In 2024, both main parties recognise the positive power of music. While campaign songs and rally playlists encourage a sense of unity, they also send important messages to the wider electorate, reinforcing and differentiating the identity of the party and leader. - The Conversation
There are very legitimate concerns which such agreements can protect against, so an NDA shouldn't be rejected on general principle. Here's what to look for to make sure that the document is safeguarding creative product and personal security rather than covering up malfeasance. - Dance Magazine
"The chair of the OA board, Rod Sims, said that Davies’s contract was prematurely severed by mutual agreement … due to 'differences of opinion about how Opera Australia should successfully balance artistic innovation, audience development and commercial imperatives moving forward'." Sources say a mediator had to be brought in. - The Guardian
"Embedded in the newsroom throughout the year, the person will aim to 'ratchet up our ‘joy’ quotient across platforms,' according to an internal memo." - Bloomberg
After examining over 5,000 NFT collections and collecting 5 million transactions from NFTScan, researchers found that the overwhelming majority are dead (zero trading volume or social media activity), 43% of NFT holders have lost money on them, and the average loss is 44.5%. - NFTevening
"The Hamilton Family Charitable Trust, which contributed about half of UArts’ $62 million endowment, is not in favor of that money going to Temple as part of the deal, which largely appears to be sinking it. … Temple did not want to engage in a legal battle with a charitable trust." - The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Florida’s statute ... requires districts to set up a process for a parent or resident of the county to contest school and classroom library materials that they believe contain pornographic or sexual content. The country’s largest publishing houses say Florida has unleashed a wave of censorship." - The Wall Street Journal (MSN)
After a worrisome dip in attendance in 2023 (to 97%), ticket sales to the summer Wagner mecca were up to a total of 58,000 this year. The festival's 2026 sesquicentennial will feature a special performance of the Ring tetralogy, the first Bayreuth production of Rienzi, and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. - AP
"Together with the members of Abba, we have discovered that videos have been released where Abba's music has been used at Trump events, and we have therefore requested that such use be immediately removed and taken down." - BBC
Some education advocates tout the benefits of what’s called a “balanced calendar,” which spreads vacation time equally across the seasons—a reimagining of what school can be, for the betterment of working parents, teachers, and students alike. - The Walrus
For many, Nanibush’s departure was a catastrophe. Prior to her arrival, the AGO, like many museums, tended to treat Indigenous culture as something ossified and static. Nanibush changed that completely. - The Walrus
Like other performers in our Balkanized, make-your-own-prime-time-entertainment landscape, many comedians act less like artists or court jesters than like notionally humorous leaders of affinity groups or of minor, mostly harmless cults. - The New Yorker
The “Starbucks!” sticker is an effort to physically prevent photography and videos circulating online. But this seemingly innocuous action creates a ripple effect about the meanings created within the production and the social aspect of theatre-going. - The Conversation
"(Her) work for PBS’s 'Frontline' investigative series exposed frailties in the U.S. criminal justice system — the coercive use of plea bargains, the failure to consider DNA evidence, the reliance on informants to prosecute drug cases — and helped free 13 people who had been wrongly charged or convicted." - The Washington Post (MSN)
Even the driest academic monograph or most threadbare opinion piece usually begins with some act of storytelling, whether we hear how a previous generation of scholars has mishandled the question at hand, or are treated to a columnist’s anecdote about what his taxi driver told him. - American Affairs
