“All of the performances (are) staged readings, with actors working from scripts without the costumes and sets of a full production. The goal is to workshop brand-new plays that cover big themes, from criminal justice reform and climate change to gender identity.” - WBEZ (Chicago)
“For contemporary classical composers, writing children’s opera (is) like casting a spell that lets them be both big and small. Artists with highly experimental aesthetics get to embrace their silly sides and reconnect with the childlike urge to create. … As (composer Thierry) Tidrow often says, ‘They haven’t read Adorno.’” - The New York Times
“Woman Carrying the Embers vanished from the National Museum in Gdansk, Poland in 1974. Journalists from the Dutch culture magazine Vind spotted what they suspected was the painting at an exhibition in the Netherlands last year, and they alerted art sleuth Arthur Brand. - AFP (Yahoo!)
“The French Government has announced a 50 percent cut in their lauded Culture Pass, four years after its nationwide launch for young people aged fifteen to eighteen to take up cultural activities.” - ArtReview
“The heist of artist Maurizio Cattelan’s $6.1 million gold toilet from a British palace was caught on video that was just revealed to the court in the long-awaited criminal trial, as prosecutors explained how the men behind it smashed their way into (Blenheim) Palace … in September 2019.” - Artnet
In many ways, rationalism is the result of people with STEM educations attempting to tackle questions that had long been the purview of the humanities, guided by a stubbornly autodidactic conviction that definitive answers could be reached through a rigorous application of logic untainted by psychological biases. - The Point
Not all these phenomena constitute “banning” per se, but they all fall under what we might call the new “censorship consensus,” in which books are called upon to justify their existence through demonstrations of their moral value. - The Walrus
If there is something that unites “Anora” and “The Brutalist,” in terms both of onscreen story and behind-the-scenes process, it’s a masterful dedication to the art of the hustle. Baker and Corbet are well versed in it, having learned to temper their outsized visions with pluck, thrift, and resourcefulness. - The New Yorker
Three AI programs are set to replace lecture slides in the University of Auckland’s Digital Marketing 304 class when the first semester of the year begins on Monday. “Complete bull****,” one student enrolled in the course said. - New Zealand Herald
“They say a classical ballet isn’t over until the female protagonist dies.” Sure, OK, but what about the rest of the women/swans? - Dallas Morning News (MSN)
"We’ve now seen years and years of austerity, and it’s not just the arts that have taken a hit – it’s anything that sits on the periphery of the mainstream route to work. There do need to be questions asked about how we’re valuing the arts in this country.” - The Guardian
This is what’s called zero-sum thinking — the belief that life is a battle over finite rewards where gains for one mean losses for another. And these days, that notion seems to be everywhere. - The New York Times
In the run-up to the 97th Academy Awards on Sunday, worries about the size of the TV audience have rumbled through the movie capital. Concerns center on the nominated films: For the most part, Oscar voters singled out little-seen movies, potentially limiting viewer interest. - The New York Times
The decision to forgo tights was the culmination of a conversation about equity and inclusion that began at the National Ballet in 2020. - The New York Times
It can be fractured, confined, and eroded—perhaps not all at once, but over time if the conditions are not right for genius to flourish. Politicians can exercise their influence for short-term gain but if we look at the experience of the Soviets and the Nazis, such influence leads to long-term loss. - Nightingale Sonata
