In an overhaul of its priorities last month, Arts Council of Wales (the national funder) eliminated its entire £1.6 million annual grant to the principality's main English-language theatre. "If this funding decision stands," warns the company's management, "Wales will lose National Theatre Wales in six months’ time." - The Stage
"British greeting card company Full Colour Black and its owner Andrew Gallagher have filed a libel claim against anonymous artist Banksy in the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court over an Instagram post the British artist made in November 2022." The lawsuit could potentially require him to be named. - Artnet
"Pushkin Industries is laying off over 30% of its staff and shaking up its leadership team as the broader podcast industry continues to recalibrate after years of expensive deals and over-ambitious growth plans." - MSN (Bloomberg)
"Claire Rice, executive director of Arts Alliance Illinois, ... is asking (Mayor) Johnson to tap the city’s corporate fund for nearly 35% of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events’ $81 million annual budget, an unprecedented move for a department traditionally funded primarily by other sources." - Crain's Chicago Business
He went from self-publishing a renegade gay-oriented opera fanzine, mimeographed and distributed by hand to — under the identity La Cieca — operating what The New York Times called "the most essential blog in opera," as well as reviewing more formally for several magazines and the New York Post and Observer. - OperaWire
The five nominees each for fiction, nonfiction, poetry, young people's literature, and literature in translation were revealed on Tuesday. Winners will be announced at a ceremony on November 15. - AP
Like the 45-day budget bill passed by the U.S. Congress the day before, this new contract seems likely to serve as little more than a stopgap designed to tide both parties over toward a more decisive reckoning. - San Francisco Chronicle
Just as a person cannot be talked out of serious depression or anxiety, rational arguments against boredom seldom avail. A person must take interest in something, which requires initiative and energy. - First Things
The streaming service is discussing raising prices in several markets globally, but will likely begin with the U.S. and Canada, according to people familiar with the matter. - The Wall Street Journal
I’m not foolish or backward enough to think that AI is a passing fad. It’s a tool that we’ll see incorporated and integrated, like the synthesizers Miles invoked. But — But! — we have the power to prevent a future where the bots run the show. - The Gig
These “time-tested and great operas” that you tout in your letter are rife with misogyny, violence, racism and casual pedophilia. You say you are “happy to broadcast” them, but I suggest you think again. Just because they’re calling someone a whore in Italian doesn’t mean it’s any less offensive. - Current
Artists are big on literary science writing; craftsmen are big on explanatory science writing. Artists write beautiful prose; craftsmen write clear prose. Artists write relatively few books and are likely to win big book awards like the Pulitzer Prize; craftsmen are content to be merely prolific, often writing dozens or even hundreds of books. - 3 Quarks Daily
"There is plenty to uncover in this fairy-tale-noir story of illicit sex, betrayal, obsession, and suicide, but you have to believe it is worth digging. Perhaps if I tell you the story is older than the Bible." - 3 Quarks Daily
