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Meet The Only Breakdancing Competitor At This Summer’s Olympics With A PhD In The Subject

"Dr. Rachael Gunn, … the 36-year-old B-girl known as 'Raygun', a portmanteau of her name, completed a thesis in 2017 on the intersection of gender in Sydney's breaking scene while training to become one of (Australia's) top dancers." - Reuters

After Decades Of Being Youth-Obsessed, TV Gets Comfortable With The Old

Most people watching TV are older than those groups. Among cable channels, the median age for TNT and Bravo viewers is 56, for HGTV it is 66, and even the once-youthful MTV’s median-age viewer is 51, according to Nielsen data. The cable news audience is even older. - The Wall Street Journal

Does Pay-What-You-Can Pricing Really Increase Ticket Sales?

Well, yes and no — depending on what exactly one means by "increase" and "ticket sales." - ArtsHub (Australia)

How A Denver Performing Arts Center Thrives On Free Shows And Community Trust

With more than 40 free shows this season, and only 10 that charge for tickets, Levitt has built trust and audiences through a highly unusual mix of adventurous bookings, public and private funding, constant neighborhood-tending, and casual vibes that belie the passion of its music-freak staff. - Denver Post

How The Disassembling Of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Wayfarers Chapel Will Actually Work

It's not just that the job is delicate; it has to be done quickly, because the site is undergoing a slow-motion landslide due to two winters of heavy rains. The ground under the chapel is now moving at the rate of roughly seven inches per week. - LAist

China Is Using AI-Generated News Anchors To Spread Disinformation In Taiwan And Elsewhere

"The news presenter has a deeply uncanny air as he delivers a partisan and pejorative message in Mandarin: Taiwan’s outgoing president, Tsai Ing-wen, is as effective as limp spinach, her period in office beset by economic under performance, social problems and protests." - The Guardian

Philadelphia’s Wilma Wins 2024 Tony Award For Regional Theatre

"Founded in 1973 as an avant-garde theater project committed to local actors, the Wilma has been renowned for its experimental, boundary-pushing work. ... It is the first theater in Pennsylvania to win the award, which ... includes a grant of $25,000." - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

Elvis Presley’s Granddaughter Sues To Prevent What She Says Is A Fraudulent Foreclosure On Graceland

Riley Keough argues that the planned auction of Elvis's home in Memphis to repay a $3.8 million loan to her mother, Lisa Marie Presley (who died last year), is based on forged documents — and that not only did the loan never exist, the company demanding repayment doesn't actually exist, either. - NPR

Visitor Sues Walker Art Center In Minneapolis, Saying She Was Forbidden To Breastfeed Her Baby In A Gallery

When her infant daughter became hungry at the museum, says Megan Mzenga, she sat down on the nearest couch to nurse; a male staff member then told her — contrary to the Walker's policy, it turns out — that she had to do that elsewhere in the building and called an escort. - ARTnews

London’s Young Vic Theatre Appoints A New Artistic Director

Nadia Fall, currently director of Theatre Royal Stratford East, will take over from Kwame Kwei-Armah next January 1. The Young Vic first opened in 1970 as an offshoot of the Old Vic featuring younger artists; today it's an important company in its own right. - The Guardian

2024 International Booker Prize Goes To Jenny Erpenbeck’s “Kairos”

The German novelist shares with translator Michael Hoffmann the £50,000 award for Kairos, which "follows the destructive love affair between a 19-year-old student and a married man in his 50s who meet on a bus in East Berlin around 1986. Their relationship comes to embody the German Democratic Republic's 'crushed idealism.'" - BBC

A Short History Of Over-The-Top Art World Feuds

Here are four more beefs between art-world honchos, spanning from the ‘50s to the aughts, that are, regardless of when they took place, truly for the ages. - Artnet

Opera Australia Posts A $4.9 Million Deficit

Marking the milestone of 50 years of performing at the Sydney Opera House in 2023, OA presented 30 productions: 14 operas, 13 concerts and recitals, and three musicals. Total box office revenue was just over $65.7m, sharply down from the previous year’s $79.8m. - Limelight

Public Radio’s Foundation Is Leaking. Some Real Planning Is In Order

Just like with the plumbing in our house, public radio can’t wait any longer to take action on the leaks in its foundation. They aren’t going to disappear. In fact, more critical systems will fail if we allow the problems to fester. - Current

Diversity Problem: Few UK Arts Workers Come From The Working Class

While 23% of the UK workforce is from a working-class background, working-class people are underrepresented in every area of arts and culture. They make up 8.4% of those working in film, TV, radio and photography, while in museums, archives and libraries, the proportion is only 5.2%. - The Guardian

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