"Just 3% of respondents have personally engaged on the issue — with 2% getting involved on the side of maintaining access and 1% seeking to restrict access. Overall, a solid majority of respondents expressed support for freedom to read and high levels of trust in their local teachers and school librarians." - Publishers Weekly
The Nicaraguan-Costa Rican conductor will be music director-designate in 2024-25 as he completes his 16th and final season in Tennessee's capital, and his initial contract term continues for five years beyond that. He and the Nashville Symphony have released 21 recordings and won six Grammy Awards. - Sarasota Observer
The International Theater Amsterdam, where he was artistic director from 2001 (when it was called Toneelgroep Amsterdam) to 2023 and continued as a salaried artistic advisor, cut ties with him after two reports revealed a longstanding culture of bullying there. The theater's entire board has resigned. - The New York Times
The confusion began in early August when the Greek Ministry of Culture, as is customary, invited a committee of Greek film professionals to select the country’s submission to the international Oscar race. - Deadline
Des Moines Metro Opera, founded in 1973, can’t rival Salzburg or Aix-en-Provence in scenic luxury. Yet musical values by no means suffer; casts are drawn from the upper ranks of younger American singers. And the company’s home venue—the Blank Performing Arts Center, on the campus of Simpson College, in Indianola—fosters unusual intimacy. - The New Yorker
The murals have captured the public imagination, not because they’re artistic masterpieces, but because they play with something beyond the world of pop art – our love, fear and fascination with animals. - The Conversation
I’m a serial learner and hobbyist. Maybe you’d call it being a dilettante. Over the past 20-odd years, I’ve tried my hand at painting, pickleball, chess, printmaking, rock climbing, fencing, water aerobics, crochet, table tennis, cross-stitch, lacrosse, and the violin. - 3 Quarks Daily
Even limiting ourselves to literature, it’s simply the case that what endures has minimal correlation to either contemporaneous popularity or contemporaneous acclaim. - Countercraft
The ABA Right to Read Handbook: Fighting Book Bans and Why It Matters … features more than a dozen interviews and profiles, and includes a brief history of book censorship, 'a deep dive into the current book ban crisis,' and 'how-to' guides for organizing at the community level." - Publishers Weekly
An uplifting play about depression, Duncan Macmillan’s Every Brilliant Thing has become a global phenomenon since its Edinburgh fringe debut 10 years ago. It has been performed in 63 countries in around 400 professional productions. - The Guardian
"It began over a pint in a Bedford pub. Fifty years later, Paines Plough is a theatrical trailblazer. … To mark its half-century, the key players remember the company’s fights, firsts and furious creativity." - The Guardian
“Touring gives the dancers a chance for exposure for our creativity and artistry.” And a chance for audiences around the world to get a taste of what’s happening. - Seattle Times
"The bottom line ... is to remember that she, (and) everybody else in Janáček’s operas, are actually human beings. There aren’t any heroes, there are mostly survivors. … I always think that if somebody is considered an evil person, they must be so stiff emotionally, which makes them act in a certain way." - Bachtrack
