Ron Davis Álvarez, a Caracas native, had settled in Gothenburg as director of El Sistema Sweden. When he saw crowds of teenagers from Syria and Afghanistan arriving in Stockholm with nothing and nobody, he decided he had to do something for them. And so the Dream Orchestra was born. - CNN
The international campaign argues that the independence and viability of the global screen industry will remain under threat unless mandatory quotas for local content are introduced in countries outside the US. - The Guardian
The Kunsthalle Bratislava, which has no permanent collection, was known for its politically progressive and inclusive focus, with particular support for the LGBTQ community. Slovakia's new culture minister, who's publicly hostile to LGBTQ issues, has decreed that the Kunsthalle will henceforth be managed by the Slovak National Gallery. - ARTnews
One problem is that consciousness means different things to different people. For example, some researchers focus on the subjective experience — what it is like to be you or me. Others study its function — cognitive processes and behaviours enabled by being conscious. - Nature
"'As referenced in a recent DCASE study,' the (board's) statement read in part, 'inflation and reduced grant funding, coupled with diminished ticket sales due to smaller audiences, have created a challenge for numerous arts organizations. TCB was not immune to these daunting challenges.'" - Chicago Tribune (MSN)
The Reliable Sauce podcast "sounds as if you are listening in to a conversation (the hosts) might have over a coffee, or on the tube back from work." The key to its success: it was conceived and is run by 20-something journalists, not executives in suits. - Nieman Lab
"Gov. Jared Polis’s proposed budget" — likely to be adjusted by legislators — "includes a one-time $16 million tax credit for creative workforce housing, an additional $2.5 million for (state arts agency) CCI’s annual budget and a $540,000 cash fund for Colorado Creative Districts, which are supported by CCI." - The Colorado Sun
Gladisa Guadalupe, recently dismissed as the company's artistic director following a misconduct investigation, founded the Cleveland School of Dance in 2000 before co-founding the company in 2015. As the company forms its own school, Guadalupe has renamed her academy Cleveland Ballet Theatre, keeping its premises adjacent to company headquarters. - Ideastream (Cleveland)
"There are complexities to bringing $1 billion into classrooms — and restoring programs that have often been the ones to go when money is short. First, there’s hiring amid an extreme teacher shortage. Then, there’s the odd timing of the funding starting halfway through the school year." - The Mercury News (San Jose)
In a five-decade career, "the Juilliard-trained Schickele generated agreeably melodic chamber music, vocal works, symphonic scores and film soundtracks. But he drew his greatest acclaim as a comedic maestro who created, performed, wrote about and lectured on the pseudo-classical and baroque music of the fictional P.D.Q. Bach." - The Washington Post (MSN)
"The (company is) offering 25,000 tickets at £25 as the theatre’s new artistic directors aim to 'throw open the doors' to a more diverse crowd. … The ticketing plan will be on offer for the entire season and sit alongside the existing TikTok £10 scheme for 14- to 25-year-olds." - The Guardian
"For us consumers, they are making us more passive just by feeding us so much stuff, by constantly recommending things that we are unlikely to click away from, that we're going to tolerate not find too surprising or challenging." - NPR
The impact of video game music has helped the music industry by creating a new audience for the classical orchestra. Popular concert cover albums of game music have generated dedicated fandoms and conventions. - The Conversation
Populists in particular latch on to social media today as a way to connect directly with people, bypassing restraints on their behavior that political parties would have provided in the pre-internet age. Yet social media is not inherently populist. - Foreign Policy
