"In its second annual release, our State of the Arts: Arts Vibrancy Rankings analyzes measurements of arts-vibrancy for all 50 states, using a comprehensive, data-driven approach that considers factors like supply, demand, and public support for arts and culture, along with adjustments for cost of living and population size." - SMU DataArts
While podcasts’ popularity grows overall, the strongest momentum is with watchable podcasts. The data shows four in ten say they like actively watching a podcast, while another 29% prefer listening to a podcast while the video is minimized or playing in the background — for what one might consider an audio-like experience. - Inside Radio
"Castle of Our Skins, an arts institution that celebrates and aims to generate curiosity in Black music, cut the ribbon on Thursday … at its new location," to open in 2027. "The 2,491-square-foot space, which will be called Gold Hall, will function as a performance and community space." - WBUR (Boston)
"The company's executive director, Tim Griffin, who came on board in summer 2023, will ... become both executive and artistic director. Co-artistic directors, Ash Fure and Malik Gaines, who joined forces in an artistic director cooperative with Sharon in 2021, will form a new artistic advisory council." - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
Blaming its cash shortfall on the public-service sector employee contracts it has with staff and an inability to raise more revenue, Bayreuth management cut four productions from the summer 2026 schedule, leaving only Rienzi and the Ring cycle along with a concert performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony.. - AP
"San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker season will kick off as planned, despite concerns that opening night would be canceled due to a stall in contract negotiations. Ballet management … reached a tentative two-year agreement with its union members on Thursday." - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
"Tortoise agreed to invest £25 million ($31.9 million) in the British title over the next five years and has pledged to keep publishing the print edition of the approximately 230-year-old paper. Under the terms of the deal, the Scott Trust will become a key shareholder in Tortoise Media." - Bloomberg (MSN)
When cataracts had rendered him almost completely blind, Monet finally agreed to the eye surgery he had been avoiding for years. When he recovered, he evidently gained the ability to see ultraviolet light, and thereby could see colors normally invisible to human eyes. - Artnet
Two researchers of information ecosystems find that the structures and mechanisms of improv theater and the right-wing media ecosystem are surprisingly similar — which explains why the latter's followers become so devoted. - The Conversation
It would have been unfathomable to dig up the famous cathedral before the fire. However, archaeologists now had the chance per a French law on preventative archaeology, which can be used “to detect and undertake the scientific study of archaeological remains. - ARTnews
The gift will enable the museum to establish a endowment that will fund the admission waiver in perpetuity. The gift went into effect the day of the museum’s official announcement on December 3. - ARTnews
His recipe for making blue pigment from the clay soil of Alabama is of one of the few things the great African-American inventor patented. Yet he never commercialized the process. Now, for the art triennial Prospect.6 in New Orleans, Amanda Williams has painted some structures in Carver blue. - CNN
With a crazed sense of humor and geysers of gore, these works demand recognition of simple and obvious facts: that looks aren’t everything and that everyone is going to die. Some will even be lucky enough to grow old. Why keep torturing ourselves to deny the truth? - Washington Post (MSN)
Just as it is with a medical doctor, discretion is part of Suzanne Siano’s business model — she does not reveal to anyone what works she has inspected or conserved. Some of the paintings in the Grand Palais booths were familiar to her as former patients, but she was mum on which ones. - The New York Times
