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Now That We’ve Lost Trust In Institutions, Can We Get it Back?

Now that so many of us say that we mistrust or distrust things like Big Pharma and the government, we need to think about what the consequences of a breakdown in institutional trust would be. - Psyche

The Art Market Roars Back In the Fall

Sellers tracking the market downturn started slapping lower price-tags on their pieces as well, which stoked momentum in the second half of the year. Overall, Sotheby’s and Christie’s sales topped $13.2 billion in 2025, up from $11.7 billion the year before. - The Wall Street Journal

Warner Board Rejects Paramount Offer

With the rejection official, Paramount will need to persuade WBD shareholders to tender their shares at that price, or to submit a higher bid than its $108 billion offer that would shift the outcome of the dealmaking. - The Hollywood Reporter

The Arabian Peninsula’s Museum-Building Boom

In Abu Dhabi, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, a bumper crop of lavishly funded art and history museums is growing. They’re largely designed by foreign architects and, at least for now, developed and run by foreign consultants. Is enough local talent being trained to take over in the future? - Artnet

The Threat Of AI Is Not To Art But To The Ability To Make A Living Making Art

What A.I. imperils is not human creativity itself but the ability to make a living from creative endeavor. - The New York Times

As Our Culture Diet Becomes More Synthetic, The “Realness” Of Live Experience Will Be More Valuable

As the world becomes more digital, more "optimized", and more isolated, the value of embodied, shared, human experience increases, not decreases. And we’re already seeing the backlash begin. - Blair Russell

How Small Museums Are Going Viral

Small museums, looking to raise their profiles and educate the masses, are turning their paintings, sculptures and tapestries into the unlikely stars of TikTok microdramas. - The Wall Street Journal

After 14 Years, Libya’s National Museum Reopens

“The National Museum of Libya – housing Africa’s greatest collection of classical antiquities in Tripoli’s historic Red Castle complex – had been closed for nearly 14 years due to the civil war that followed the former dictator Muammar Gaddafi’s downfall.” - The Guardian

Corporate America Is “Desperate To Hire Storytellers”

While the heyday of technology gurus, developer ninjas, SEO rockstars and at least one digital prophet have long since passed, calling salaried communications professionals “storytellers” and the practice of storytelling appears to only have picked up in popularity. -The Wall Street Journal

Study: 87 Percent Of Musicians Are Using AI In Their Work

It found that 87% of artists have incorporated AI into at least one part of their process. AI is powering a new era of self-sufficient artists. Artists are beginning to write, produce and promote their work at a level previously only achievable with a team around them. - Hypebot

Time For The Art Market To Be “Right-Sized”

There is another way of looking at the shake-ups and shutdowns that have defined the art trade in 2025. Instead of a collapse, the process might better be thought of as the right-sizing of an industry where collectors were not alone in making big speculative bets on enormous growth that simply did not materialise. - The Art Newspaper

Russian Government Officially Declares Pussy Riot An “Extremist Organization”

“The judgement means that Pussy Riot’s activities are now banned in Russia. Any individual or organization found to be supporting the group’s actions or social media posts could also face prosecution following the decision.” - ARTnews

Emanuel Ax Is Musical America’s Artist Of The Year For 2026

Gabriela Lena Frank was named Composer of the Year; Jakub Hrůša, music director of London’s Royal Opera and music director-designate of the Czech Philharmonic, is Conductor of the Year; bass-baritone Gerald Finley is Vocalist of the Year; and San Diego Symphony CEO Martha Gilmer is Impresario of the Year. - Musical America

Humphrey Burton, BBC’s First Head Of Music And Arts, Dead At 94

In the 1960s, he was producer and then host of flagship arts magazine Monitor before supervising all music and arts programming. He co-founded London Weekend Television, then hosted ITV’s first major arts program, Aquarius. In the mid-1970s, he returned to the BBC, presiding over a golden age of arts on television. - The Telegraph (UK)

Poetry Foundation To Discontinue All Public Programs

The organization announced on December 1 that it intends to phase out all public programming, beginning with the discontinuation of its Forms & Features workshops and Library Book Club in the new year. A more recent statement stressed that the Foundation is transitioning into a grantmaking organization. - Publishers Weekly

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