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San Francisco Girls Chorus Fires Executive Director For “Lewd Conduct”

Last week, 13 staff members received an email containing screenshots of WhatsApp messages, including images "pornographic in nature," between an unnamed individual and Executive Director Seth Ducey, who evidently took those images in the SFGC building while nobody else was there. Ducey claims he's been blackmailed. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

Climate-Protesting Grave Vandals Deface Charles Darwin’s Resting Place

Two activists from the group Just Stop Oil used orange chalk to scrawl "1.5 is dead" (referring, in degrees Celsius, to the rise in global temperature beyond which scientists believe climate damage can't be reversed) on the naturalist's grave marker on the floor of Westminster Abbey. - BBC

“Post-Woke”? Is The Art World Set To Move Away From “Radlib” Identity Politics?

Ben Davis: "The main issue that will dominate, I believe, is cultural institutions trying, and probably failing, to process the confused splintering of the liberal ideological consensus. A faith in a certain type of cultural politics has fallen apart. What comes after, for the moment, is unclear." - Artnet

Can Dogs Really Talk To Humans By Pressing Buttons?

Heaven knows there's a ton of social media videos purporting to show that the answer is yes. What do animal-cognition scientists think? - The New York Times Magazine

Versailles Was, Believe It Or Not, A Center of Scientific Advancement

"In 1666, Louis XIV established the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris, which, unlike peer institutions in Italy or Britain, paid members a salary and covered their lodgings and equipment. … At court, (Louis XV and XVI) were routinely presented with the latest inventions or discoveries, sometimes even watching live demonstrations." - Artnet

Why Do So Many Critically Acclaimed Shows Come From London Only To Be Panned In New York?

Jesse Green, who admits to being one of those New York critics doing the panning, has some ideas. - The New York Times

The Most Intimate Theatre Experience You Could Have Might Be A Deal With The Devil

That deal is not metaphorical in Yannick Trapman-O'Brien's Undersigned, a show which he describes as a "psychological thriller for one." - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

TikTok “Is Harming Children At An Industrial Scale” — And Knows It

Jonathan Haidt and Zach Rausch: "Our evidence comes mostly from research done by 14 (state) Attorneys General. … The briefs include hundreds of quotations from internal reports, memos, Slack conversations, and public statements in which executives and employees of TikTok ... discuss the harms that their company is causing to children." - After Babel

Can Chicago Keep Its Grant Program For Individual Artists Going?

The question seems crucial as the dawn of the second Trump Administration approaches. - WBEZ (Chicago)

Another Way That Dancing Can Help Treat Parkinson’s Disease

Several past studies and subsequent clinical experience have shown that dancing can help with the physical symptoms of the incurable neurological disorder. A new study indicates that dancing can also help alleviate the depression suffered by many Parkinson's patients. - The Washington Post (MSN)

France Has Thousands Of Historic Churches It Can’t Afford To Repair

Since the Revolution, churches in France have been the property of the central government, and most of them which aren't Notre-Dame de Paris can't attract millions of euros in donations for renovations. Some local churches, facing declining attendance, are turning to unusual means to bring in money. - The New York Times

Pacific Tsunami Museum In Hawai’i Struggles Against Closure

The museum, in Hilo (scene of three deadly tsunamis in the past 80 years), has laid off its staff and cut opening hours, but the director and volunteers are fighting to keep it open in the face of a post-pandemic drop in visitors and desperately needed building repairs. - Hawai'i Public Radio

A War In Massachusetts Over The Soul Of Public Radio

In Cape Cod, the founders of Transom audio training, the Public Radio Exchange (or PRX), and the Moth Radio Hour suddenly discovered that Boston’s GBH had sold their house out from under them. The community is not into it, but GBH (seemingly!) could not care less. - Nieman Lab

The San Francisco Girls Chorus Places Its ED On Leave Following Allegations Of ‘Lewd’ Actions

“Members of the chorus staff received an email containing screenshots of a WhatsApp conversation containing images that were 'pornographic in nature,’ according to Chorus spokesperson Sam Singer.” Leaders say that none of the chorus members were involved, or in the Kanbar Performing Arts Center, at the time. - San Francisco Chronicle

The Composer And Violinist On A Mission To Keep Musicians Mentally Well

Kyleen King wants to protect the “sacred catharsis” that audiences feel when they listen to music - and one way to do that, she thinks, is to "preserve what music is for listeners and also care for the people who make that music so their work is sustainable.”  - Oregon ArtsWatch

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