If you think a poem made like a hot dog of stolen words sounds interesting, that’s fine, but no one should lose their job over that experiment. This entire report makes clear to me that the powers that be see AI as a way to make more money by squeezing down their cost of labor. - LitHub
The Galloping Cure, with a story and libretto by Karen Russell (author of the novel Swamplandia!) and Royce Vavrek (possibly America's busiest librettist), will be directed by Tom Morris (who co-directed War Horse) and produced by former ENO chief John Berry, with four major opera houses on board. - The Observer (UK)
In 2023, 53% of ticket buyers were under age 50, and people in their 30s made up the largest age segment by decade. Five years earlier, in 2018, 41% of ticket buyers were under 50, and people in their 60s made up the largest age segment. - AP
"In 2020, Danish antiquities dealer Dr. Ittai Gradel began to suspect an eBay seller he had been buying from was a thief who was stealing from the British Museum. … More than two years later, the museum would announce that thousands of objects were missing, stolen or damaged from its collection." - BBC
A hacker group called RansomHub said it was behind the cyberattack that hit the Christie’s website just days before its marquee spring sales began, forcing the auction house to resort to alternatives to online bidding. - The New York Times
"Ballet Tech … isn’t just a dance school; it’s an academic one, too. A collaboration between the New York City Department of Education and the Ballet Tech Foundation (created by choreographer Eliot Feld), the school — on Broadway and 19th Street — is for students in fourth grade through eighth." - The New York Times
It’s been a golden period for top-shelf conductors seeking a new gig – and a more competitive time for orchestras looking to hire one. - Culture OC
The British investment firm Baillie Gifford became lead sponsor of the Hay Festival in 2015, but this year a number of the marquee participants at high-profile events canceled their appearances over what they see as Baillie Gifford's excessive ties to the fossil-fuel industry and the Israeli government. - The Guardian
"Freshly under interim leadership, the Metro Arts Commission would receive $5.5 million, … on par with last year's budget. … The release of these dollars is contingent on two things: The commission must submit an annual report on the grant recipients, and Metro Council must approve the commission's award criteria." - The Tennessean (MSN)
Daniel Singh, who, over two years as director of the agency Metro Arts, alienated many staff members and presided over an extremely messy round of grant-awarding this past year, accepted a negotiated settlement the night before the Metro Arts Commission met to consider firing him. - Nashville Banner
"For every dollar the symphony spends, it generates about $4 in the local economy, leading to a total of $125 million in regional impact for (FY2023-24). Plus, the symphony, which operates with a budget of about $33 million, helps sustain about 1,900 jobs in the region annually." - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Brett Callow, a threat analyst at Esmisoft, a cybersecurity firm based in New Zealand, posted on X an image of a post from (the website of cybercriminal gang) RansomHub with a blurred sample of some of the information contained in the trove." - Artnet
"The scarred and gifted son of founding Beat Lucien Carr, (he) endured a traumatizing childhood and became a bestselling novelist, accomplished military historian and late-life memoirist of his devoted cat, Masha." - AP
The top prize went to Sean Baker's "sex worker screwball comedy" Anora; the Grand Prix went to Payal Kapadia's All We Imagine As Light, the first Indian film in competition in 30 years. A special jury prize went to The Seed of the Sacred Fig by Mohammad Rasoulof, who secretly escaped Iran. - France 24
