The company will develop brand and franchise strategies for titles including The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Evita, Sunset Boulevard and Starlight Express. - TheatreMania
Nicolas Namoradze’s Neurorecital saw pieces from Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier accompanied by images of the performer’s brain activity, allowing an unprecedented peek into the mind of the pianist. - Classical Music
The accusation first surfaced on July 31, during the opening day of Lollapalooza: as a small group of protesters dressed in black gathered in front of the mirrored sculpture (which is formally titled Cloud Gate), waving signs and handing out flyers, demanding the release of the man they insisted was trapped inside. - Artnet
Researchers estimate that over 1 million children in the U.S. have been exposed to mindfulness in their schools, mostly at the elementary level, often taught by classroom teachers or school counselors. - The Conversation
The AI takeover of the classroom is just getting started. Plenty of educators are using AI in their own job, even if they may not love that chatbots give students new ways to cheat. On top of the time they spend on actual instruction, teachers are stuck with a lot of administrative work. - The Atlantic
We in the hard sciences do work that is largely apolitical, and we are more oriented toward much-needed objective evaluation of data and merit. Yet, the scientists, and all their life-giving and technology-producing work, are being punished for the sins of others because we all live under one roof. - The Dispatch
“The next manuscript by Indian writer Amitav Ghosh will not be read for 89 years, as he becomes the 12th author to contribute to the Future Library project. Ghosh joins Margaret Atwood, Han Kang, Ocean Vuong and other prominent authors who have written secret manuscripts, which are locked away until 2114.” - The Guardian
The White House’s announced review is a challenge to the Smithsonian, which has traditionally operated as an independent institution and regards itself as being outside the control of the executive branch. - The New York Times
Television animation costs $15,000 to $60,000 per minute if done traditionally. Intelligent Animation, another start-up backed by Banyan Ventures, has developed an A.I.-assisted process that drops the cost to as little as $1,500 per minute. - The New York Times
“According to Pew Research Center data, between 2019 and 2023, Black Protestant monthly church attendance fell from 61% to 46% — the largest decline among major U.S. religious groups. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated this trend, and its impact is visible in the thinning choir stands.” - AP
“Hands not only guide the eye but are the body’s finishing touch. ... They also offer a way into how to look at a dancer — and a dance. A dance isn’t just about what you see. It’s what you internalize: emotionally, intellectually, sonically, spiritually. Those hands? They lead the way.” - The New York Times
“This year offers a ‘brigade of old gits’, as the actor Andy Linden says, some of them veterans such as Miriam Margolyes, who first performed there with Cambridge University Footlights in 1963, and others remarkably making their debuts in their 70s and 80s.” - The Guardian
“Now, after Congress took away $9.4 billion in previously allocated public media funding and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting subsequently announced it will shut down, the future of those stations … and tribal public media across the country is up in the air.” - Nieman Lab
His astounding social media fame has inspired a musical, Saturday Night Live skits, stand-up routines, academic inquiries into the regulation of health care algorithms and the psychosocial effects of chronic pain, and a counter-movement of outraged commentators scolding anyone who would make light of a murder. - The New York Times
The work on the monumental fresco behind the altar in the Sistine Chapel is intended to protect it from the effects of large-scale tourism. The Chapel attracts an average of 25,000 visitors a day, or roughly 6 million each year. - Artnet