“Plato decried the falsity of imitation of real life—called ‘mimesis’—specifically in the arts. ... What makes you ‘you’ or the world the ‘world’ if artists can just depict a facsimile and receive recognition from an audience?” - The Defector

"Put the Warners Bros. sale alongside the Oscars’ imminent move to YouTube, and the whole night carried with it a bittersweet fin de siècle air, as if it was being immortalized in retrospect even as it was happening.” - Vulture

“The Holly’s revival offers a case study in how a historic landmark can complement an existing arts ecosystem — strengthening downtown vitality while reconnecting a community to its past.” - Oregon ArtsWatch

The study of wisdom dates to antiquity, but only in the past 40 years have researchers begun to apply the scientific method to probe what wisdom is and how it develops. - Knowable

Where once there was a simple model that explained how dopamine works in the brain, now there are challenges that seek to amend the theory — or even to overturn it. - Nature

Understanding language as something defined by public use—rather than private intention—helps us grasp how simply scraping text from around the web and finding patterns in the way words fit together can form the basis for passably imitating a human. - Prospect

Tempting as it is to blame Trump for the Kennedy Center’s fate, he does not bear sole responsibility. The idea of a national arts center was always more of a noble dream than a reality. - The New Yorker

These proposals, the rush to realize them, the stacking of key oversight groups with Trump loyalists and flunkies and the collaboration of firms like Shalom Baranes Associates, have upended and effectively destroyed the process of design review — which has until now preserved Washington as a monumental, picturesque capital. - Washington Post

Visitors will discover that it’s a dramatically different place than a decade ago: lines of bikes and throngs of pedestrians where lanes were once jammed with cars, greenery encroaching on former pavement, summer swimming in the once-grimy Seine river — and a corresponding drop in air and water pollution. - Bloomberg

One of those statements was Musk “tweeting a poop emoji when then-Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal commented there was no way for external parties to calculate this information.” - Courthouse News

This feels like good news for creators: “‘I feel like the human mind is so beautiful,’ The Melty Way developer Gabriel Paquette told me. ‘Why not use it?’” (Archive Today link) - The Verge

“Early investment in race and gender studies ‘favored programs over departments,’ which has always made financing a tenuous proposition. And at the end of the day, even the highest minded universities stay beholden to bottom lines and trustees.” - LitHub

Yes, even if you’re not great at it (yet). "Make it up as you go along. If nobody else wants to sing, you sing. Be a zealot about keeping your instrument in tune but nothing else. Force yourself to write one new song a week.” - The New York Times

“Music wasn't something that was going to be a long-term thing. ‘I remember distinctly begging my mom for X amount of dollars to buy a certain drum kit and I was like, 'Mom, I'm not going to be in a rock band when I'm 30.’” - CBC

In just one example, "as the American composer Adrian Younge says: ‘Alice Coltrane took the harp, an instrument of angels and orchestras, and made it sound like the cosmos breathing.’” - The Guardian (UK)

“This new age of protest songs also call out politicians and administrations by name with hyper-specific lyrics, and they're often shared online within days of a big news event. .. That responsiveness and ‘clever’ lyricism likely also helps the songs resonate on social media.” - CBC

“WMG is home to some of today’s biggest stars including Dua Lipa, Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars, Charli XCX and Zach Bryan, along with longtime stalwarts including Madonna, Neil Young, Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell and many more.” - The Hollywood Reporter

A Caa1 is a credit rating that indicates very high credit risk and poor standing, often referred to as “junk” or “speculative” grade. It indicates that an organization is in danger of defaulting, though it is not yet in default. - OperaWire

The lawsuit seeks to have the White House and the Kennedy Center board comply with existing historic preservation laws and secure Congress' approval before moving ahead with the renovations. - NPR

I got the sense that the Whitney Biennial is hiding from the world today instead of reflecting on it. - Hyperallergic

One of the White House’s most compelling features has always been its domestic scale and ornamentation. In a city where architectural bombast has often been favored over architectural quality, the White House has stood apart for its grace and modesty.  - Chicago Tribune

“The seven story addition introduces three levels of gallery space that plug directly into existing floors. Not only does this create much needed airflow, it allows the museum to remain open during exhibition turnover.” - The Guardian (UK)

“The Moda Center has always been a candidate for upgraded design. Which is to say nothing of the 30-acre Rose Quarter property the arena is part of: an unequivocal urban-planning disaster. … The Rose Quarter needs radical reconstructive surgery even more than the arena.” - Oregon ArtsWatch

It’s “is a replica of one that protesters in Baltimore tore down and dumped into the city’s Inner Harbor in the summer of 2020. The statue’s marble pieces were retrieved from the harbor, and a Maryland artist used them to guide the creation of the replica." - The New York Times

Recently Barnes & Noble has tried to convince more publishers to publish paperback originals, particularly for YA and middle grade books. But choosing a format to please one vendor, no matter the size of that vendor, is limiting, especially when smaller indie bookstores run on such tight margins in the first place. - LitHub

A chatbot is not (or not yet) an individual, and therefore bears no moral responsibility, but to lay hold of what it delivers, and to pass it off as one’s own work, could be construed as handling stolen goods. - The New Yorker

"Quinn finds the guys (mostly guys) in television shows whose characters people fantasize about. It pays those guys to read original scripts that have explicit sex in them—often, as with Ember & Ice, stories that vaguely echo the original source material that the actor became famous for.” - Slate

"The Rutherford County Library Board voted ... to relocate more than 190 books, many involving LGBTQ+ themes, from children’s and teen sections to adult areas following a review of ‘age-appropriate’ materials” - and the library director refused.- The Advocate

Not like it’s making any worker rich (check the numbers), but at least they didn’t have to strike this time. “HarperCollins employees have had a union for over 80 years, and are currently the only major publisher in the US with a union.” - LitHub

Now: Which is better for authors and (or) for readers, hardcover books or trade paperbacks? - LitHub

"The Voice of America has been breaching the Constitutional and statutory rules that require that outlet not to push propaganda or censorship," one of the lead attorneys on the lawsuit, Norm Eisen, tells NPR. - NPR

For one thing, they met some of the Hail Mary crew on Solo. "We met Neal Scanlan and the creature shop team that we worked with to make Rocky, for example. We had such a great experience with them, making these aliens and robots together.” - The New York Times

Will this argument play? "Whether it is computer chips, the energy sector or pharmaceuticals, this is something that is standard in the United States. … In terms of our nation, Hollywood and its ability to tell the story of America, it is something worth saving.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

Shakespeare. Or rather, Hamnet’s Shakespeare, which is not quite the same thing. - Variety

Turns out dumpster diving in Los Angeles the day after the Oscars can be pretty, well, interesting. - The Guardian (UK)

The Seattle Times analyses Tow, claiming that “it’s the right story at the right time, speaking to a Seattle that’s grown increasingly unaffordable for many of its residents.” - Seattle Times

Port City Ballet Company in Halifax is currently in its first season, offering a full school program as well as professional performances (in the capital and throughout the province) and a living wage for Nova Scotia dancers at home. Founding artistic director Nova Johnstone talks about getting the company launched. (video) - CTV (Canada)

“The industry still has an obsession with ‘perfect’ feet. High arches have traditionally been praised in ballet, and some dancers today use farches (fake arches), which give the illusion that your foot is more bendy than it is, … (even though) flat-footed ballet professionals are out there and thriving.” - The Guardian

Four prominent dancemakers working in film and television discuss the current state of the industry. - Dance Magazine

“Josiah Enriquez (Pojoaque and Isleta pueblos, Navajo Nation) has been distinguishing himself on what is widely considered to be the most prominent stage in competitive hoop dancing — the Heard Museum’s annual World Championship Hoop Dance Contest in Phoenix — winning his third consecutive world title in February.” - Santa Fe New Mexican

“Peninsula Lively Arts and its subsidiary Peninsula Ballet Theatre are closing after six decades teaching and performing dance in San Mateo County, leaving a gaping hole in the local dance scene.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

The company’s end wasn’t planned, but it became necessary when its artistic director and co-founder, Tina Finkelman Berkett, decided to step back from her role, citing fundraising fatigue and a desire for change. - Los Angeles Times

Why? “Antigone isn’t wrestling with a prophecy. In her story, fate is what one powerless girl makes it, and right action is possible, as long as we don’t fear the consequences.” - The New York Times

Three and a half hours is the danger zone: the length of many an unabridged classic. The artists, too often, haven’t thought of the way time sits on our bodies and our minds. This is the play you’re most likely to feel restless in, like it has taken up too much of your day,...

“Since January, (Nataki Garrett), whose era-defining OSF term lasted just four years, has been at another helm as interim artistic director of San Francisco's African-American Shakespeare Company, and she's optimistic that this new appointment will be less troubled. For one thing, she no longer retains a security detail.” - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)

“Pittsburgh Public Theater, founded in 1975, and Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, founded in 1946, will cease to exist under the plan approved by their boards. … The new, as-yet-unnamed troupe plans to announce its inaugural programming this fall and debut in January. For now, the two groups will continue their planned seasons." - WESA...

Sara Holdren of New York magazine recounts how she went to review Every Brilliant Thing on Broadway and wound up as the star’s love interest. - New York Magazine (MSN)

“The former is the perfect excursion. If it’s a bad show, you’re not held hostage for long; if it’s good, you can bookend the night with a meal and a drink — or go home for an early night. … Stretch longer — five hours and beyond — and the entire shape of a...

Along with his happy student-teacher alliance with Hammerstein, the defining association of Sondheim’s life was his tortured relationship with the mother he described as a “monster,” among harsher words. - The Atlantic

Brendon said that “thousands of people had told him that helped them in hard times. ‘It just got them through, which means that this show is more than just dollars and cents,’ he said. ‘It’s something that needs to be honored.’” - The New York Times

An early profile of Jean Tinguley “defined an approach that informed the dozens of artist profiles he wrote for The New Yorker over the next 62 years … providing the magazine’s readers with a sophisticated guide to often arcane styles and -isms.” - The New York Times

The martial-arts grandmaster starred in more than 20 films, including Return of the Dragon, Missing in Action, and The Delta Force, as well as the TV series Walker, Texas Ranger. - AP

“The Oscar-winning U.S. actor has reached a confidential settlement with three British ‌men who had filed civil lawsuits at London's High ‌Court accusing him of sexual assault between 2000 and 2013. … Two of the claimants gave evidence during Spacey's 2023 criminal trial in London, where he was acquitted of all ‌charges.” - Reuters...

He wrote more than two dozen novels, from The ICPRESS File (1962) through Billion-Dollar Brain and the trilogies Berlin Game/Mexico Set/London Match (1980s) and Faith/Hope/Charity (1990s). He also wrote historical nonfiction, including a book about JFK’s assassination and Fighter: The True Story of the Battle of Britain. - AP