Figures from the arts include poet Jericho Brown, violinist Johnny Gandelsman, media artist Tony Cokes, filmmaker Sterlin Harjo, cabaret artist Justin Vivian Bond, writers Juan Felipe Herrera and Ling Ma, multimedia artist Ebony G. Patterson, choreographer Shamel Pitts, visual artist Wendy Red Star, and young people's lit author Jason Reynolds. - NPR
Disney's America was intended to have nine sections, from a Colonial-era Presidents Square and an Indigenous village to Ellis Island and a 19th-century factory town to a Civil War fort and a Depression-era family farm. But, for example, Ellis Island was going to have Muppets. - The Conversation
Emma Portner is now almost 30, and the National Ballet of Canada has brought a major work of hers on tour to London. Yet the piece which really established her career, and which still gets her engagements, is a 3½-minute video to a Bruce Springsteen cover. - The Guardian
"(Management) has invited the problem at least partially by asking audiences to ... engage with their cell phones during visits. Tagging the ensemble on social media has long been encouraged. Signs at one recent performance asked patrons to bypass printed programs and instead read their program notes online." - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
Pantsula is a dance style developed in the country's black townships by Africans who combined the tap dancing they saw in American movies with traditional movement. Vusi Mdoyi grew up doing pantsula and, in 1994, co-founded the company Step Afrika!, which professionalized the form. - The New York Times
Hannah Gutierrez-Reed was convicted of manslaughter for the accidental shooting of the film's cinematographer by star Baldwin, who presumed that a prop gun would not contain live ammunition. After charges against Baldwin were vacated last week, Gutierrez-Reed's attorneys asked that her case be similarly dismissed; they were denied. - The Hollywood Reporter
A junk dealer found the painting when cleaning out a deceased homeowner's basement on the island of Capri. The dealer took it home and hung it (his wife hated it); years later, his son had experts look at it, and they believe it's a portrait of Picasso's erstwhile lover Dora Maar. - The Guardian
Lalovavi, set in the year 2119 and with a score by composer Kevin Day, was to premiere next June but has been postponed one year to 2026 due to delays with Tifara Brown's libretto. The work is the first of three commissioned by the company for its Black Opera Project. - AP
A beloved musical theater performer, singer-songwriter and activist who won a Tony for Hello, Dolly! (opposite Bette Midler) and an Olivier for The Book of Mormon, Creel died just two months after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer. - The Hollywood Reporter
"This was a natural response to an unprecedented level of stadium-level artists on the road today. We now have another home for them to perform." - CBC
Zoe Ryan will replace Hammer director Ann Philbin, who after transforming the museum over 25 years, is scheduled to depart in November. - Los Angeles Times
The omnipresence of Judi Dench notwithstanding, Smith’s career was substantial and varied—a testament to her flexibility as an actor and to her rigor as an artist. - The New Yorker
How should we create things? The word “should” isn’t quite right, since there’s no correct way to be creative; still, when you’re actually creating something, you have to answer the question definitively for yourself, with some urgency. - The New Yorker
"I think that is where the danger lies, because we can track the books that are being banned, but we can’t track books that are not being ordered.” - NBCNews
