“There have long been ballet classes for children, and classes for adult beginners have grown in popularity. But there are relatively few designated spaces for serious former students to practice and perform at a high level, with no dreams of going pro.” Enter the Ballet Salon. - The New York Times
Among the titles involved were The Handmaid’s Tale, The Kite Runner, and a cookbook. Outraged students protested. And, mind you, this was after Minnesota passed a law forbidding book bans in public schools. - The Minnesota Star Tribune
“The novel by Thélyson Orélien, C’était ça ou mourir, which translates to ‘It was either that or dying,’ came under scrutiny last month over allegations of AI use. This was followed by other news reports that raised questions about passages in the author's previous work.” - The Canadian Press
“The specialty plaster is a type of gypsum product known as Hydrocal, which ... is durable enough for metal casting but soft enough for direct sculpting. In addition to artworks, it is used in architectural restoration projects, dental molds, orthopedic molds and the customization of prosthetic limbs.” - The New York Times
The press release said only, “The Board of Trustees thanks Christy (Tanner) for her contributions to NYPR and wishes her well.” Her predecessor, LaFontaine Oliver, is stepping in as interim Acting President and CEO. - Gothamist
District officials canceled South Grand Prairie High School’s production largely out of concern about breaking Texas’s recent law banning drag performances in front of minors. Meanwhile, the student actress points out that denying her the chance to perform because she’s female violates Title IX. - Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Okay, not the first painted self-portrait, but a photo taken by Mia Jackson (younger sister of early photographer Julia Margaret Cameron and grandmother of Virginia Woolf) sometime in the late 1850s is evidently the oldest known image in which the camera is deliberately aimed at the subject in a mirror. - Artnet
Art trickery can get tricky. And yet it persists. Some experts estimate that around half of the secondary art market consists of forgeries and misattributions. - ARTnews
“Since January, when the US imposed a fuel blockade in a bid to upend the communist-run government, (Cubans) have had to contend with blackouts spanning days. … On a recent Friday evening, …candles flickered outside the theater hall, while the inside was lit by an array of rechargeable lights in all shapes and sizes.” - Reuters
A question that is turning us all into different kinds of readers—skeptical, antagonistic, and less willing to give our fellow humans the benefit of the doubt. Trying to figure out what AI writing looks like is turning writer and reader into adversaries. And I’m going to tell you why. - The Walrus
What if, like a thumb on the scales tipping debut novels toward more favourable outcomes, nonfiction’s bleaker fate was also a product of accumulated choices—choices about where the money goes and how the story of these books gets told? - The Walrus
Hadestown has already surpassed Hamilton for the highest grossing opening weekend for a live theatre film in North America, bringing in $10.2-million USD during its debut weekend. - ArtsHub
“PEN recorded nearly 12,000 instances of book banning affecting 7,370 unique titles across 114 U.S. school districts during the 2025-26 academic year, a record high since PEN began tracking literary censorship in American public schools in 2021.” The “vast majority” of the bans were in Texas and Florida. - Publishers Weekly
The episode felt somehow symbolic for this moment in the history of AI in Africa, where excitement over the technology’s transformative potential for the continent’s filmmakers often runs counter to the practical realities on the ground. - Variety
While the ACO is perhaps best known, outside Australia at least, for its championing of new music alongside the classics, at home it’s Tognetti’s openness to music from other genres, and the rich cross-fertilisation that results, for which he’s equally celebrated. - Gramophone
