Stories

“Spotlight charges performers to appear in its directory, which it says was used to cast 99% of productions in the UK in 2023. But Equity says the fees, which were recently increased to £216 a year for actors on a monthly tariff, are ‘above what the law reasonably allows.’” - BBC

The Arts Council England chair has a five-point plan, and he thinks now, with the new government, is the time to realize it. - The Observer (UK)

Dinaw Mengestu, on his character Samuel: “There’s a limitation to how fully we can truly understand his experiences. ... That gap becomes part of the narrative, part of what the story is trying to deeply engage with.” - The New York Times

Sorry, those who love to rank the bops and decide which one comes out on top, the idea is “more of a cultural myth or a shared hallucination than a hard-and-fast label.” - The Atlantic

Doherty was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 but continued working, both in TV and in her own popular podcast, including when the cancer spread to her brain. - Variety

“Safety issues loom large at OpenAI — and seem to just keep coming. Current and former employees at OpenAI recently signed an open letter demanding better safety and transparency practices from the startup, not long after its safety team was dissolved.” - The Verge

C. Pam Zhang: “It’s fascinating to see that there’s no linear relationship between input and output when it comes to creativity. For me, it feels like there’s a vein you tap into sometimes if you’re lucky.” - The Guardian (UK)

“Many of his most powerful works slow down the passage of time so that viewers become keenly aware of their own physical presence and thoughts.” - The New York Times

“Western University on Friday took a step toward reconsidering its relationship with acclaimed local writer and Nobel laureate Alice Munro, announcing it has decided to pause a chair created in her honour.” - CBC

“At the Met, there’s the art — and then there’s the art that goes into displaying the art, and those are the lights.” - The New York Times

“Maybe if we could figure out where all the DVDs in those 24,000 kiosks were going we could start to stockpile for our discless future” - Wired

“The Conservative government suggested in 2022 it would abolish the licence fee when its charter was up for renewal and move towards a voluntary funding model,” but Keir Starmer says it will stay the same for now, and for a few years. - BBC

Sylbert, said Hawn, “didn’t have any fear at all. She fought for what she believed in and made everyone around her better.” - The New York Times

“The problem of visas for visiting artists has become almost as much part of festival season as festivals themselves. … There is also an unpalatable whiff of profiteering, with analysis showing that the UK last year raised £44m in fees for visa applications that were rejected.” - The Guardian (UK)

There was in the 19th century, a growing feeling that, far from there being universal standards of taste and beauty, every age needed to find its own style of artistic expression: The idea of the “spirit of the age” had arrived. - Wall Street Journal