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Making Dementia-Friendly Theatre

"Designed in collaboration with people living with dementia and their carers, these performances are specifically adapted for their audience, allowing them to have a rollicking night out in a safe, tailored environment, free of the fear of disturbing a standard show." - The Guardian

Can This Record Producer’s Book Really Turn You Into An Artist?

The Creative Act is three books in one, really: a how-to for aspiring or faltering artists, an opening-up of Rubin’s own bag of tricks as a producer/cosmic facilitator, and an account of the spirituality that defines his method. - The Atlantic

Algerian Officials Rebuke TV Stations For Too Many Ads And “Immoral” Programming During Ramadan

The communications minister's complaints were about some of the prime-time soap operas that draw massive viewership as people break their Ramadan fasts in the evenings. (One serial, for instance, showed characters using alcohol and cocaine,) He also griped that ads take up more time than programming does. - AP

AI Translators And The End Of Language Instruction

Total enrollment in language courses other than English at American colleges decreased 29.3 percent from 2009 to 2021, according to the latest data from the Modern Language Association, better known as the MLA. In Australia, only 8.6 percent of high-school seniors were studying a foreign language in 2021—a historic low. - The Atlantic (MSN)

“Information Is Power” — Dance Data Project’s Founder Talks About Five Years Of Collecting Information About Gender Inequity

"We are here to provide data and analysis which journalists, funders and advocates can deploy to create a more interesting dance world. Artistic-director candidates have used our reports to demand pay equal to their male peers. Dancer representatives say they negotiated a 40% salary increase based on our work." - Classic Chicago Magazine

Richard Serra Made Modern Sculpture Exciting — By Creating The Feeling That It Might Fall On You

Sebastian Smee: "As an artist, he was no bully. Rather, he was a physicist. He wanted you to know, and to feel in your bones, that weight isn’t just a thing — it’s a force. It’s mass times acceleration. As such, it carries an inherent threat." - The Washington Post (MSN)

Smithsonian Misused Federal COVID Relief Funding, Finds Internal Audit

"The Smithsonian’s internal Office of the Inspector General last month released a report saying that the institution misused a portion of the $7.5 million it received in COVID relief funds from the 2020 CARES Act." - ARTnews

Ohad Naharin On Ballet Ireland’s Cancellation Of His “Minus 16” Because He’s Israeli

"From the abyss of my sadness witnessing the ongoing catastrophe ... I am writing to you. If the act of cancellation would have helped the Palestinians' cause I would boycott my own show. It is obvious that this cancellation does nothing to reduce the suffering of people in our region." - The Irish Times

Boston Public Radio Station WBUR Is Offering Staff Buyouts

As management looks to cut 10% of the budget, it "hopes the plan will help reduce some expenses, but … the station expects to still cut more jobs or freeze hiring. Anyone hired at least three months ago can take the buyout." - The Boston Globe (MSN)

Arts Funding In Hawaii Is Saved By State Senate Committee

The state's percent-for-art law, the oldest in the US (1967), requires 1% of the construction or renovation costs of state buildings to go to Hawaii's arts agency. A bill from the state House would have removed renovations from that requirement, reducing the agency's income by two-thirds. - Hawai'i Public Radio

Sagrada Familia In Barcelona Will Be Finished (Sort Of) In 2026

With the completion of the Chapel of the Assumption in 2025 and the last and highest of its six towers the following year, construction of architect Antoni Gaudí's masterpiece will conclude after 140 years, just in time for the centennial of his death. Well, complete except for the enormous, controversial staircase. - CNN

Richard Serra, 85

Serra’s most celebrated works had some of the scale of ancient temples or sacred sites and the inscrutability of landmarks like Stonehenge. - The New York Times

Examining Shakespeare’s Words

To praise Shakespeare is also to praise his audience. Not just the one that filled the Globe during his lifetime, but the subsequent generations, too, that have cherished and preserved him, that have commented on him and imitated him. - New Criterion

Sundance Loses Its Leader After Only Two Years

Joana Vicente came to Sundance from the Toronto International Film Festival and arrived as COVID had pushed the festival online for 2021 and again in 2022. - The Hollywood Reporter

How Censorship Changed Opera

How did the opera get past censorship, when it utilized the same script of Hugo’s banned play? Well, this was thanks to the genius of Giuseppe Verdi. - El Pais

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