"Hana S. Sharif, artistic director of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and a former staffer with organizations in Hartford, Boston and Baltimore, takes over from Molly Smith, who is retiring after a quarter-century in the top job at one of the nation's cornerstone regional theaters." - MSN (The Washington Post)
"(Armorer Andrew) Wert built rifles from individual parts so they would look as real as possible but would not be able to fire under any circumstances. He drilled out parts where firing pins would go and modified the cylinders so that no ammunition could fit in them." - The New York Times
"At the age of 64, (my brain is) definitely shrinking, and memorising has become a very conscious, frustrating and time-consuming activity. But I stick at it because memory is a muscle that needs to be constantly used to stay in any sort of shape." - The Guardian
"The San Francisco Art Institute has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, a move that will force the 152-year-old institution to liquidate its assets" — most notably, a Diego Rivera mural valued at $50 million — "and abandon its legendary campus on the edge of Russian Hill." - San Francisco Chronicle
"(The) Gilder (Center) is spectacular: a poetic, joyful, theatrical work of public architecture and a highly sophisticated flight of sculptural fantasy. New Yorkers live to grouse about new buildings. This one seems destined to be an instant heartthrob and colossal attraction." - The New York Times
"The data looks like a sign that Americans are continuing to spend on entertainment services and flexing their wallets despite recession fears. But moviegoing is one of the cheapest forms of entertainment away from home. In the past, theaters have been where Americans went for entertainment when the economy shrank." - Quartz
"As of April 1, the average entry-level salary for publishing employees located in New York City at the Big Five trade publishers and Scholastic was $47,583, up from $38,583 before the Covid-19 pandemic. … That marks an increase of 23.3%, during a period when prices rose 12.4%." - Publishers Weekly
We might typically think of hope as a touchy-feely emotion that, almost by definition, is divorced from real-life experience. In fact, as more research is beginning to show, hope is an important scientific concept—something we can define, measure, analyze, and ultimately cultivate. - The Atlantic
What can we do personally to stave off the displacement that may happen as a result of AI and future-proof ourselves in the age of intelligent machines? - Harvard Business Review
It would, of course, be an anachronism to dub Shakespeare an environmentalist. But he was acutely aware of what we would term the environmental issues of his era. - The Conversation
Cancelling is a colloquial term applied to anything from discussion about an author with a critical tone to internet pile-ons or campaigns to deplatform individuals after that person does something their audience perceives as wrong. There is much debate. - The Conversation
“Given the focus of most current donors on humanitarian needs, cultural heritage is inevitably regarded as marginal, despite the fact that conservation generates significant employment.” - The Art Newspaper
Punctuation can be a nuisance; it is often simply neglected. Wrong! The most recent statistical analyses paint a different picture: punctuation seems to "grow out" of the foundations shared by all the (examined) languages, and its features are far from trivial. - Phys
"Maugham is a deeply deceptive dramatist. His plays look as if they are dated old crowdpleasers, yet often challenge conventional ideas. … This is the man who in For Services Rendered … wrote a blistering attack on the ruinous aftermath of the first world war and a society unfit for heroes." - The Guardian
Museums are shifting gears — seeking artists of different backgrounds, arranging works in new thematic groupings, reinterpreting pieces they already own. - The New York Times
