Stories

“The project involved integrating two neighboring buildings, adding almost 100,000 square feet of public and gallery space, and uniting the structures with a 21,000-square-foot, multilayered glass pavilion named for (Mark) Rothko,” who grew up in Portland. - ARTnews

The musical, starring Kristin Chenoweth (in her return to Broadway after ten years) and featuring Stephen Schwartz’s first Broadway score since Wicked, began previews in October and officially opened two weeks ago. The production was expected to run into next spring but, after negative reviews, will close on Jan. 4. - Entertainment Weekly

Toronto-based Ballet Jörgen had just begun its annual December tour of Ontario with the holiday favorite when the rental truck containing its sets and backdrops was stolen around 3:30 am Monday morning. - CBC

“In addition to a $2.3 million surplus on its (fiscal year 2025) operating budget of $34.6 million, the PSO saw its highest annual ticket sales since the COVID-19 pandemic. Total ticket sales reached $9.48 million, a 17% increase over last fiscal year.” - Pittsburgh Business Times (WPXI)

“A U.S. District Court (in Rhode Island) ruled in favor of 21 state attorneys general suing Donald Trump over the dismantling of the Institute of Museum and Library Services and several other small federal agencies.” - Book Riot

So perhaps it’s more accurate to say that, with Disneyland, it all started with a holiday to Chicago. - Los Angeles Times

Not only is it the biggest opening ever for a Broadway musical adaptation, unseating the record set by the first film’s $112 million launch, it’s also the second biggest debut of the year behind “A Minecraft Movie’s” $162 million. - APNews

Determining what the nation did and did not read was the through line of Malcolm Cowley’s career. He was a great discoverer and nurturer of talent: Jack Kerouac, John Cheever, and Ken Kesey were among the writers he championed, and, of the critics he commissioned to produce reviews at The New Republic. - The New Yorker

The painting is valued so highly because it carries a deep personal and political history – and because the artist’s incredible skill once helped it serve as a life-saving disguise. - The Convseration

Pam MacKinnon will step down as artistic director of San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) at the close of the 2025-2026 season, ending an eight-year tenure with the company. MacKinnon was the theatre's fourth leader, joining in 2018. - Playbill

We "blame everything wrong with education on generative AI rather than acknowledge deep and justifiable concerns we have had for a while. Course Hero, Chegg and other providers had industrialized academic dishonesty before ChatGPT was launched." - InsideHigherEd

Arts schools, almost by definition, assume the centrality of the art itself. They reinforce the idea that the work is intrinsically valuable and that the public simply needs help recognizing that value. This is one of the most persistent and damaging assumptions in our field. - ArtsAnalytics

When was the last time you saw incredible CGI or other visual effects? Probably a tougher question to answer. That’s because VFX, like any other filmmaking tool, is invisible when done well. - Washington Post

That investigation, the motion states, concluded that Suda had “misappropriated funds from the Museum and lied to cover up her theft.” - ARTnews

“‘I’ve always tried to put a big moment in a song, but nothing, of course, worked as good as that one,' David Foster, who produced and arranged the song for Ms. Houston, said.” - The New York Times