The problem with a competitive approach to puzzles is that you take what is intended as a soothing and distracting pastime and quietly hitch it to a goal and a ticking clock. - The American Scholar
Prolific writers are simultaneously envied and dismissed, admired and snarked about. There is the sense that a writer can write too much, that whatever results can’t be very good.
Through small contributions from Americans who care about their museums, arts organizations, and libraries, a national fund could be built that provides steady, apolitical support to these institutions.- Chronicle of Philanthropy
“In state-run media systems, a government agency hires editors, dictates coverage, and provides full funding from the treasury. Public officials determine — or make up — what is newsworthy. Media operations survive only so long as the party in power is happy. Public broadcasting in the U.S. works in almost exactly the opposite way.” - Nieman Lab
National Public Radio will cut its budget by about $8 million in order to provide that money to member stations most impacted by last week’s rescission of federal funding. - Houston Public Media
The proposal was introduced by Republican members of the House Appropriations Committee as part of a spending bill for the Department of the Interior, environment and related agencies. - The New York Times
On 9 June, the Harvard Education Publishing Group, the journal’s publisher, abruptly canceled the release. In an email to the issue’s contributors, the publisher cited “a number of complex issues”, shocking authors and editors alike, the Guardian has learned. - The Guardian
Opinions differ over whether Trump or any president could make the NEA (or NEH) cease to exist without an act of Congress, but if that happens, it’s clear that smaller, less wealthy places will be the ones most affected. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
Yes, the photographer still best known for the 1987 image of a crucifix in a jar of urine that made him one of the NEA Four is now suggesting a mausoleum-like monument to Donald Trump as the official U.S. contribution to next summer’s Biennale. - Artnet
The donor: 88-year-old Klaus-Michael Kühne. His family’s company, Kühne + Nagel, is one of the world’s largest logistics firms, and collaborated with the Nazi regime to transport goods stolen from Jews during World War II. So the project has become controversial, with some accusing Kühne of “artwashing” his family legacy. - The New York Times
“Paramount agreed to buy the global streaming rights (to) South Park (for) the company's digital service, Paramount+, for the first time in the U.S. … The (five-year) deal with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, through their Park County production company, values the global streaming rights at $300 million a year.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
Prosecutors allege that Rachida Dati, who was a Member of the European Parliament from 2009 to 2019, accepted €900,000 in lawyer’s fees between 2010 and 2012 from a Netherlands-based subsidiary of Renault-Nissan — and that she either didn’t really work for the auto manufacturer or illegally lobbied for it while an MEP. - France 24
“’Continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States,’ State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said in a statement. (She) Bruce accused the organization of platforming ‘divisive social and cultural causes’.” The withdrawal is effective at the end of 2026. - ARTnews
The notorious banana-duct-taped-to-a-wall, titled Comedian, debuted in 2019 at Art Basel Miami Beach, where a visitor walked into the gallery and ate the fruit. That's happened three times since, most recently last week at the Pompidou-Metz. Cattelan's complaint is that the guy didn't eat the banana peel and duct tape. - France 24
