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!
Five months ago, the magazine fired David Velasco, its editor in chief, after he signed and published a letter calling for Palestinian liberation shortly after the Israel-Hamas war began. - The New York Times
Dance makers of Hollywood are seeking recognition for their craft by pressing the Motion Picture Academy to add an Oscar for Best Choreography. That is understandable. But they must first recognize their own. - ArtsMeme
“We’ve seen over the last few decades significant consolidation and a wave of mergers and acquisitions, not all of which have ultimately served the American public,” Khan tells The Hollywood Reporter. - The Hollywood Reporter
"Across Ireland, English is playing second fiddle to Irish in emerging arts scenes. Even though fewer than 2% of the population speak it daily, Irish is hip; the preferred language of young poets at bilingual spoken-word nights … and being blared out in metal, techno and hip-hop." - The Guardian
Ballet Theater’s leaders said they chose Barry Hughson, executive director at the National Ballet of Canada since 2014, because of his extensive experience in the field. He has held top positions at Boston Ballet and Atlanta Ballet, among other organizations. - The New York Times
