Insulating yourself from inconvenient facts is not an effective long-term life strategy, even for someone powerful enough to externalize the costs of most of their bad decisions onto others. - Artnet
Jennifer Schuessler: “Ordinary Americans are far less interested in fighting about history than it might seem. People who work at historical sites, whether government-run or private, report that most visitors, whatever their politics, show up open-minded and curious and hungry for fact-based, nonpartisan history.” - The New York Times
There is understandable fear among artists that artificial intelligence will plunder their work and render already-difficult careers impossible. This sets up the question: Is there an ethical path forward for art and AI? - Hyperallergic
As the US-Israel war on Iran enters its fourth week, neighboring Gulf states, a hub of much of the region’s contemporary art production, are projecting an image of normalcy, with many galleries and museums reopening. - Hyperallergic
West End theater tickets are regularly less expensive than on Broadway, even for the same shows. Last year, the average West End ticket price was about $81, while last season the average Broadway ticket price was roughly $129. - The New York Times
“The channel will distribute more than 100 new videos annually, including feature-length and short documentaries from the PBS series Independent Lens, POV, Reel South and Voices as well as output from PBS’s partnership with BBC Studios.” - The Hollywood Reporter
Nobel laureate Han Kang won the fiction category for We Do Not Part, while Karen Hao took nonfiction honors for Empire of A.I. and Arundhati Roy received the autobiography prize for Mother Mary Comes to Me. Among other honorees were Quinn Slobodian for Hayek's Bastards (criticism) and Kevin Young for Night Watch (poetry). - AP
“One thing that could help turn things around is if opera companies offered audiences works in the language they speak (and) a musical language they can readily recognize and enjoy. … Too often composers and producers reject music that audiences can easily appreciate as insufficiently sophisticated or original.” - The New York Times
“The BLO has been something of a nomad after ending its relationship with the Shubert Theatre a decade ago. ... While the company steadily performs at historic Boston venues like the Emerson Colonial, preparing for their big productions has scattered the company around the city, and beyond, for years” — until now. - WBUR (Boston)
“An Austrian pianist who turns 68 on Monday, Hinterhäuser became artistic director on Oct. 1, 2016. The festival announced in April 2024 that he had been given a third five-year term from 2026-31, but his relationship with management became strained.” - AP
“After The Atlantic cited anonymous sources saying he was, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt called it ‘fake news.’ But today the Kennedy Center made it official.” - NPR
Meredith McDonough, formerly associate artistic director at Actors Theatre of Louisville and, before that, director of new works at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto, takes the helm at the Providence company as of August 3. - The Providence Journal
Beginning in 2029 — the same year the Oscar telecast moves to YouTube — the Academy Awards will move to downtown Los Angeles, to L.A. Live, a sports-and-entertainment complex adjacent to the Crypto.com Arena, home of the Lakers basketball team and the Kings hockey team. - The New York Times
“The study sessions were first organized during the COVID-19 pandemic by Entree, the youth association of (Amsterdam’s) Concertgebouw, to help students improve their concentration and introduce them to the charms of classical music. They have been a hit ever since.” - AP
Multiple departments were affected — including programming, development, advertising, marketing and the office of the president — according to multiple people at the center. - Washington Post
