"(In) the biggest art heist in modern history, the thieves made off with a haul worth more than €113 million ($123 million) from the Green Vault museum in 2019. Some, but not all, of the loot was recovered in exchange for four of the defendants confessing in court." - Yahoo! (AFP)
Undoubtedly, there will be great guest conductors in our future. But Runnicles created his own two-decade golden age of Atlanta Symphony history, one that won’t soon be forgotten. - ArtsATL
While Gen Xers grew up with the moral gray areas and disdain for authority, Millennials were raised on Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, neither of which would exist without a sincere belief in the battle between good and evil—and, critically, a driving need for good to win. - 3 Quarks Daily
We’re living a new, much broader Deep Blue moment, when the basic boundary lines between the outer limits of what machines and humans can do are suddenly in flux. Only this time, the people directly concerned aren’t just a few dozen grandmasters in the rarified world of top-level chess. This time, it’s everyone. - Persuasion
Diego Galafassi, who researches the role of the arts in sustainability, argues the arts can foster the disposition and imagination required to address the climate crisis. Arts activities can provoke positive emotions such as hope, responsibility, care and solidarity that, in turn, inspire resilience and climate action. - The Conversation
Blurb, then, is a twentieth-century euphemism for a particular kind of advertisement, one that uses evaluation as a figleaf for a sales pitch. In the twenty-first century book world, the blurbs are inescapable. - Sydney Review of Books
Lawrence Edelson founded American Lyric Theater in 2005, building a model organization for presenting and fostering new opera. He also recently concluded a successful eight-year stint as artistic and general director of Opera Saratoga in upstate New York. He will stay on at ALT as artistic and general director in his new role at COT. - WFMT
"We will never recognize that these sculptures are owned, legally owned by the British Museum,” said Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. "But again, we have to be constructive and ... innovative if a solution is to be found. … That word 'loan' is not part of … what I consider a win-win solution." - AP
Demonstrations over the past week have underscored just how much writers have soured on the company. In Los Angeles, Netflix’s Sunset Boulevard headquarters have become a focal point for striking writers. - The New York Times
"Maybe you recognize it from the Shake Shack nameplate. ... Even if you think you've never seen it before, if you step outside, you might very well see this typeface going up on homes in your neighborhood. And it could be a sign that rents are going up." - The Guardian
As per the bill, the $62 million of funding that goes to the state’s libraries will only be eligible for said funding if they “adopt the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights” or “develop a written statement prohibiting the practice of banning books or other materials within the library or library system.“ - BookRiot
The facility only opened in 2018, and by the following year, demand for its technical rehearsal residency was nearly outrunning supply. Then the pandemic hit. Now the organization's Catskill, NY property is for sale, and Lumberyard will focus on including neurodivergent audiences in mainstream theater. Why the change? - Dance Magazine
At least on the face of it, the mainstream of US nonfiction is stately, thorough, chronological and substantial; whereas British nonfiction is slant, whimsical, allusive and personal. Is that a temperamental or cultural difference? Up to a point, perhaps, yes. But there’s something else at work too. - LitHub
"Nine months after being stabbed and seriously injured onstage, (he warned) that freedom of expression in the West is under its most severe threat in his lifetime. Rushdie delivered a video message to the British Book Awards, where he was awarded the Freedom to Publish award." - AP
“By most criteria, other than audience attendance, the company is in significantly better shape than it’s been in its 38-year history." - The New York Times
