“Without this much needed arts tax reform, including indexing it to inflation, we risk losing the very institutions that make Portland vibrant, and we also risk losing the next generation of arts lovers by failing to sustain arts education in our schools.” - KATU
A little over a year later, after the Department of Government Efficiency eliminated more than half of the NEH staff and tried to terminate 97 percent of its grants, Trump fired all but four members of the 26-person advisory board, called the National Council on the Humanities. - Chronicle of Higher Education
From the original, nineteenth-century form popularized by Balzac, Zola, and Stendhal to the “lyrical” variant of today, the verisimilitude that realism pursues—not just lifelikeness, but worldlikeness—is meant to convince us the novel is, for want of a better term, natural. - Boston Review
“Since taking power in 2010, Orbán and his Fidesz party reshaped the country’s media to promote themselves and demonise their opponents, sending press freedom rankings plunging and leaving swathes of the country living in an alternative reality.” Soon after last month’s election, Magyar vowed to suspend and reform state media he compared to North Korea’s. - The Guardian
His way of turning chaos into clockwork, of shifting the act of watching ballet to an out-of-body experience, might do a number on a choreographer trying to make a full-scale classical dance at City Ballet. Still, why hasn’t anyone tried? Why don’t choreographers make huge classical ballets anymore? - The New York Times
Some experts say Substack’s rise fits into a longer arc in publishing, one shaped by the early wave of self-publishing tools like Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and Smashwords in the late aughts. Those platforms opened the door for self-published authors, but didn’t solve the marketing problem. - Fast Company
PEN America’s report released Thursday called “Facts & Fiction: Stories Stripped Away by Book Bans” found that 3,743 unique titles were removed from school libraries and classrooms between July 2024 and June 2025. This included 1,102 nonfiction titles. - The Hill
“PEN America analysed the 3,743 unique titles removed from school libraries and classrooms in the (2024-25) July to June period and found that over 1,100 or 29% were non-fiction, more than double the year prior. The most common theme in the banned non-fiction books was activism and social movements.” - The Guardian
“The Trump administration’s cancellation of more than $100 million in humanities grants to scholars, writers, research groups and other organizations was unconstitutional, and the Department of Government Efficiency had no authority to end the funding, a federal judge in New York ruled on Thursday.” - AP
“The Biennale was disrupted on Friday morning as some of the major artists at this year’s event shuttered their exhibitions in protest over Israel’s participation. … Some of the buzziest exhibitions at this year’s event, including those by artists representing Austria, Belgium, Egypt, Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea, were shut.” - The New York Times
The Pantages, built in downtown Winnipeg in 1914, is getting $15 million from the Manitoba government for renovation. The venue was run by the Winnipeg Symphony from 2011 until it closed in 2018 due to physical plant problems, and the orchestra will be the primary (but not sole) tenant when it reopens. - CBC
“(She) spent more than 20 years with The Wall Street Journal. She served variously as a critic, arts editor, book editor and member of the editorial board. She won the criticism Pulitzer for her writing on television, books, opera, art and architecture.” - The New York Times
After this weekend’s concerts, the orchestra — founded in 1987 to develop diverse talent and reach underserved audiences — will present no more public programming until 2027. The organization’s only employee will be the CEO, who will focus on fundraising and sustainability planning. - WBEZ (Chicago)
The jurors had clearly stated, a few days before they quit, that they would not consider the entrants from Russia and Israel. The Israeli artist in the event then threatened lawsuits, and the Biennale warned jurors that they could be personally liable for damages. - Hyperallergic
Meet Brendan Fernandes, whose latest work, Score for the Murphy Auditorium at Chicago’s Driehaus, deploys seven dancers executing semi-improvised steps within a dodecahedron of mirrored benches. - WBEZ (Chicago)
