With a fine equivalent to a few days’ revenue and some marginal changes to its business practices, Live Nation will, more or less, plow ahead as the dominant force in live music. - The Los Angeles Times
“His working approach was that a literary agent should be a creative and business partner for writers — a relatively novel idea at the time that he launched the agency, in 1973. Writers House now has over 20 agents and 50 employees and represents hundreds of authors,” many of them very prominent indeed. - Publishers Weekly
Whatever happens on Oscar Sunday, I suspect that the two front-runners will share the spotlight in a spirit as companionable as it is competitive. - The New Yorker
The choice of Greg Greeley marks the first time in memory that Simon & Schuster had hired a CEO from outside the company. The 62-year-old Greeley succeeds Jonathan Karp, who announced last year that he was stepping down to found his own imprint. - AP
"What I find moving in these discussions is the intense yearning for a world that is more alive than secular scientists might think it is, a kind of seeking for a god that one suspects these scientists do not, at the same time, believe to exist." - The American Scholar
“The White House’s social media feed has issued a series of pumped-up videos that mix real Iran war explosions with movie action heroes, gaming footage and bone-crunching football tackles, leading critics like a top cleric of the U.S. Catholic Church to condemn a trivialization of deadly real-life conflict.” - AP
The fire will have obvious economic consequences for the city, particularly through the loss of businesses caught in and close to the fire. But the emotional effect of the fire will be felt by the city’s residents and visitors, particularly if the building lies in ruins indefinitely. - The Conversation
Art Gallery of Ontario deputy director and chief curator Julian Cox will leave his post this April after eight years in the role, marking the latest departure at the Toronto museum since it became embroiled in a controversy over a failed plan to acquire a work by Nan Goldin. - ARTnews
Roblox burgeoned during the COVID-19 pandemic; many of my students told me that their most cherished remote-learning memories were actually ditching Zoom classes to play Roblox together. - Psyche
GH Hardy believed there should be a strong aesthetic judgment in mathematics, drawing parallels with poetry, and argued that beauty is the first test of good mathematics. He went as far as to say that there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics. - Aeon
“The medium is facing a host of issues informed by global technological shifts and the financial dynamics of mounting a production anywhere. But let’s keep it focused. Hollywood — and, yes, American independent cinema — is staring down the barrel of a loaded gun.” - Vulture (MSN)
Independent bookshops are dangerous because they interrupt us. They do not optimise our curiosity. They derail it. Is that the reason why Germany’s culture commissioner, Wolfram Weimer, is now consulting the domestic intelligence agency before approving funds to bookshops? - The Guardian
For many loyal patrons, the question has become how to fill the void left by the cancellations and the impending two-year closing. - The New York Times
“The message I’m getting,” says the chief at one respected theatre in the British capital, “is that to come to London, hire a theater like ours, pay for the flights and accommodations for the U.S. creatives and casts, it still works out cheaper.” - The New York Times
Sales of nonfiction books in the UK and Ireland in 2025 were down 6% from the previous year, with revenue at its lowest since 2014. For quiz books, however, it was the best year since recordkeeping began in 1998; sales in 2025 were up by almost a quarter from 2024. - The Guardian
“The claim that ‘culture is above politics’ is never neutral,” reads one open letter in response to the Biennale’s announcement. “In the case of contemporary Russia, this formula has become a political instrument used to promote aggression and advance state agendas while disguising them behind the language of cultural exchange and dialogue.” - ARTnews
The show may not have been perfect, but it was a success: WNO has managed to get Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha onto a stage just two months after it left its longtime home. - The New York Times
“A statue of the Nubian god Apademak stands alone in the courtyard of Sudan’s National Museum, one of the few survivors of systematic looting amid a (civil war) that has developed into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.” - NBC News
“The Justice Department touted a tentative settlement of its antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Entertainment on Monday as a victory for consumers that would end an illegal monopoly over live events in America, but over two dozen states planned to keep fighting the companies in court.” - AP
Regulars who feel that the complex has been politicized and are now staying away miss what the Kennedy Center offered. But they’re not all staying home, and other performing arts institutions in and around D.C. are benefiting. - The New York Times
"What I find moving in these discussions is the intense yearning for a world that is more alive than secular scientists might think it is, a kind of seeking for a god that one suspects these scientists do not, at the same time, believe to exist." - The American Scholar
Roblox burgeoned during the COVID-19 pandemic; many of my students told me that their most cherished remote-learning memories were actually ditching Zoom classes to play Roblox together. - Psyche
GH Hardy believed there should be a strong aesthetic judgment in mathematics, drawing parallels with poetry, and argued that beauty is the first test of good mathematics. He went as far as to say that there is no permanent place in the world for ugly mathematics. - Aeon
What you lose in optimizing morality is the same thing you lose in maximizing your airline-mile spend. In other words, nothing quantifiable—but precisely the chance to escape quantification, to orient toward something that cannot be counted, predicted, analyzed. - The Point
“Glasgow is slowly becoming a hollow shadow of the thriving, radical and creatively edgy place it once was. ... If you’re a young creative person studying in Glasgow today, why would you stay here after graduation?” - The Guardian (UK)
“Our job is to ‘opportunity-make’ a space.’ … A lot of people think cultural development shouldn’t exist. There should be housing development, factory development and office development. But culture? What is that?” - Irish Times
For many loyal patrons, the question has become how to fill the void left by the cancellations and the impending two-year closing. - The New York Times
Regulars who feel that the complex has been politicized and are now staying away miss what the Kennedy Center offered. But they’re not all staying home, and other performing arts institutions in and around D.C. are benefiting. - The New York Times
“All these Palestinians told us that they thought the BBC would never run our film, and we really had to try and persuade them to talk to us because they didn’t and don’t trust the BBC.” The journalists were shocked to learn that the sources were correct. - Reveal
So says a new report, which “criticises the industry for failing to consider how it might adapt to better accommodate parents, with the result that many, in particular women, drop out.” - The Guardian (UK)
DOGE employees used ChatGPT to make their choices. “The prompt was simple: ‘Does the following relate at all to D.E.I.? Respond factually in less than 120 characters. Begin with ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’’ The results were sweeping, and sometimes bizarre.” - The New York Times
“The problem lies in a rotten, corporate family tree,” and the self-described nerds aren’t going to let anyone forget it. For instance, in one panel, “it’ll be much, much more about fascism than a steamy book panel usually would be.” - The Stranger (Seattle)
With a fine equivalent to a few days’ revenue and some marginal changes to its business practices, Live Nation will, more or less, plow ahead as the dominant force in live music. - The Los Angeles Times
The show may not have been perfect, but it was a success: WNO has managed to get Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha onto a stage just two months after it left its longtime home. - The New York Times
“The Justice Department touted a tentative settlement of its antitrust lawsuit against Ticketmaster and parent company Live Nation Entertainment on Monday as a victory for consumers that would end an illegal monopoly over live events in America, but over two dozen states planned to keep fighting the companies in court.” - AP
“History is repeating itself 70 years later, just in a different way. The government is ‘systematically trying to erase our history with the demonization of trans and non-binary community,’ Newbury said. ‘It has given itself license to hate.’” - Oregon ArtsWatch
“‘For McAllen, mariachi is like the Friday Night Lights of high school,’ said Anthony Medrano, a prominent San Antonio mariachi musician. ‘There’s pride in it.’” - The New York Times
The fire will have obvious economic consequences for the city, particularly through the loss of businesses caught in and close to the fire. But the emotional effect of the fire will be felt by the city’s residents and visitors, particularly if the building lies in ruins indefinitely. - The Conversation
Art Gallery of Ontario deputy director and chief curator Julian Cox will leave his post this April after eight years in the role, marking the latest departure at the Toronto museum since it became embroiled in a controversy over a failed plan to acquire a work by Nan Goldin. - ARTnews
“The claim that ‘culture is above politics’ is never neutral,” reads one open letter in response to the Biennale’s announcement. “In the case of contemporary Russia, this formula has become a political instrument used to promote aggression and advance state agendas while disguising them behind the language of cultural exchange and dialogue.” - ARTnews
“A statue of the Nubian god Apademak stands alone in the courtyard of Sudan’s National Museum, one of the few survivors of systematic looting amid a (civil war) that has developed into one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.” - NBC News
The museum today is focused on the fact that fewer visitors are coming now than before the pandemic, and the concern is legitimate. But the way back can’t be merely quantitative. - Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
An investigation by the Guardian found that UK museums hold more than 263,000 items of human remains from around the world, including whole skeletons, preserved bodies, such as Egyptian mummies, skulls, bones, skin, teeth, nails, scalps and hair. - The Guardian
The choice of Greg Greeley marks the first time in memory that Simon & Schuster had hired a CEO from outside the company. The 62-year-old Greeley succeeds Jonathan Karp, who announced last year that he was stepping down to found his own imprint. - AP
Independent bookshops are dangerous because they interrupt us. They do not optimise our curiosity. They derail it. Is that the reason why Germany’s culture commissioner, Wolfram Weimer, is now consulting the domestic intelligence agency before approving funds to bookshops? - The Guardian
Sales of nonfiction books in the UK and Ireland in 2025 were down 6% from the previous year, with revenue at its lowest since 2014. For quiz books, however, it was the best year since recordkeeping began in 1998; sales in 2025 were up by almost a quarter from 2024. - The Guardian
The SLF has been sharply critical of Amazon, arguing that it destabilises the book trade. In a statement reported by the Bookseller, it accused the company of seeking “to flood the market with fake AI-generated books, promoted by fake reviews, written by fake readers to the top of fake rankings”. - The Guardian
Ashley Ford needed “a reason to believe that giving myself over to a creative life didn’t also mean condemning myself to poverty and invisibility. What I needed was that constant source of air to turn my spark of creativity into a flame I could share with the world.” - Service 95
Whatever happens on Oscar Sunday, I suspect that the two front-runners will share the spotlight in a spirit as companionable as it is competitive. - The New Yorker
“The White House’s social media feed has issued a series of pumped-up videos that mix real Iran war explosions with movie action heroes, gaming footage and bone-crunching football tackles, leading critics like a top cleric of the U.S. Catholic Church to condemn a trivialization of deadly real-life conflict.” - AP
“The medium is facing a host of issues informed by global technological shifts and the financial dynamics of mounting a production anywhere. But let’s keep it focused. Hollywood — and, yes, American independent cinema — is staring down the barrel of a loaded gun.” - Vulture (MSN)
An emerging trend skews more classic Hollywood—directors, particularly those who might be considered auteurs for their well-defined aesthetic and storytelling style, have begun to matter just as much as the actors attached to them. - The Atlantic
The creators of some of the more politically compelling movies and TV shows of the past year have explored how being alive feels during a tumultuous period. They capture the atmosphere, the mood, the ambient existence of everyday people who are living through a transformative time in history. - The Atlantic
I don’t understand how anyone can say they’re anti something that’s potentially creative. If it’s not working for you today it could work for you a year from now. Soon conversations like that won’t even matter. It’s like discussing the Internet. It already is. - The Hollywood Reporter
“When the tanks entered Ukraine, Ratmansky gathered his artistic team and left for New York, severing ties with the Bolshoi and with Russia.” - New York Review of Books
“This is the frustration of working in the fine arts. The people who care about ballet, for example, care deeply. And most of those who don’t care think of ballet through stereotypes or quick hits of dancers on TikTok.” - The New York Times
“I feel as if I’m stretched a bit too far, but somehow in that stretch there’s a spark of creativity. There’s a place for outrage — sometimes outrage may be the most appropriate response to something happening in our world. But it’s more generative to approach these questions with curiosity and love.” - The Guardian
“Things gotta change, 100 percent,” Liu says. “I think the whole system’s got to scrap it and start over. The competition system and the setup just isn’t fit for consumption, honestly.” - The New York Times
“Calpulli Ocelocihuatl (is) one of roughly half-a-dozen Aztec dance groups active in San Jose. Other Aztec dance groups – some whose histories stretch back more than half a century — are also thriving along the West Coast, from Washington state down to Sacramento, Oakland, Salinas and San Diego.” - The Mercury News (San Jose)
Gentleman Jack, premiering this weekend at England’s Northern Ballet in Leeds, is Lopez Ochoa’s adaptation of a 2019 television series about Anne Lister, a 19th-century landowner considered to be one of the first modern lesbians known to us. - The New York Times
“The message I’m getting,” says the chief at one respected theatre in the British capital, “is that to come to London, hire a theater like ours, pay for the flights and accommodations for the U.S. creatives and casts, it still works out cheaper.” - The New York Times
The stranger-than-fiction truth is that Tarantino has written an original, old-fashioned British farce, in the door-slamming, trouser-dropping, mistaken identity vein of Brian Rix or Ray Cooney. - Daily Mail
So what’s an NYT theatre critic to do? “There are so many things beyond our control ... but somewhere amid all the hubbub, someone is making something, and you need to pay attention.” - The New York Times
“To me, a great protagonist for a musical is somebody who wants something so desperately, who is going to be relentless to the point of recklessness. … Alice lived until 1977. She was the author of the Equal Rights Amendment. She never stopped.” - Boston Globe
“Nearly 20% of Broadway theater tickets are now being purchased by solo attendees — double the rate from just a couple of years ago, according to audience data for the 2024-25 season from the Broadway League.” And one theater owner, ATG Entertainment, is tapping into that crowd with a “Solo Seats” initiative. - NPR
The Washington Post's theatre critic chair sits empty after layoffs, leaving D.C.'s robust theatre scene wondering who's watching—and whether anyone still cares. Local companies now face the existential question: make art for critics, or just make art? — American Theatre
“His working approach was that a literary agent should be a creative and business partner for writers — a relatively novel idea at the time that he launched the agency, in 1973. Writers House now has over 20 agents and 50 employees and represents hundreds of authors,” many of them very prominent indeed. -...
He started making videos of himself performing robust opera arias while standing outside on a car lot, wearing his name tag. He composed lyrics to describe the cars he was selling and put the videos on TikTok and Instagram. - Seattle Times
The self-taught Mosley's works “show as much concern for pure form as any modernist’s, and reflect the influence of Constantin Brancusi and Isamu Noguchi, two particular heroes, as well as that of pre-modern African tribal sculpture.” - The New York Times
“Anyone who laid eyes on a DC Comics cover from 1973 to 1983 was likely seeing an example of Ms. Wood’s work. She colored nearly every cover for the company, whether the image was for a horror title, a war comic or a superhero adventure.” - The New York Times
“A trained psychiatrist, Lobo Antunes wrote, … in an elaborate, metaphorical style that he called 'controlled delirium,' … more than 30 novels dealing with topics ranging from Portugal's battles in its former colonies to the dictatorship that ran the country and social ills such as drug addiction.” - AFP (Yahoo!)
Barbara Stauffacher Solomon brought the now-standard sans-serif font back from her studies in Basel in the early 1960s, when Americans were completely accustomed to traditional typefaces likes Times New Roman and Baskerville. She then became famous for her colorful designs, interior and exterior, for the new Sea Ranch community in California. - Artnet
March 19–21: Ukrainian Contemporary Music Festival returns to DiMenna Center for Classical Music to celebrate the rich diversity of Ukraine's peoples, places, and musical practices
“All these Palestinians told us that they thought the BBC would never run our film, and we really had to try and persuade them to talk to us because they didn’t and don’t trust the BBC.” The journalists were shocked to learn that the sources were correct. - Reveal
DOGE employees used ChatGPT to make their choices. “The prompt was simple: ‘Does the following relate at all to D.E.I.? Respond factually in less than 120 characters. Begin with ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’’ The results were sweeping, and sometimes bizarre.” - The New York Times
“‘For McAllen, mariachi is like the Friday Night Lights of high school,’ said Anthony Medrano, a prominent San Antonio mariachi musician. ‘There’s pride in it.’” - The New York Times
Many - most, even - of France's booksellers pulled out of . Then the organizers got Amazon to “mutually agree” to end its sponsorship. Who thought this was a good idea in the first place? - The Guardian (UK)
“The core problem has been ticket revenues, which were weakening even before the coronavirus pandemic shuttered its theater with a devastating financial impact. Box-office receipts last year were down $20 million from a decade earlier.” - The New York Times
“Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers returned her trophy, the president resigned and 16 members have quit — with more considering their position.” - The Hollywood Reporter
“Nelsons, 47, has become one of the most unfortunate symbols of all that is irresponsible about the overstretched, overtired, overindulged modern music director. It has been not only deeply frustrating, but genuinely sad, to witness his trajectory.” - The New York Times
Oh: “The push into artificial intelligence by Oracle creates a thirst for more insight into how people view news and entertainment and what products they buy online. The streaming channels and social media giant both offer greater and more granular information." - NPR
That is to say, people’s sweat had gotten all over Michelangelo’s masterpiece, and now it’s being cleaned off while the sweat accumulates on a screen. - Associated Press
“Construction is expected to continue for a decade or so, but The Guardian called it ‘nevertheless a day full of emotion for a city that has lived with Gaudí’s unfinished work for generations.’” - ART News
Wesley Morris: “Why wouldn’t I have wanted this? A six-episode show that’s exemplary as romance, as physical intimacy, as banter, as athlete psychology, as conversation, confession and comedy, as just good television that involves a few of my favorite things: sex, sports, men, ... So why? Let’s start with wariness.” - The New York Times
The broadcaster’s decision to end its long relationship with Lebrecht — the widely-read, controversial critic and blogger who has hosted several interview programs on Radio 3 over the years — comes after Wang made public a message from Lebrecht which she described as “derogatory misogynistic bullying.” - The Guardian
