"Since its inception in the early 1980s, the Laura Quinkan Indigenous Dance Festival has brought together Indigenous communities from across Cape York, the Torres Strait and beyond. … Many non-Indigenous Australians and international tourists also (come) for the opportunity to engage with living Aboriginal culture." - The Guardian
The dream of the internet’s bipartisan “town square” is ending, transforming into many town squares tucked in alleys and behind buildings, because the actors in charge couldn’t stop seesawing in terms of who held the power, and because they always took that power too far. - The Intrinsic Perspective
"A word can be a perfect fit until something I try in the next clause introduces a clumsy repetition or infelicitous echo. Meaning, connotation and subtext all matter, but so does style. Below are two attempts to show the thought processes involved in the translation I do." - The New York Times
Two recent novels put romantic longing and steamy couplings alongside discussion of body politics, feminism and #MeToo in ballet. First Position, written by ex-American Ballet Theatre (ABT) dancer Melanie Hamrick and published by Mills & Boon, is being billed as Black Swan meets 50 Shades. - The Guardian
"A multidisciplinary team of archaeologists and computer scientists has developed an artificial intelligence that can translate Akkadian almost instantly and unlock the historic record preserved in these 5,000-year-old tablets," thousands of which remain untranslated. - Big Think
This particular struggle is over the tradition of comic bullfights, often before the main corrida, featuring performers with dwarfism. Traditionalists see it as Spanish culture worth preserving; many liberals consider it demeaning, backward, and, now, illegal; the performers want to keep their jobs. - The New York Times
Just a few weeks ago, it seemed that SAG-AFTRA was much closer to reaching a deal with Hollywood studios than the union’s counterpart, the Writers Guild of America, which has been on strike since the beginning of May. - Washington Post
"(It) was built in 1797 in Philadelphia to be the central hub of Hamilton's national banking system. The Independence National Historical Park (INHP) will soon begin a $50 million renovation to turn this building" — closed to the public since the 1970s — "into a museum of the American economy." - WHYY (Philadelphia)
"The orchestra is still receiving local support, along with national and international acclaim, but not all is well. More musicians (have been) leaving than arriving, and there is an unprecedented seven-month-long collective bargaining deadlock over a new contract." - San Francisco Classical Voice
With the Philly Pops in collapse — evicted by the Kimmel Center for nonpayment of rent, suing the Kimmel Center, being sued by its musicians — many of its players have formed the No Name Pops, which has already performed small-ensemble gigs and has two full-orchestra programs scheduled. - MSN (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
"The six architectural teams competing to design its expansion have put forward their visions, and all would dramatically transform the institution, both in its internal functioning and in its relationship to the city. As the adage goes, be careful what you wish for." - MSN (The Dallas Morning News)
"The costs for security, conservation and insurance are growing, according to cultural institutions that have experienced attacks. In some cases they are suing the activists for the damages." The protesters who vandalized the Degas at the National Gallery in DC are facing serious federal criminal charges. - The New York Times
"Unionized Hollywood actors on the verge of a strike have agreed to allow a last-minute intervention from federal mediators but say they doubt a deal will be reached by a negotiation deadline late Wednesday." - AP
"(He) was the most widely read Czech writer of the 20th century after Kafka. … Although, unlike Kafka, he lived to see fame, he also survived long enough to witness the waning of his reputation, and never received the Nobel Prize that had once been talked of as a certainty." - MSN (The Telegraph)
