The act of writing is an act of thinking, and to automate our paragraphs is to populate our screens with words without filling our minds with the ideas necessary to conceive of them. - Derek Thompson
With the shrinking of arts instruction in schools and free higher education, it’s ever harder for non-rich artists to train. Then there’s the ever-rising cost of getting your work seen, even at open-access events like the Edinburgh Fringe. In response, Ivan Hewett writes, a “radical class-consciousness” is starting to appear. - The Telegraph (UK) (MSN)
For 12 years he delivered what seems like an almost endless chain of exemplary reviews and essays, all framed in his distinctly personal, uncluttered prose, witty, now and then biting, but most often illuminating. - The New York Times
The Academy of Natural Sciences will close its Parkway museum at the end of the month, ending a nearly 200-year run as a destination for generations of visitors. The museum, founded in 1812 and opened to the public in 1828, has long been a fixture for families, students and educators. - 6 ABC
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will remove a major outdoor sculpture from the center’s grounds on Wednesday. The work, installed in 2019, was targeted for elimination after President Trump’s takeover of the center, according to internal documents obtained by The New York Times. - The New York Times
The group, which has no name as yet, “will become Scotland’s sixth National Performing Company, joining the National Theatre of Scotland, Scottish Opera, Scottish Ballet, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.” - The Herald (Scotland)
“(The shops), many of them tucked away ... inside buildings, have long offered a refuge and a window to a freer world for some mainland Chinese readers seeking ideas suppressed at home. But these spaces now are under threat following a wave of bookseller arrests over alleged sedition under a 2024 national security law.” - AP
“(Lawmakers) imposed a $5 million annual cap on corporate tax credits in June. (Industry representatives) argued that the cap would undercut the state’s $750 million incentive. … In response, legislative leaders and the governor’s office agreed to let studios to redeem tax credits for cash in two years instead of five.” - Variety
In January, London’s Barbican Centre and Empire Street Productions confirmed plans to stage the Sondheim musical, with Marianne Elliott directing these two stars, in summer 2027. Grande announced last month that she was pulling out; with Bailey following her lead, the future of the production is uncertain. - Deadline
“The Homeland Security Investigations unit of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) said it seized more than 22,000 ancient artifacts in Florida as part of a smuggling inquest that counts ‘among the largest in the agency’s history,’ according to a press release.” - ARTnews
“A pilot project in Scotland” — called the Scottish Artists Minimum Income initiative — “based on the Irish model could see an initial 2,000 writers, musicians, playwrights and visual artists secure almost £15,000 ($20,000) a year to help them pursue a career.” - The Herald (Scotland)
The Opera Ball was scheduled for Sept. 12, opening night of the season — and the date on which the company orchestra’s musicians have threatened to begin a strike if their contract negotiations haven’t been settled by then. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
Henry Russell Bergstein: “I think all these performers that we've had play the role are very different. But at heart, they have a sort of … I don't know if the word wacky and access to wackiness is the right thing, but they also all have incredible acting chops.” - NPR
The entire architecture of digital life – with its algorithmic feeds, frictionless production and the ambient expectation that we should be consuming or optimising at all times – nudges us towards chasing outputs rather than generating meaning. - Aeon
“By the 1950s, Chandralekha was a legendary figure in (Bharatanatyam). However, she walked away from fame, rejecting the Brahminical and nationalist values that had come to shape it. ... When she returned to the stage in 1984, she brought with her a radically reimagined practice — sensual, iconoclastic and uncompromisingly feminist.” - Elle India
