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Want Happiness? Compete To Be An Also-Ran

Fortunately, there is a formula to solve this problem without unrealistically suggesting that we dispense entirely with our competitive urge: Instead of always going for gold, shoot for the bronze. - The Atlantic

Maxine Peake’s New Theatre Company Is Staging An Artists’ Dystopia In A Manchester Library

Kay Dick's 1977 novel They depicts a world in which any painter who creates beyond an official limit is blinded, any musician deafened, etc. Peake, an audience favorite in Britain, is co-founder of Maat (Music, Art, Activism and Theatre), which is translating the novel into live performance. - The Guardian

Chicago Reconsiders Its Public Monuments

So much for those romanticized images of noble Native Americans blissfully welcoming their European plunderers. Or, alternatively, attacking them. - Chicago Reader

The Chicago Symphony Brass Section Is A Hotbed Of Period Instruments (Who Knew?)

We're not talking valveless Baroque trumpets or 16th-century sacbuts, mind you, but several of the CSO's musicians are serious collectors of trumpets and trombones from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. And yes, they do use them in CSO concerts, and they do make a real difference. - Chicago Tribune

Virginia Johnson Joined Dance Theatre Of Harlem In 1969 As A Dancer. Now She’s Retiring As Artistic Director

"Those early years of Dance Theatre of Harlem were extremely — it was a lean time for us. It was a small company. We did a lot of bus and truck tours. We were going into small cities. People were thinking they were going to see the Harlem Globetrotters." - NPR

Actor Alan Arkin, 89

"(His) background in improvisation and knack for comic drama were cornerstones of his genre-hopping career that yielded enduring characters from the 1960s comedy The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming to Little Miss Sunshine and Argo" — for each of which he landed an Oscar nomination. - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)

In Some Cities, Libraries Are Remaking Themselves As Locations For Remote Workers

"In addition to resources such as free internet and printer access, they're building up offerings aimed at small-business owners and professionals, renovating to include more private work spaces and meeting rooms. Branches in some locations … have added cafes and turned rooftops into snazzy destinations." - MSN (The Washington Post)

In US Contemporary Dance Companies, The Leadership Is Largely Female: Dance Data Project

"Clearly, the contemporary and modern dance world offer far more leadership opportunities for women than classical dance. However, as noted in the first report, the budget size is orders of magnitude smaller." - Dance Data Project

If The Actors In SAG-AFTRA Go On Strike Next Week, This Is Why

"Despite tensions, guild leaders said that talks with the studios have been 'extremely productive.' But key differences remain, and the union is under heavy pressure from guild members to hold the line in bargaining. … Here are four key issues that the two sides are haggling over." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)

As The Legislative Session Ended, Oregon Lawmakers Shortchanged The Arts

"A 2023 session that began hopefully for the state's arts and cultural industries ended in deep disappointment, with many requests rejected outright or funded far below their target figures. The poor showing is especially disappointing in light of the huge impact of COVID on cultural venues and organizations." - Oregon Arts Watch

For The Second Time This Year, British Museum Workers Will Go On A Weeklong Strike

"Visitors services and security staff in the Public and Commercial Services union have announced that they will walk off the job July 11-16. The planned six-day strike is part of a larger dispute between the government and British trade unions representing civil servants over pay, pensions, and jobs." - Artnet

Union Accuses Philadelphia Museum of Art’s Management Of Reneging On Pay Raises In Contract

"Less than a year after a bitter, nearly three-week long strike, the (museum) and its workers are again locked in a dispute — this time over a raise due to go into effect Saturday. The disagreement involves a differing interpretation in contract language about longevity pay increases." - MSN (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

New Canadian Literary Press Launches

The press, which is entirely self-funded, at least for the time being, will focus on literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. - Toronto Star

Study: Intelligent People Take Longer To Solve Tough Problems

The study showed that "while people with higher intelligence scores solved the easy problems quicker, they took longer to solve the difficult ones, apparently because they spent more time inferring hidden rules before reaching the correct solution." - Big Think

History Told Through Families Rather Than -isms

Readers interested in isms—feudalism, imperialism, capitalism, etc.—won’t find these subjects explicitly discussed. Rather, the author addresses the faceless structures of human existence by writing about who advocated for and implemented them, and who benefited from or suffered under them. - Wall Street Journal

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