It was one of the city’s oldest art schools when it went bankrupt in 2022. The campus — and its famous Diego Rivera fresco — were purchased by a foundation backed by Laurene Powell Jobs; it will reopen as the California Academy of Studio Arts, offering year-long fellowships for emerging artists. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
“Between 2019 and 2021, Carter Reese approached potential buyers with artwork from those artists and others that he described as authentic. … Reese’s real supplier (had) been convicted in Chicago years earlier of selling about $1 million of counterfeit artwork.” (includes extremely clickbaity headline) - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
The former conservative media star and sore-loser Arizona candidate for governor and senator, who now heads the agency overseeing VOA, says Trump had directed her “to reduce the performance of its statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.” - AP
“Arizona Opera took its search for a new leader international only to find the ideal candidate a few miles from its downtown Phoenix headquarters. The … company named Brian DeMaris, the artistic director of Arizona State University’s music theater and opera program, on Thursday to be its president and general manager.” - Arizona Daily Star (Tucson)
Every year, I run a statistical model based on precursor awards, which categories a show is nominated in, blended critic predictions, and betting markets to project the odds that each nominee will emerge victorious in every category. - The Hollywood Reporter
Technically speaking, an algorithm wrote the text, but a human had to prompt the algorithm. So who or what is the author? Is it the algorithm, or the human, or a joint venture involving both? Why does it even matter? - Noema
“Unlike many of his contemporaries, the poet collected an ‘abundance of photographs’ of himself. And like many people today who snap and post thousands of selfies, Whitman, who lived during the birth of commercial photography, used portraits to craft a version of the self that wasn’t necessarily grounded in reality.” - The Conversation
Trump is a fan. At campaign rallies he would make his entrance to the anthemic "Do You Hear the People Sing?" blaring from loudspeakers. The U.S. Army Chorus performed the song at a ball for the country's governors at the White House, hosted by the President and First Lady. - NPR
Like the qwerty keyboard, sitting through a three-or-more-hour performance in a language we don’t understand is a peculiar cultural phenomenon we accept only because it’s often the only option we’re given. It’s happenstance. And it’s a big part of what keeps opera from reaching more people. - The New York Times
“Compounding recent major cuts to arts funding, the footwear the ballet world relies on could be just one more unanticipated casualty of the current president’s economic policy. Pointe shoes, it turns out, are political objects as much as they are aesthetic.” - Cascade PBS
If the president succeeds in removing a key leader who is not accused of any professional or personal misconduct, he will effectively gain control over the content and mission of the entire Smithsonian. - Washington Post
These are very substantial benefits, and it is true they are lost when we write using a keyboard or keypad. But on balance, far more is gained, which is why the past half century has seen nearly a complete transformation from pen strokes to keystrokes. - Brookings
Sales have held steady at around 31,000 a year for the past decade, but in 2024, fewer than 18,000 were sold, according to an industry census conducted by Music Trades. Upright pianos have been largely replaced by digital pianos. Over 188,000 were sold last year, according to the Music Trades census. - KERA
“The film-makers set out to deliver a sensory bombardment that would mimic the experience of addiction. But they ended up doing much more, touching off serious debates about the free will of the addict, the line between compassionate observation and exploitative voyeurism, and the toxic siren call of the American Dream itself.” - BBC
