Between a reduction of €10 million ($11.8 million) in federal subsidies and the requirement to cut €11 million ($12.9 million) in expenses due to contractually mandated pay increases, Germany’s equivalent of the BBC World Service will eliminate its Greek broadcasts entirely and scale back its portfolio in other languages. - DPA (Yahoo!)
There are good reasons why people, at least at first, feel positive about their relationship with an AI companion. But new research is showing that these feelings change over time. Artificial empathy, it turns out, comes at a cost. - Psyche
The same teenager who supposedly lacks attention span can maintain game focus for hours while parsing a complex narrative across multiple storylines, coordinating with teammates, adapting strategy in real time. That’s not inferior cognition. It’s different cognition. And the difference isn’t the screen. It’s the environment. - Aeon
There were the contractors it had hired to build an ice rink on the center’s plaza, and the work visas that took a year to secure for skaters from seven other countries. And although there were internal debates and external demands to cancel, did a small troupe from Montreal really want to wade into American politics? - The New...
There is by now an untold variety of Frida merch, from watches to candles to tequila to home décor to a branded Miami condo building to (yes) sanitary pads. One reason is that Kahlo’s family members have lost control of the corporation which controls rights to her likeness and work. - The Times (UK)
A self-taught mosaicist, Mr. Zagar used broken bottles, handmade tiles, mirrors, and other found objects to cover walls across the city, particularly in South Philly. His Magic Gardens on South Street has become a landmark, attracting 150,000 visitors a year. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
“Benaroya Hall, the longtime home of the Seattle Symphony …, will close for six weeks beginning in July for the final phase of a $20 million renovation to the building’s entrances, lobby and public-facing spaces, the Symphony announced Thursday. (No performance spaces are part of the renovation plans.)” - The Seattle Times
“The drawings picture the East Wing volume extending well into the White House lawn. At roughly 90,000 square feet, its footprint is more than twice the size of the previous East Wing building, which is now fully demolished. … The documentation includes site plans, building plans, elevations, landscape drawings and renders.” - Dezeen
“The renovations are more modest in scale and scope than what President Trump has publicly outlined for the revamped arts center, and it is unclear whether or not these plans are the extent of the intended renovations.” - NPR
Nike Imoru said that for last year’s staging of The Odyssey, she was told to get cornrows but was not provided with a competent stylist as Equity’s contract requires — and that the backstage worker who did the work instead left her with permanent damage, including the loss of most of her hair. - CBS News
The company’s general manager — who drew widespread praise in his first few years but has recently come under fire as the Met has suffered financially — will depart when his current contract expires at the end of the 2029-30 season. - OperaWire
During its 2026-27 season, the Metropolitan Opera will present only 17 productions, the fewest in a full season since (at least) the company moved into its Lincoln Center home in 1966. More than a third of the total number of performances will be of either Aïda, La Bohème, or Tosca. - AP
Because people keep knocking it off — most recently, this past weekend, when police found the four-inch marble fragment from the left tusk on the pavement nearby. - AP
How a cross between rock climbing, rappelling, circus aerobatics and contemporary dance turned into a performing art of its own. - The Mercury News (San Jose)
Outsiders’ power over the story of the Maya is written into the people’s very name. After their arrival in the early 1500s, the Spanish named local populations “Maya” after the ruined city of Mayapán in present day Mexico. Yet the Maya never saw themselves as one people and were never governed under one empire. - The Guardian
