
