“There’s something we noticed the year and months after Covid: There were fewer American films in the world; therefore local production –national production–became more successful.” - Deadline
Their outputs are a mélange of the passion and experimentalism of the amateurs with the polish and ambition of the pros, and they often possess a briskness that feels shaped by an awareness that an endless selection of other stories is mere clicks away. - The New Yorker
“Right now, there are no education goals for the country,” said Arne Duncan, who served as President Barack Obama’s first secretary of education after running Chicago’s public school system. “There are no metrics to measure goals, there are no strategies to achieve those goals and there is no public transparency.” - The New York Times
In some ways we’re moving backwards from the model of the lay reader versus professional literary critic. Today there are far fewer lay readers than there used to be, but there is also the emergence of extremely invested, specialized nonacademic reader communities enabled by social media, for example. - The Point
Festival lineups are jam-packed with D.J.s, while some of the biggest names in pop music (including Beyoncé, Drake and Charli XCX) have made dance music-inspired or adjacent albums. It’s usually at this point — when a newspaper sees fit to write about it — that the comedown starts. - The New York Times
The Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun and the American entertainment executive David Geffen are slinging written accusations at each other in federal court in New York, each claiming to be the rightful owner of Alberto Giacometti’s “Le Nez” (“The Nose”). - The New York Times
New piano sales fell from a pre-Covid peak of 400,000 in 2019 to 200,000 in 2022. China’s imports of pianos—mainly high-end instruments for conservatory and professional use–fell from a 2021 peak of US$272 million to $197 million in 2023. - Asia Times
”The competition feels stiffer (perhaps oversaturated), though artists searching for opportunities during the audition season—typically winter through spring—are finding community through research and collective commiseration.” - American Theatre
For London's Prince Charles cinema, threatened with a huge rent increase, “the listing provides the local community with the right to try to raise funds and bid for the building first if it is put up for sale.” - BBC
Perhaps not for the reasons you might suspect, though. “I found myself longing for someone, Aldridge perhaps, to mine Christie’s exquisite autobiography more broadly and create an entire one-woman play.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
“It’s a show where you’re always thinking about the other people onstage. … Everyone is both lead and chorus, and you really can’t have an ego because it requires five minds to work as one.” - The New York Times
“Women make up 11.3.% of the directors in the United States, which is on par with the average. The percentage of women of color in the director’s chair (5.7% in 2024) has doubled in the last decade (2.5% in 2015).” - Variety
Shira Perlmutter had been hired by also recently fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. The firing came two days after Perlmutter’s office released a report saying AI training may not be fair use. - Seattle Times (AP)
