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Canada’s CBC Is Heading To A Digital-First Future, Says Its President

“If we’re going to be audience first we have to be digital first. We get up every day and say, ‘What do our audiences want, and where are they?’ And they’re on digital in increasing numbers. And so if we are not there we’re no longer relevant.” - The Globe & Mail (Canada)

New Numbers: North America Is No Longer Netflix’s Biggest Market

Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) quietly became the streamer’s biggest region in terms of subscribers, overtaking the combined user figure for the U.S. and Canada during the second half of 2022. - The Hollywood Reporter

New Research: Vermeer’s Major Patron Was A Woman

The identity of Vermeer’s patron is of vital importance, since they purchased half of the artist’s entire oeuvre, at least 20 paintings. Equally significantly, De Knuijt began to buy his work in around 1657, the time when Vermeer was creating his intriguing scenes centred around young women in interiors. - The Art Newspaper

Disney Will Reduce Spending On “Content” By $3 Billion

Disney still expects its content spending to remain “in the low $30 billion range” for fiscal 2023. - The Hollywood Reporter

The New Zealand Government Just Boosted Its Culture Funding. So How Will It Be Spent?

While this Ministry of Culture and Heritage announcement is money already in the kitty for the sector’s from the COVID recovery fund rather than newly allotted spending, it’s unsurprisingly been well received - the creative community has been abuzz in a way unseen in a long time. - The Big Idea

Why There’s Such A Fuss Over Andrea Riseborough’s Oscar Nomination: An Explainer

"(She) managed a surprise best-actress nomination last month that quickly turned from boon to boondoggle. It's the story everyone in Hollywood is talking about, though you'd be forgiven for wondering what exactly has gone down or why any of it matters." - The New York Times

We’re Learning Lots About How Brains Work. Here Are Three Misconceptions

From the myth that humans only use 10 percent of their brain to the idea that creativity and logic is a "right-brained" versus "left-brained" issue, there are many popular misconceptions about neuroscience that have wormed their way into public consciousness. - Salon

Righteous Anger, Rightly Directed: Edouard Louis’s Books About Working-Class Poverty And Pain

"Louis's depiction of poverty is more radical in its honesty. Deprivation doesn't just cause pain and hunger; it also fosters hostility. Circumstances warp behavior. ... Louis is scathing about the government's neglect of the working class, but he also makes no attempt to sugarcoat the psychological effects of poverty." - The Nation

Is It Time To Rethink The Idea Of States In America? (Do Mega-Cities Make More Sense?)

The modern U.S. economy is really made up of metropolitan regions, not states whose boundaries are arbitrary compared to local economies. A 2009 study identified eleven “megaregions” in the United States with 31 percent of all U.S. counties but 74 percent of the nation’s population. - Big Think

How American Not-For-Profit Theatres Fared In 2021: A Look At The Numbers

"Sharp reductions in expenses coupled with large growth in government contributions and investments kept theatres afloat. ... As audiences return to live performances, theatres will be challenged to revive earned revenue income sources to counter reduced government relief and the effects of high inflation in 2022." - SMU Data Arts / Theatre Communications Group

America’s Theatres Are Struggling After COVID

"The key question is, what are the things that are being done in order to emerge from the pandemic in a sustainable way?" said Teresa Eyring, executive director and CEO of Theatre Communications Group, a support organization for the nation's performing arts sector. - NPR

Confessions Of A Metropolitan Museum Guard

"I was attracted by this idea of doing something straightforward and honest and useful, like keeping people's hands off of some of the most beautiful things human hands have made. ... Say a person is a one-in-a-million personality. That means we're getting seven of those a year, at least." - The New Yorker

Why Can’t We Get Certain Songs Out Of Our Heads?

I’ve got my Pods in and, for reasons I can’t explain but that they may one day understand, I am compelled to listen to Linda Ronstadt over and over and over and over until suddenly, just as abruptly as it started, it stops. - The Guardian

Why Harry Styles’s Dancers At The Grammys Had To Rework Their Choreography Live On The Air

The song was performed on a giant rotating turntable. "After a week of rehearsing this piece perfectly going one way," explained a dancer, "the moment it's time to perform, it starts going the other way, and in real time we have to troubleshoot and do a complete piece in reverse." - BBC

Burt Bacharach Dead At 94

"One of the last of the great popular songwriters of the 20th century, ... he created songs that became standards in their own right. They were classy, catchy, commercial and musically complex, and scores of them became hits during a career that lasted more than 50 years." - BBC

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