“On Monday, the Italian government announced it will cut the country’s VAT on art sales from 22% — the highest in the European Union — to just 5% percent … now the lowest.” A recent study estimated that the reduction could see galleries, antique dealers, and auction houses in Italy generate €1.5 billion in three years. - ARTnews
More than 50% of exhibition executives polled in a new survey believe that the “traditional cinema experience” has less than 20 years remaining as a viable business model. - Variety
The brain continues to develop and mature into one’s mid-20s, but like a muscle it needs to be exercised, stimulated and challenged to grow stronger. Technology and especially AI can stunt this development by doing the mental work that builds the brain’s version of a computer cloud. - The Wall Street Journal
A court has determined that it was legal for Anthropic to train its AI tools on copyrighted works, arguing that the behavior is shielded by the “fair use” doctrine, which allows for unauthorized use of copyrighted materials under certain conditions. - Wired
They are memes generated by artificial intelligence and adored by Gen Alpha and the youngest of Gen Z — and if you’re older than that, they almost certainly baffle you. But that’s okay: Chimpanzini Bananini, Ballerina Cappuccina, Cappuccino Assassino (her boyfriend), and Shrimp Jesus were never intended to make sense. - The Guardian
The statues, from the city’s cathedral, became the city’s property in 1948 and were subsequently moved to Franco’s summer palace at his wife’s request. The dictator’s family held onto them after he died and claimed ownership, a claim the court has now voided. - ARTnews
“Jennifer Bielstein is leaving her role after seven years on the job, opening one of the top leadership positions in Bay Area theater as the industry continues to absorb pandemic aftershocks. … In Houston, she'll be managing director to another Bay Area expat — Artistic Director Rob Melrose.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
“When Stephen Sondheim visited the Library of Congress in 1993, he saw something that stopped him in his tracks. Mark Horowitz, a senior music specialist, had prepared a selection of historical scores from its collection — including works by Brahms and Rachmaninoff — to show the acclaimed composer and lyricist.” - The Washington Post (MSN)
A military hero turned civilian leader, a rigid strongman, weaselly senators, demagoguery, class dynamics (not to mention an interfering mother) — these things are perennial issues in the news (and advice columns). So why don’t theatre companies present it as often as even Julius Caesar, let alone Macbeth or Hamlet? - The Guardian
The broadcaster has just launched the website BBC News Polska, for which a team of four native Polish speakers is curating material on global news from the English-language service, using AI machine translation to render that content into Polish, and reviewing the accuracy of the translation before posting. - Press Gazette (UK)
“Of the 48 titles selected to receive filming subsidies, only five are feature films, announced the California Film Commission on Monday. They account for roughly an even split of the $96 million in tax credits that the state is allocating this round.” - The Hollywood Reporter
Dutch National Baller director Ted Brandsen: “Just as you don’t (simply) replace a Rembrandt with a new painting, you don’t let such wonderful ballet heritage go to waste. The only way to preserve it is to keep performing it ... in a different context, away from the orientalist gaze of the nineteenth century.” - Gramilano (Milan)
Work requires and supports a certain ecology of tasks, an economy of attention. You train your mind to it. When the job’s gone, that attention economy is rendered useless. But you’ve devoted so much time to it that you don’t know how else to deploy your behavioral resources. - 3 Quarks Daily
“The Odeon of Herod Atticus recently opened the 70th season of the annual Athens Epidaurus Festival, a cherished tradition for many Greeks. But this edition marks the last before the theater that’s more than 18 centuries old shuts down for maintenance and restoration work that is expected to last at least three years.” - AP
Norton Owen has worked in the press office, run the summer school for students, and done development work. But along the way, he began to stage exhibitions and work his way through the programs, films, photographs, posters and other documentation that filled boxes and shelves in the festival offices. - The New York Times
