Stories

Report: Met Opera Looking To License Its Intellectual Property

According to the Agence France-Presse, “Gelb is actively exploring other sources of raising funds including licensing agreements of its intellectual property, as well as naming rights to the Met building at Lincoln Center.” - OperaWire

Anthropic’s Copyright Settlement With Authors Isn’t Good

Writers aren’t getting this settlement because their work was fed to an AI — this is just a costly slap on the wrist for Anthropic, a company that just raised another $13 billion, because it illegally downloaded books instead of buying them. - TechCrunch

Dissecting The Met Opera’s Deal Of Convenience With Saudi Arabia

As one of the foremost arts institutions in the US, the Met gets the funds it needs, and its partner gets the imprimatur they seek. But does the “artwashing” undercut the Met’s own principled (and admirable) stands elsewhere, such as its support of Ukraine and against Russian artists who defend Putin? - Parterre

What Will Take Over For Movies Now That Hollywood’s Superhero Bubble Has Popped?

Video games, of course. In the parlance of our times, "studios see all of these as intellectual property worth mining.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

The War On Art By, And About, Trans People

“Government websites are stripping away references to trans people, history, and art. Book bans are targeting trans authors in conservative states, eradicating their work from curricula and library circulation.” And then there’s the NEA. - The New Yorker

Actors, Directors Sign Pledge Not To Work With Israeli Film Groups They Say Are Implicated In Genocide

The pledge “claims to draw inspiration from the cultural boycott that contributed to the end of apartheid in South Africa.” - The Guardian (UK)

A New Banksy Mural Appears On The Royal Courts Of Justice Just After 900 Are Arrested At A Protest

“It depicts a judge in a traditional wig and black robe hitting a protester lying on the ground, with blood splattering their placard.” A bit too accurate, perhaps? The courts appear to be covering it already. - BBC

Reassembling A Jewish Library Disassembled By Nazis In 1944

At the Jewish Theological Seminary in Budapest, Hungary, "about 20,000 books and many valuable manuscripts have been missing since the end of World War II.” But some books have, with great effort and care, made their way back. - The New York Times

What Happens When Directors And Actors Go In Directions Their Audiences Never Expected?

Sometimes it’s nearly perfect, as with Scorsese’s adaptation of Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence. Sometimes, it’s a full-on career revival, or reversal (Liam Neeson turning into Leslie Nielsen, perhaps?). - NPR

In France, AI Money Is Going Directly To Journalists

Could that ever happen in the US? What about novelists? - Nieman Lab

Lizzy Bennet Is Almost Wild, And That’s Why We Love Her

“We don’t judge Elizabeth harshly for going against polite strictures, because she’s often revealing some hypocrisy or injustice. ... Lizzy generally punches up, directing her barbs at and refusing the marching orders given by those more powerful than she is.” - LitHub

Dance Is The Key To One Of The Fall Festival Circuit’s Hottest Films

Sirât director Oliver Laxe: “One of the first ideas that I had for this film was a sentence from Nietzsche: … 'I won’t believe in a God who doesn’t dance.’” - Los Angeles Times

A 27-Year-Old Just Won Britain’s Prestigious Painting Prize

Ally Fallon, a 27-year-old from Manchester, won the 2025 John Moores Painting Prize for If You Were Certain, What Would You Do Then? The prize has an OK history: "Past winners include David Hockney, Sarah Pickstone and Rose Wylie.” - BBC

With Billy Porter’s Sepsis Diagnosis, Cabaret Is Ending Its Broadway Run A Month Early

“The abrupt re-scheduled closing is a surprise finish for a staging that has been by all accounts a massive success in London's West End, where it continues to run in its fourth year. The Broadway iteration has struggled to sell the amount of tickets needed.” - Playbill

Christoph von Dohnanyi, Longtime Director Of The Cleveland Orchestra, Dies At 95

“Dohnanyi’s adventurous programming, allied to ultra-refined and precise orchestral skills, compelled Time magazine to dub the Cleveland Orchestra ‘the best band in the land’ in 1994.” - Cleveland Plain Dealer

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