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How Maria Tallchief Changed American Ballet

"Her centennial is this year — she died in 2013, at 88 — and she remains widely regarded as America’s first prima ballerina. … Her legacy rests ... in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s — a series of revelations about what ballet could be and what a ballerina could look like." - The New York Times

What’s The Real Difference Between Fiction And Non-Fiction?

What is fiction in the first place? Despite common usage, philosophers agree that we can’t equate ‘fiction’ with ‘false content’. On the one hand, the inclusion of falsity isn’t enough to render a work fiction. - Aeon

What Publishers Are Expecting In The Second Trump Administration

While threats to funding for arts and humanities organizations are one big worry, the primary ethical concern for most in the book business is free expression. - Publishers Weekly

Restore Musical Instruments Or Conserve Them? (A Debate)

How much reworking is too much? Should the instrument be made playable or simply maintained in its present condition? And in the case of instruments that have been modified over the centuries, what is, in fact, “original”? - Early Music America

Parkland School Shooting Parent Makes Theatre With His Grief

"Joaquin “Guac” Oliver and 16 others were murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on 14 February 2018. Manuel Oliver turned this unfathomable loss into art, including a one-man show entitled Guac that honours his child and addresses the scourge of gun violence in America." - The Guardian

Data’s In: The State Of The Music Business In Canada In 2024

 The findings paint a picture of an industry in transformation: streaming numbers are soaring, physical formats are showing surprising resilience, and superfans are reshaping how artists connect with audiences. - Ludwig Van

Among Trump’s Day One Executive Orders: Canceling Biden’s Arts Initiative

Among Trump's executive orders on the first day: canceling Biden's Executive Order 14084 of September 30, 2022 (Promoting the Arts, the Humanities, and Museum and Library Services). - The White House

Founder Of IMDb To Step Down As CEO After 35 Years

Col Needham started building the database that later became IMDb in 1990. He remained CEO even after selling the website to Amazon in 1998, overseeing major changes like the rollout of its IMDbPro subscription and an update that lets professionals hide their age. - The Verge

Thomas Søndergård Makes His Mark On The Minnesota Orchestra

Since succeeding Osmo Vänskä as music director in the fall of 2023, he has shown a flair for programming, thrown himself into community engagement (he insists on conducting family concerts himself), and enchanted the musicians. Says one principal, "We're still on our honeymoon." - The New York Times

For Musicians, How Old Is Too Old?

Since the elimination of mandatory retirement in symphony orchestras and with union protections making it difficult to fire older players, many orchestras include members who look as though they just arrived from a retirement home. - Nightingale Sonata

Controversy Over Two Oscar Contenders’ Use Of AI On Actors’ Voices

The re-recording mixer for Emilia Pérez said that AI software was used to extend the vocal range of star Karla Sofía Gascón to reach that of her songs, and The Brutalist editor Dávid Jancsó used an AI program to correct the pronunciation in Adrien Brody's and Felicity Jones's Hungarian dialogue. - The Guardian

Why Scotland’s Government And Its Arts Funding Agency Are Like A “Dysfunctional Divorcing Couple”

Alan Cumming, who made the comparison, provides a good example: he was hired in September to run the Pitlochry Festival Theatre and "invite the world's best theatre artists" to perform. He still doesn't know whether the company will be funded even for this summer. It's like this throughout the sector. - The Scotsman

KERA, Dallas’s Public Radio & TV Outlet, Announces $100 Million Expansion

"The station, which began broadcasting on television in 1960 and recently celebrated its 50th anniversary in radio, is expected to move out of its current building … at the end of February and break ground on a new building … later this year." - KERA (Dallas)

The British Museum And Its 8 Million Objects, 6 Million Annual Visitors, Hundreds Of Researchers, And Overlapping Crises

"It is a sprawling, chaotic reflection of Britain’s psyche over 300 years: its voracious curiosity and cultural relativism; its pugnacious superiority complex; its restless seafaring and trading; its cruel imperial enrichment; its brilliant scholarship, its brutality, its idealism, its postcolonial anxiety." - The Guardian

Large Ancient Bathhouse/Spa Uncovered In Pompeii

"The newly unearthed spa complex comprises the classic Roman trio of thermal rooms — calidarium (hot), tepidarium (warm), and frigidarium (cold) — alongside a spacious apodyterium (changing room). … The remarkable discovery, located in insula 10, offers a rare glimpse into how wealthy Romans fused leisure, art, and political ambition within their homes." - Euronews

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