"Five TikTok content creators have filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn Montana's first-in-the-nation ban on the video sharing app, arguing the law is an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights … (and) that the state doesn't have any authority over matters of national security." - AP
"California's performing arts sector lost a decade's worth of jobs within a two-year period, with 2021 employment dropping to 2010 levels, according to a new study. More than 59,000 jobs disappeared during the pandemic that ... are unlikely to return if drastic action is not immediately taken." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
"An anonymous donation this year made affordable rates for a quarter of the festival's shows possible, (subsidizing) about 1,300 tickets, valued at about $50,000. The program sets a minimum payment of $5 for tickets to cover fees (and) limits patrons to two tickets per show." - The Post and Courier (Charleston)
It's still too early to assess damage to museums and heritage sites in Emilia-Romagna, where 13 people have died and 10,000 are displaced amid the region's worst floods in a century. In Ravenna, the Classis archaeological museum housed 800 human and 150 canine evacuees. - The Art Newspaper
"Salman Rushdie made an emotional and unexpected return to public life Thursday night, attending the annual gala of PEN America and giving the event's final speech as he accepted a special prize, the PEN Centenary Courage Award, just nine months after being stabbed repeatedly and hospitalized." - AP
John McWhorter on musicologist Philp Ewell's new book: "The assumption, then, is that the “whiteness” or “maleness” of any given proposition must automatically be a mere power play rather than a reasoned aesthetic or logical conclusion." - The New York Times
Before C-11, online broadcasters were under no obligation to stream any Canadian content. In essence, Bill C-11 looks to put streaming and other Internet platforms on the same footing, with the same kind of obligations towards Canadian content, and under the same governing umbrella: the CRTC. - Ludwig Van
This all feels like ENO letting off some steam. For an hour on a Tuesday afternoon in May, a group of musicians, blissfully under-rehearsed and with a few wobbles here and there, perform without a care in the world. You have to grasp moments of joy when you can at the moment. - Van
Sources close to him report that Gergiev—who, before the war, would drop by the theater three or four times a month—now spends most of his time in St. Petersburg. - Van
According to the survey, consumers remain uncertain about how they feel about the use of AI in the entertainment industry, but they’re also open to its potential. - The Wrap
Reversals of fortune are nothing unusual in the news business. But in the last few weeks it’s been gobsmacking to see Vice facing bankruptcy and BuzzFeed shuttering its news division. The Times, meanwhile, hit its goal of 10 million paying subscribers and aims to have 15 million by the end of 2027. - Vanity Fair
Aa a joint project of the La Jolla Playhouse and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, designer David Israel Reynoso and theater company Optika Moderna have created a walk-through piece about lucha libre, the flamboyant freestyle wrestling circuit. - KPBS (San Diego)
There's a very small population in Iceland, and people tend to do everything. You might be playing in the symphony orchestra in the morning, in rehearsal, and then play a rock concert in the evening. There's a lot of mixture between the genres and people haven't even thought there's anything strange about that. - NPR
"Decent we have, sometimes even good: well-made, professional. But wild, indelible, commanding us without appeal to change our lives? I don't think we even remember what that feels like. … Art is bland and unimaginative because we have landed ourselves in the lamentable position of getting exactly what we want." - Tablet
How lopsided has the program been? Of the 11 shows on view at the museum last year, just two centered on historical art. The other nine — 82% of the program — presented art of the modern era. - Los Angeles Times