“CliffsNotes for students who struggle to get through Brontë, Woolf, or Shakespeare seem laughably analog in the time of ChatGPT, but CliffsNotes offer genuine analysis and even scholarship. The difference between CliffsNotes and today’s computerized counterparts encapsulates the disintegration of knowledge, particularly of reading comprehension.” - Literary Hub
Museums serving audiences of color are becoming targets of immigration agents. Amid these changes, the voices of some directors and curators seem to have dimmed both here in the U.S. and internationally, perhaps reasonably seeking to avoid unwanted attention. As much as I understand this impulse, I cannot embrace it; instead, I choose to speak. - Artnet
Those supporting Trump’s actions say they will restore national pride, but critics in the arts and parks, as well as a number of Democrats, argue they whitewash history and do not tell people the full story. - The Hill
For those caught up in the experiment, it has been torrid in the extreme. Since 2019, hundreds of employees have left Sotheby’s—up to a quarter of the workforce, according to some estimates—including dozens of specialists who bring in the consignments essential to the company’s bottom line. - The New Yorker
“At the height of folk revival, Hickerson began what became more than a quarter-century tenure at the Library of Congress in 1963, swiftly establishing himself as a knowledgeable guide to the sometimes-convoluted collections of recordings, documents and oral histories that were vital to performers, songwriters and historians of the genre.” - Billboard
Unlike his contemporary and admirer T.S. Eliot, he didn’t see history as ending “with a whimper” but rather with a long, subsiding, pleasurable sigh of recollection. For Constantine Cavafy, when life and history came close to their ending, poetry began. - The New Republic
The problem is that you aren’t downloading the movie, to own and watch forever; you’re just getting access to it on Amazon’s servers – a right that only lasts as long as Amazon also has access to the film, which depends on capricious licensing agreements that vary from title to title. - The Guardian
Algorithm movies usually exhibit easy-to-follow story beats that leave no viewer behind; under this regime, exposition is no longer a screenwriting faux pas. - The Guardian
Tim Greiving: “As the recipient of those quotes, I want to try and clear it up. … It’s true that he said to me, ‘I never liked film music very much.’ … In that particular conversation he was specifically talking about the complicated role of putting film music on a concert program.” - The Hollywood Reporter
Portrait of a Lady, by Baroque artist Giuseppe Ghislandi, was part of the trove of works belonging to Amsterdam art dealer Jacques Goudstikker which Hermann Goering bought up in a forced sale. Dutch journalists noticed the painting in a real-estate-listing photo in Argentina, but it was gone when police arrived to search. - AP
Interestingly, Ferri has no prior connection to the Vienna State Opera. ... She sees this as a positive, especially in light of the two years she’s had to prepare for the role. “I have no personal agenda, and it gave me a lot of freedom to step back and observe.” - Pointe Magazine
Crop art — works using corn kernels, sunflower seeds, or other agricultural products as their media — has long been a feature of the Minnesota State Fair. Next month, nine works, the pick of this year’s (ahem) crop, will be on display at the museum. - The Minnesota Star Tribune
There are 27 rural public radio stations in the state, most of them serving small communities with little other media and hundreds of miles from any city. The stations are the only source for local news and, crucially, emergency weather alerts, and federal funding comprised up to half of their budgets. - Inside Radio
About 71% of theaters there have seen audience numbers improve since the COVID shutdowns, though only 41% are back to pre-2020 levels. The major problem right now is that 30% of theatergoers in the city, and 22% in the region, use mass transit, which is undergoing savage cuts. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
Tshidi Manye has played the mandrill shaman who sings “Circle of Life” in roughly 9,000 performances, a large majority of them on Broadway. - The New York Times
