“I think the greatest challenge for us as interpreters today is to find authenticity of spirit in the music we interpret, and that's a cultural thing. There are two ways to do it. One is as a tourist and the other one is a native. - BachTrack
"In many Western countries, pole dance classes achieved mainstream popularity years ago. Egypt's pole-dancing culture has been slower to grow — partly due to the country's conservative society. … Though social media has helped Egyptian pole dancers tackle taboos, misunderstandings persist." - Dance Magazine
Many of the results show consistency with the last survey in 2019: 97% of Australians engage with the arts, 84% acknowledge positive impacts of arts and creativity, 73% believe that First Nations arts and culture are an important part of Australia’s culture and 61% agree culture and creativity should receive public funding. - Limelight
At the Ambronay Festival in France, Alejandro Meerapfel, a 54-year-old Argentine, was performing in an oratorio called Il Dono della vita eterna (The Gift of Eternal Life). The concert was being telecast live on France TV's Culturebox. (And that's not the strangest part of all this.) - Classical Music (UK)
While U.S. universities charge ever higher tuition in an arms race for the best facilities and research, leading to a soaring student debt crisis, U.K. universities have the opposite problem. They aren’t able to charge enough. They are cutting back on everything from research to teacher salaries to dorm rooms. - The Wall Street Journal
Writers have to ask themselves if they're "willing to sell their creative souls for the convenience of a hand clap ... to take the easy-lazy path that requires no deep investigation, no deep learning, where you drive up, place your order, and pick up a short story to go." - Salon
"A plan is being formulated to reconstruct Davies and some of its environment (such as the large outdoor parking lot on Franklin Street), including reducing the number of seats to 2,100 and adding new facilities to venue, as if the three Zellerbach Rehearsal Halls in the building were not enough." - San Francisco Classical Voice
"The Manitoba Arts Council would receive $20 million in funding annually — up from $6 million a year — if the Liberals are elected on Oct. 3, (provincial party leader Douglas Lamont) said." - CBC
When the essay, called “Ghosts,” came out in The Believer in the summer of 2021, it quickly went viral. I started hearing from others who had lost loved ones and felt that the piece captured grief better than anything they’d ever read. - Wired
"Libraries will also operate with reduced opening hours. The service said the funding situation is presenting 'significant challenges', and that the board's decision to reduce operating hours was not taken lightly." - The Guardian
"The 2025-26 season marks the Madison orchestra's 100th anniversary. The symphony will conduct a search for a new leader, and DeMain intends to depart after that season" — his 32nd with the orchestra — "ends," at which point he will be 82. - The Capital Times (Madison, Wis.)
A motion by the actors' union to authorize a strike against video game companies passed with 98% of votes cast. The previous Interactive Media Agreement, which covers members working on video games, expired last November; it included no provisions regarding AI. - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
"Many PAs, the union (says), are early-career stage managers, and PAs 'are among the only Broadway workers without current union representation.' The new bargaining unit includes both current PAs working on about ten productions as well as about 100 who have worked on Broadway the last two years." - Deadline
"The system had suffered from low enrollment since the coronavirus pandemic began. Previous challenges included a $95 million settlement after fraud allegations in 2015 and a loss of accreditation that led to the shuttering of nearly 20 other locations in 2018." - The New York Times
