Stories

Inhabiting The Machine: Make Peace Or Fight?

Machines no longer assist our lives from the outside; they increasingly define the conditions under which we think, work, and relate. And here Skidelsky joins a growing chorus of artists, poets, and writers in asking the big questions we once debated and wrote about—questions of meaning, purpose, and the conditions of human freedom. - LA Review of Books

If AI Really Can Make Movies, Then What Does Hollywood Become?

Luma’s generative AI platform, Dream Machine, debuted last year and points toward a new kind of moviemaking, one where anyone can make release-grade footage with a few words. - Los Angeles Times

San Francisco Human Rights Commission Announces, Then Withholds, $19 Million In Arts And Community Service Funding

“In June, the HRC announced it would issue awards to organizations such as the ... San Francisco LGBT Center, Chinese Culture Center, Youth Art Exchange and Bayview Opera House. But the HRC rescinded the announcement in late July after a coalition called MegaBlackSF sent a letter raising concerns about the grant process.” - KQED (San Francisco)

Why The Library Model Is A Great Business Model

What if long-term success is more about building environments where people feel inspired, curious, and connected? That’s what libraries do. And that’s what the best organizations of any kind are learning to do, too. - Fast Company

How Spirituality Went From Uncool To Trendy In The Art World

The turn we are witnessing is wide-ranging, encompassing everything from an interest in esoteric rituals and the occult to the amplification of Indigenous, non-Western, and precolonial spiritual practices. - ARTnews

How Anglo Literature Lost Its Global Influence

The imperialistic premise in this idea of literature as an egalitarian conversation between national traditions is blatant: as Milan Kundera remarked, what it took for a country to be awarded its own national literature – instead of being grouped into an ill-assorted umbrella term such as “Mitteleuropa” – was a colonial past. - The Guardian

AI Really Is Replacing Voice Actors In This Country, And There’s No Law Or Contract To Stop It

“If earlier a voice actor was doing 15-20 projects a month, now it's down to maybe six or seven,” says the leader of the Association of Voice Artists of India. Worse, if you work in dubbing, you may discover your voice being used in a film you knew nothing about. - The Hollywood Reporter

Social Media Video Has Made Learning Dance More Available Than Ever — And There’s A Danger In That

“Platforms such as TikTok, YouTube and Instagram … (have) given access to many different forms of dance styles, and it’s had an impact on the years-long process of training. While students find inspiration, instructors worry they might hurt themselves by moving too fast.” - The Minnesota Star Tribune (MSN)

Linda Hodes, 94, Dancer At Heart of Martha Graham And Batsheva Companies

She went from taking classes from Graham at age 9 to dancing leading parts in Graham's works — then teaching those works to Batsheva (the only other company permitted to perform them), where she stayed for 13 years. Hodes held key teaching positions at both Graham's and Paul Taylor's companies. - The New York Times

India’s Government Is Now Banning Books In Kashmir

The ban threatens people with prison time for selling or owning 25 works by authors such as Arundhati Roy, constitutional expert A.G. Noorani, and noted academicians Sumantra Bose, Christopher Snedden and Victoria Schofield. The central government claims the books propagate “false narratives” and “secessionism.” - AP

Manhattan DA’s Office Repatriates More Looted Antiquities

The objects came from investigations into several convicted traffickers and were returned to Italy, Hungary, and Spain. - ARTnews

Oregon’s Portland Opera Appoints Music Director

Damien Geter, a 45-year-old conductor, composer (Loving v. Virginia, premiered earlier this year), and bass-baritone who was already working as interim music director and artistic advisor alongside artistic director Alfrelynn Roberts, has been given the music director position on a permanent basis. - Pizzicato

Pioneering Rock Journalist Michael Lydon, 82

“(He) recovered from a galling pan of the Beatles for his college newspaper to become a founding editor of Rolling Stone and a pioneering rock journalist, capturing the pinwheel vibrancy of Swinging London and flower-power San Francisco.” - The New York Times

Skydance’s $8 Billion Acquisition Of Paramount Global Is Now Complete

“Skydance Media has closed its takeover, unveiled in July 2024, of Paramount Global to form what the merger partners have called a ‘next-generation media and technology leader, positioned to win in today’s rapidly transforming media landscape.’” - The Hollywood Reporter

What Robert Wilson Meant For The Avant Garde

What made Wilson’s divergence from theatrical and classical conventions so powerful was his clear reverence for them — the careful, conscientious approach he took to turning things upside down. - Washington Post (MSN)

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