Victoria Bruzelius Benedictsson, marooned in a stifling Swedish village, began writing and publishing books and stories under the name Ernst Ahlgren, left her family for a gender-fluid life (half-Benedictsson-half-Ahlgren) of literary celebrity in Copenhagen, and then, rejected in love, committed suicide — whereupon Strindberg immediately co-opted her life as subject matter. - Aeon
Even after regular concerts resumed in earnest that fall, there was still that faint shadow across the proceedings, a sense that we had all gotten off on the wrong foot together. - San Francisco Chronicle
Three hundred years ago, the city had around 300 battilori hammering out gold leaf using traditional techniques. Today, Marino Menegazzo's family workshop is the last, and one of only a few in all Europe. Here's a look at how he and his daughter do their work. - The New York Times
While American orchestras have a propensity for pursuing and hiring conductors from abroad, MTT’s success here might lead SFS to consider hiring an American. And while women are still all too rare among today’s U.S. music directors, the orchestra might follow San Francisco Opera’s example and appoint a woman to the position. - San Francisco Classical Voice
"Javier Milei is forging ahead with his administration’s plans to defund the country’s film-TV institute INCAA, which will adversely impact national film festivals such as the Mar del Plata and federal aid for national film releases, state-run cinemas and film schools, among others." - Variety
Steve Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs banker who founded his own private equity firm after leaving Washington, says he's gathering a group of investors to buy the video app if the Senate passes the House bill requiring its current owner, the Beijing-based corporation ByteDance, to sell it. - AP
It's with the app called Espresso, whose 2023 subscriber numbers were up 64% from 2022. Says marketing VP Nada Arnot, "It's a snack-size version if you will, but it's not in any way a diluted version. It's not a substitute to the core product." - Press Gazette (UK)
A contrite Father Héctor Lunar, a Venezuelan refugee on Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands, says he had no idea that the murals of his church were heritage-listed. "No one told me about it. All I wanted to do was add another coat of paint … to get ready for Holy Week." - The Guardian
The legislation would just require the app's owner, the Chinese corporation ByteDance, to sell it to some other entity that isn't under the ultimate control of the Chinese Communist Party. ByteDance (and the Party) should be fine with selling TikTok for a few billion, shouldn't they? - New York Magazine (MSN)
"Key insights: States with higher proportions of rural population tend to have lower levels of arts vibrancy – with some notable exceptions. States ranking higher on arts vibrancy generally have lower poverty rates; but having low levels of poverty doesn’t guarantee a top arts vibrancy ranking." - SMU Data Arts
"(The project's) number-one priority will be to ‘support urgent infrastructure updates to the National Theatre building’. … This will free up the NT’s technical staff from constantly patching things up, allowing the creation of a new National Theatre Skills Centre, which will train over 5,000 technical staff a year." - Time Out London
“Poetry was the first way in which Tolkien expressed himself creatively and through it the seeds of his literary ambition would be sown." - The Bookseller
These days, payment for inclusion in a biennial or group show at a US museum tends to range from $500 to $3,000, according to the artists and museums I surveyed. - The Art Newspaper
A lifetime since my failure to practise prompted a family agreement that the piano wasn’t for me, I’m back at the keys. This time I don’t have a teacher to disappoint, but a dizzying range of apps and sites that are transforming the experience of millions of adults. - The Guardian
The project is incredibly ambitious, a national effort to make sure that the commemorative landscape "more accurately tells our collective histories." It has led to shifts — big and small — in how public places are presented and what is even considered a monument. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!
