Artist Sterling Wells: "I’ve been painting in the water for a year and now that they’re paying attention, I can’t be here. ... I’m being removed little by little, but I’m still painting. And I haven’t given up on the raft." - Hyperallergic
First, look to its (storied) past: "With its mix of bubbly enthusiasm and Gen-X skepticism, Paper became the scrappy kid sibling to the argumentative Village Voice and the lustrous Interview. Its readers were beautiful people and misfits, insiders and outsiders." - The New York Times
On Friday, SAG-AFTRA agreed to a nearly two-week contract extension. "Despite progress in talks, significant differences remain between the parties, which have sparred over how to measure streaming residuals and secure protections against the abuse of artificial intelligence." - Los Angeles Times
Social media has apparently turned marketing for the hyped movie Barbie into ... marketing for the grim movie Oppenheimer? "It's the dual movie experience no one knew they needed until now, but more and more people are getting on board" with Barbenheimer. - IGN
At the Kennedy Center: "Enter the organ through a hidden passageway tucked into a side office, descend down a ladder into its belly, and you find yourself surrounded by pipes — no two the same." - Washington Post
Karen Allen's cameo in the new Indiana Jones movie was a surprise - to the audience. For the actor, who had to keep quiet about it all for years, the release was an incredible relief. - Los Angeles Times
The Czech conductor seems to think he's found the ideal spot. "Opera is kind of a pinnacle of what is possible to achieve in music. But it’s a genre which, in practice, demands an incredible amount of compromise. Covent Garden is a fantastic exception." - The New York Times
"The desire to tell beautiful stories is still there, but the funding to support fair and livable compensation is not. Operating out of rental venues and struggling to regain audiences post-pandemic, Chicago storefronts find themselves at a crossroads." - American Theatre
Graphic novel writer ND Stevenson on what he wouldn't give up: The movie "was going to do its own little shapeshift, if you will, and become a whole new thing. But Nimona, to me, really felt like what it is about the story that makes it special." - NPR
"He always dressed up for his photography, much like he did for his speeches. He wanted to create a dialogue with his photograph that he provided with his speeches. It was a form of representation he hoped would convince people to follow him in advocating for equality." - Washington Post
"Theaters must think more expansively of themselves as communal spaces, not merely entertainment venues for stage presentations to ticket buyers; what does it mean to be a civic space, a public space, a 'third place'? No, really." - Culturebot
Can anything - musicals, serious plays, popular actors, dramatic cuts to staff, or great bundles of tickets - fix this issue? Who knows? "Audiences haven’t fundamentally changed since they started gathering at dramatic festivals in ancient Greece." - Los Angeles Times
"By tapping into TikTok’s ability to drive attention to books and its vast trove of user data, ByteDance could boost its own authors at the expense of others and make BookTok less organic and user-driven, a prospect that worries many TikTok users and authors." - The New York Times
The ensemble-driven theater, founded by a close-knit group of Northwestern University classmates and friends in 1988, famously has produced original work for the last 35 years, typically with a strong visual sensibility. - Chicago Tribune
