Today's Stories

Japanese City Cancels Major Cherry-Blossom Festival Because Tourists Behave So Badly

City officials in Fujiyoshida, not far from Mount Fuji, said residents had been littering, entering private homes to use the bathroom, and even defecating in people’s yards and getting belligerent when confronted. The weeks-long event had attracted about 200,000 visitors each year for the past decade. - The Guardian

How Typists Have Shaped Literary Masterpieces

The typewriter, from its birth, has been tied to a set of assumptions about gender and skill. These assumptions persist to the present and color our cultural understanding of typists’ labor. - Public Domain Review

“& Juliet” — How A Jukebox Shakespeare Musical That Flopped In Britain Became An Unlikely Broadway Hit

“Today, (after almost four years in New York,) the musical is still packing in crowds, a feat for a show that isn’t a revival or a movie adaptation and lacks big stars or Tony wins. It’s ... one of only four new musicals since the pandemic to recoup their investments.” - Variety

San Francisco’s Top Arts Official Retires As Mayor Rethinks Arts Policy

The exit, announced Monday, Feb. 2, comes just days after Mayor Daniel Lurie posted a job description for an executive director of arts and culture to oversee all three of the city's arts agencies, which includes Grants for the Arts and the Film Commission, in addition to SFAC. - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo)

What Trump’s Kennedy Center Fiasco Shows Us Abut MAGA’s Culture Wars

What’s even fascinating is what this whole debacle tells us about the MAGA movement as a whole, and how Trump is the perfect symbol for their failed culture war aspirations. - Salon

Whitewashing History In Philadelphia

To many Philadelphians who having been coming daily ever since to leave protest messages, it felt like an attack on a hard-won monument, and even on the city itself. Within hours of the removal, the city filed a lawsuit in federal court contesting it. - The New York Times

Pianist And Conductor Tamás Vásáry Has Died At 92

“The Hungarian pianist … was one of the finest interpreters of Liszt and Chopin in the second half of the 20th century. He also achieved renown as a sensitive and insightful conductor, eventually combining both roles to direct many of the world’s leading orchestras … from the keyboard.” - The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!)

We Think Cooperation Is The Ideal. In Fact A little Deceit Might Be Good

We evolved not to cooperate or compete, but with the capacity for both – and with the intelligence to hide competition when it suits us, or to cheat when we’re likely to get away with it. Cooperation is consequently something we need to promote, not presume. - Aeon

Reimagining Shakespeare In Shanghai

Instead of Venice and Cyprus, Shakespeare’s setting for “Othello,” the Shanghai version takes place on an island at the mouth of the Yangtze River, where an American has been hired to help fight the Taiping rebellion, a bloody revolt in the 19th century. - The New York Times

The Muppets Were On Top. Then Decades Of Bad Business Decisions Toppled Their Popularity. Can They Rise Again?

The characters have survived a cruel decade defined largely by false starts, aborted projects and creative in-fighting. - The Wrap (MSN)

Enormous Challenges For Disney’s New CEO

The entertainment industry is in flux, and Disney will need someone with a deft hand if it is to survive and thrive. The business is consolidating around just a few superpowers, many of whom have the luxury of giant tech businesses to fall back on (see: Google and Amazon). - The Wrap (MSN)

Something Is Not Working In Sacramento’s Arts

This struggle, we have found, applies across the board and includes live music venues, theater groups, performance arts, galleries, and does not discriminate between small and new or legacy organizations. But sometimes we don’t miss something until it’s gone. - CapRadio

An Ambitious Project To Document Dance

The ambitious project was five years in the making and culled street dance resources from a wide-ranging array of sources spanning mediums. - Fjord Review

Farewell To The Mass-Market Paperback Book

First introduced in the 1930s, mass-market books (once called “pulps”) sold in huge quantities for decades. Yet sales have been slowly-but-steadily sinking since the 1990s, displaced by ebooks and (more expensive) trade paperbacks, and the wire racks filled with the inexpensive titles in supermarkets, drugstores, and the like have almost disappeared. - The New York Times

Los Angeles To Host Major New Jazz Festival

Concert promoter and former city councilman Martin Ludlow always wondered why a city full of excellent musicians had no equivalent of the big jazzfests in New Orleans, Montreux, and Montreal. So, starting this August, he’s putting on the LA Jazz Festival, hoping to draw 250,000 fans over 25 days. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

Minnesota Orchestra Reports Record Earned Revenue — And $4.2 Million Deficit

In fiscal year 2025, earned revenue (ticket sales, hall rentals, concessions) reached a record high of $12.1 million. Orchestra Hall reached 82% paid capacity, up almost nine points. Nevertheless, the season ended with a $4.2 million operating loss, compared with a $3.8 million deficit the previous fiscal year. - Twin Cities Pioneer Press

“Great American State Fair” To Replace Smithsonian Folklife Festival On National Mall This Summer

The Folklife Festival normally brings artisans and performers from various spots to the Mall for several weeks. This year, the Smithsonian says it will present mini-versions of the Festival around the country, while the Mall will host a state-fair-style gathering with pavilions from each state and territory. - The New York Times

Buffalo AKG Art Museum Gave Its Director A Low-Interest $335K Loan For A House. It Hasn’t Been Repaid.

“Janne Sirén, director … since 2013, used a museum loan to help finance a $710,000 home — more than half of which remains unpaid, including accrued interest, according to a state review.” - ARTnews

Newspaper Bloodbath Continues As Atlanta Journal-Constitution Lays Of 15% Of Its Staff

“About 50 AJC employees (will) be losing their jobs, with about half of the cuts coming from the newsroom.” - SaportaReport (Atlanta)

Washington Post Lays Off Art Critic Sebastian Smee And Entire Photography Staff

All eight of the paper’s in-house photographers have lost their jobs, as has the Pulitzer Prize winner Smee, who has been with the Post for eight years. His colleague Philip Kennicott (another Pulitzer laureate) will remain on staff. - Hyperallergic

By Topic

We Think Cooperation Is The Ideal. In Fact A little Deceit Might Be Good

We evolved not to cooperate or compete, but with the capacity for both – and with the intelligence to hide competition when it suits us, or to cheat when we’re likely to get away with it. Cooperation is consequently something we need to promote, not presume. - Aeon

Boosterism? Why, It Made America What It Is Today!

“Boosters don’t describe real things so much as what they hope will become real things, often presenting growth as inevitable and betting on optimism as a viable economic strategy. Perhaps unsurprisingly, boosterism has played a major role in American history. … The harsh truth is, boosterism sometimes works.” - Quartz

The Difference Between Human Hierarchies And Other Primate Hierarchies

Evolutionary anthropologist Thomas Morgan: “People can be coercive, but unlike other species, we also create hierarchies of prestige – voluntary arrangements that allocate labor and decision-making power according to expertise.” - The Conversation

Did Plato Espouse Ideas Leading To Totalitarianism?

In his massive The Open Society and Its Enemies—published just before his return to Europe in 1945—Popper in effect identifies Plato not just as the father of western philosophy, but also the father of the forces that had wrought the gulags and the gas chambers. - The American Scholar

How The Arts Sector May Be Misreading The AI Revolution

"The sector is responding to AI as if it were a tool to be adopted responsibly within existing organisational life, often through skills development, guidance, and policy, rather than an environmental shift that invalidates many of its default ways of deciding, governing, and acting." - Tammy Lee (LinkedIn)

How GenZ Is Using AI

Our survey reveals that Gen Z’s relationship with AI is more pragmatic than personal. While headlines suggest young people treat chatbots as confidants and companions, the data tell a different story. - Harvard Business Review

Japanese City Cancels Major Cherry-Blossom Festival Because Tourists Behave So Badly

City officials in Fujiyoshida, not far from Mount Fuji, said residents had been littering, entering private homes to use the bathroom, and even defecating in people’s yards and getting belligerent when confronted. The weeks-long event had attracted about 200,000 visitors each year for the past decade. - The Guardian

San Francisco’s Top Arts Official Retires As Mayor Rethinks Arts Policy

The exit, announced Monday, Feb. 2, comes just days after Mayor Daniel Lurie posted a job description for an executive director of arts and culture to oversee all three of the city's arts agencies, which includes Grants for the Arts and the Film Commission, in addition to SFAC. - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo)

What Trump’s Kennedy Center Fiasco Shows Us Abut MAGA’s Culture Wars

What’s even fascinating is what this whole debacle tells us about the MAGA movement as a whole, and how Trump is the perfect symbol for their failed culture war aspirations. - Salon

Whitewashing History In Philadelphia

To many Philadelphians who having been coming daily ever since to leave protest messages, it felt like an attack on a hard-won monument, and even on the city itself. Within hours of the removal, the city filed a lawsuit in federal court contesting it. - The New York Times

Something Is Not Working In Sacramento’s Arts

This struggle, we have found, applies across the board and includes live music venues, theater groups, performance arts, galleries, and does not discriminate between small and new or legacy organizations. But sometimes we don’t miss something until it’s gone. - CapRadio

“Great American State Fair” To Replace Smithsonian Folklife Festival On National Mall This Summer

The Folklife Festival normally brings artisans and performers from various spots to the Mall for several weeks. This year, the Smithsonian says it will present mini-versions of the Festival around the country, while the Mall will host a state-fair-style gathering with pavilions from each state and territory. - The New York Times

Los Angeles To Host Major New Jazz Festival

Concert promoter and former city councilman Martin Ludlow always wondered why a city full of excellent musicians had no equivalent of the big jazzfests in New Orleans, Montreux, and Montreal. So, starting this August, he’s putting on the LA Jazz Festival, hoping to draw 250,000 fans over 25 days. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

Minnesota Orchestra Reports Record Earned Revenue — And $4.2 Million Deficit

In fiscal year 2025, earned revenue (ticket sales, hall rentals, concessions) reached a record high of $12.1 million. Orchestra Hall reached 82% paid capacity, up almost nine points. Nevertheless, the season ended with a $4.2 million operating loss, compared with a $3.8 million deficit the previous fiscal year. - Twin Cities Pioneer Press

Bruce Springsteen’s Protest Song In The Age Of Digital Spread

What distinguishes Streets of Minneapolis is not just its fidelity to the tradition of the protest song, but its mode of circulation as a rapid response in the digital age. - The Conversation

What Gustavo Dudamel Told Domingo Hindoyan About L.A.

Dudamel is the outgoing music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic; Hindoyan is the incoming music director of Los Angeles Opera; they have known each other since their youth in Venezuela. “His advice was,” said Hindoyan, “L.A. will follow your imagination ... push boundaries. L.A. will follow.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

This Opera Lampooning Trump Features Zombies, Vampires, And A Libretto By A Nobel Prizewinner

Elfriede Jelinek, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize for Literature, and composer Olga Neuwirth, who received the 2022 Grawemeyer Award, have created Monster’s Paradise — now premiering at the Hamburg Opera — with an Ubu-like President-King who looks very familiar and gets eaten by the monster Gorgonzilla. (Yes, there are also zombies and vampires.)...

Too Close To Home: Philip Glass’ Lincoln Symphony

The specific outrages Lincoln recounts—lynchings, burnings, mob executions—belong to his era. But his insight is structural. The deepest danger of mob law, Lincoln explains, lies not in the immediate violence but in the example it sets. - The New Republic

Buffalo AKG Art Museum Gave Its Director A Low-Interest $335K Loan For A House. It Hasn’t Been Repaid.

“Janne Sirén, director … since 2013, used a museum loan to help finance a $710,000 home — more than half of which remains unpaid, including accrued interest, according to a state review.” - ARTnews

Washington Post Lays Off Art Critic Sebastian Smee And Entire Photography Staff

All eight of the paper’s in-house photographers have lost their jobs, as has the Pulitzer Prize winner Smee, who has been with the Post for eight years. His colleague Philip Kennicott (another Pulitzer laureate) will remain on staff. - Hyperallergic

Crypto Investors Pay $300K To Create Gold Trump Statue

At 15 feet tall, the statue of President Trump, mounted on its 7,000-pound pedestal, is about the height of a two-story building — a giant effigy cast in bronze and finished with a thick layer of gold leaf. - The New York Times

Critics Hate Proposed Plans For British Museum Spruce-Up

New security buildings in the grounds of the British Museum would look "too flashy" and resemble "a shop and wine bar", opponents to the plans have said. - BBC

Michelangelo And Titian: A Contemporary Odd Couple

The two men couldn’t have been more different. Titian was a painter while Michelangelo, though renowned both as a painter and a sculptor, saw himself exclusively as the latter. They lived hundreds of miles apart—the former in Venice, the latter in Florence and Rome—and inhabited vastly different aesthetic universes. - The Wall Street Journal

Philadelphia Museum Of Art Reverses Its Disastrous Rebrand

The decision, it said, reflects “the recommendations of an interdisciplinary task force of museum trustees and staff, which examined the process and rollout of the rebrand, and commissioned surveys of museum staff, trustees, members, and the Philadelphia-area public.” - ARTnews

How Typists Have Shaped Literary Masterpieces

The typewriter, from its birth, has been tied to a set of assumptions about gender and skill. These assumptions persist to the present and color our cultural understanding of typists’ labor. - Public Domain Review

Reimagining Shakespeare In Shanghai

Instead of Venice and Cyprus, Shakespeare’s setting for “Othello,” the Shanghai version takes place on an island at the mouth of the Yangtze River, where an American has been hired to help fight the Taiping rebellion, a bloody revolt in the 19th century. - The New York Times

Farewell To The Mass-Market Paperback Book

First introduced in the 1930s, mass-market books (once called “pulps”) sold in huge quantities for decades. Yet sales have been slowly-but-steadily sinking since the 1990s, displaced by ebooks and (more expensive) trade paperbacks, and the wire racks filled with the inexpensive titles in supermarkets, drugstores, and the like have almost disappeared. - The New York...

Newspaper Bloodbath Continues As Atlanta Journal-Constitution Lays Of 15% Of Its Staff

“About 50 AJC employees (will) be losing their jobs, with about half of the cuts coming from the newsroom.” - SaportaReport (Atlanta)

A.O. Scott Annotates The Court Order Freeing The Five-Year-Old Held By ICE

“Judge Biery’s decision … is much more than dry judicial reasoning. It’s a passionate, erudite, at times mischievous piece of prose. … In fewer than 500 words, Judge Biery marshals literature, history, folk wisdom and Scripture to challenge the theory of executive power that has defined Trump’s second presidency.” - The New York Times

Why Boys Are Worse At Reading At Every Grade

Test score data presents averages. Many girls struggle to read, and many boys excel at it. But overall, boys are about three-quarters of a year behind girls in reading in fourth grade, and roughly a year behind in 12th grade. - The New York Times

The Muppets Were On Top. Then Decades Of Bad Business Decisions Toppled Their Popularity. Can They Rise Again?

The characters have survived a cruel decade defined largely by false starts, aborted projects and creative in-fighting. - The Wrap (MSN)

Enormous Challenges For Disney’s New CEO

The entertainment industry is in flux, and Disney will need someone with a deft hand if it is to survive and thrive. The business is consolidating around just a few superpowers, many of whom have the luxury of giant tech businesses to fall back on (see: Google and Amazon). - The Wrap (MSN)

Netflix CEO Goes To Testify Before Congress; A Culture War Ensues

He ended up spending much of his time before the Judiciary subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy, and Consumer Rights pushing back against accusations from Republican senators that the streamer is politically biased. - NBC

Amazon Pulls “Melania” From Movie Theatre After Cheeky Marquee Promotion

It all started with a joke on a movie marquee: “To defeat your enemy, you must know them. ‘Melania’ starts Friday.” - Seattle Times

Sony Spent $457 Million To Buy The “Peanuts” Franchise. Now What Will The Conglomerate Do With It?

It’s going to “leverage the iconic IP across music, film and global distribution platforms,” as one would expect. On the music side, this means “integrating Peanuts characters and storylines into the company’s music, video and live event offerings;” the film/TV side intends to “broaden the franchise’s reach” worldwide. - Variety

Former Muppets Exec Sues Jim Henson Company

"Jason Lust, a former senior executive … who helped shepherd some of The Jim Henson Company's most successful modern movies and TV series, … filed the lawsuit last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court, asserting breach of contract. The complaint … seeks at least $7.5 million in damages.” - TheWrap (MSN)

An Ambitious Project To Document Dance

The ambitious project was five years in the making and culled street dance resources from a wide-ranging array of sources spanning mediums. - Fjord Review

30th Anniversary Performance Of Michael Flatley’s “Lord Of The Dance” Canceled And Then Uncanceled At Last Minute

Amidst ongoing lawsuits between Flatley, creator of the Irish step-dancing spectacle, and Switzer Consulting, whom he contracted to manage the show’s touring operations, Switzer announced on Tuesday morning that it was canceling the Thursday event in Dublin, leading Flatley to rush to court for an emergency injunction. - Press Association (UK) (Yahoo!)

Alvin Ailey Company Gets Dedicated $10 Million Endowment For Artistic Director

Daria L. Wallach, a retired financier and the chair of the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation’s board of directors, and her husband are the donors. - The New York Times

Ukraine Punishes Two Prominent Ballet Dancers For Performing In “Swan Lake” Abroad

“The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture slammed Serhiy Kryvokon and Natalia Matsak’s performance as ‘promoting the cultural product of the aggressor state’. The National Opera of Ukraine cancelled Kryvokon’s next scheduled performance – as well as his exemption from compulsory military service and permission to travel.” - The Spectator

Was Alexei Ratmansky’s New Ballet Inspired By Trump? Not Exactly.

The choreographer had the idea for The Naked King, based on the old fable “The Emperor’s New Clothes” and premiering this week at New York City Ballet, after watching one of last year’s “No Kings” protests. - The New York Times

Even In These Terrible Times, A Maine Arts Program For Immigrants Persists

“Before I started my dancing, I wasn’t really close to my culture. I was really into the Western stuff. … Then as I got into dancing, I kind of learned how beautiful my culture is and how important and meaningful it is to me.” - The New York Times

“& Juliet” — How A Jukebox Shakespeare Musical That Flopped In Britain Became An Unlikely Broadway Hit

“Today, (after almost four years in New York,) the musical is still packing in crowds, a feat for a show that isn’t a revival or a movie adaptation and lacks big stars or Tony wins. It’s ... one of only four new musicals since the pandemic to recoup their investments.” - Variety

Audiences Singing Along At Broadway Musicals — Is It Getting Out Of Hand?

"Encouraging audience enthusiasm while upholding basic theater etiquette has become a tricky balance, but attracting fans itching to sing along is also a badge of popularity. … Where people draw the line on what’s “too crazy” may be the animating question of our time.” - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)

“Resistance Theater” Spreads As Trump’s Second Term Goes On

“The Unquiet series, organized by Sara Candela, a poet, is part of a larger movement in which artists, writers and theater groups across the country are creating work in response to the Trump administration’s attacks on arts and their communities.” - The Guardian

Founder Of Chicago’s Invictus Theatre “Steps Away” Following Accusations Of Bullying

The company’s board said that there will be a third-party investigation into social media allegations that founder/artistic director Charles Askenaizer engaged in aggressive behavior during rehearsals. Last week, in solidarity with the accuser, four actors dropped out of Askenaizer’s now-postponed staging of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. - Chicago Tribune

New Artistic Director For Baltimore’s Everyman Theatre

Brandon Weinbrenner, currently the associate artistic director at the Alley Theatre in Houston, will succeed Vincent Lancisi, who is stepping down at the end of the season from the troupe that he founded 35 years ago. - The Baltimore Sun (MSN)

Why Some Theatre Critics Hate Contemporary Musicals

“Since the gargantuan success of Hamilton, … Broadway productions have leaned in to liberal identity politics as their state ideology, favoring ‘message musicals’ (like the women’s suffrage show Suffs) and casting stunts (an all-female 1776) that marry liberal identity politics with the genre’s emotional sincerity.” - The Paris Review

Pianist And Conductor Tamás Vásáry Has Died At 92

“The Hungarian pianist … was one of the finest interpreters of Liszt and Chopin in the second half of the 20th century. He also achieved renown as a sensitive and insightful conductor, eventually combining both roles to direct many of the world’s leading orchestras … from the keyboard.” - The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!)

The Blazing Avant-Garde Theater Actress Who Up And Disappeared

Libby Howes came to New York in 1975 and fell in with The Wooster Group. Her work there thrilled viewers, and Helen Shaw was blown away just by old film of Howes performing. But in 1981, after a psychotic break, she disappeared. Shaw investigated what became of her. - The New York Times

Author Neil Gaiman Breaks Silence To Insist That Sexual Assault Allegations Are “Completely And Simply Untrue”

The accusations were made in 2024 podcast from Tortoise Media and a New York magazine article early in 2025; several media adaptations of Gaiman’s books were consequently dropped. His new statement calls the allegations a “smear campaign” and says that the evidence he has to refute them has been dismissed or ignored. - Variety

New Federal Theatre Founder Woodie King Jr. Is Dead At 88

King launched the Off-Broadway company in 1970 to produce work by Black playwrights and give employment to Black theatermakers. Playwrights Ntozake Shange, Charles Fuller, and David Henry Hwang launched their careers there; NFT gave early boosts to performers Denzel Washington, Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen, Morgan Freeman, Chadwick Boseman, and Samuel L. Jackson. - AP

Demond Wilson, Who Played The Long-Suffering Son On Sanford And Son, Has Died At 79

“When Mr. Wilson landed the role of Lamont, he was only in his mid-20s, a theater veteran but a newcomer to the screen. The show was a hit” — and Wilson, playing the straight man to Redd Foxx’s cantankerous star, was also a hit. - The New York Times

Canadian Legend Catherine O’Hara, Of Schitt’s Creek, Best In Show, And Home Alone, Dead At 71

“Though Big Hollywood roles didn't follow Home Alone's success, O'Hara would find her groove with the crew of improv pros brought together by Guest for a series of mockumentaries that began with 1996's Waiting for Guffman.” - CBC

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The Illinois Symphony Orchestra seeks Director of Development.

The next Director of Development will lead all fundraising efforts for the Illinois Symphony Orchestra to strengthen the ISO’s visibility and supporter relationships.

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Seeking Chief Marketing & Communications Officer with experience in the Performing Arts nonprofit industry

Seattle Theatre Group (STG) is seeking an experienced, innovative Chief Marketing and Communications Officer (CMCO). The CMCO is a vital member of STG's senior leadership.

New York Theatre Ballet seeks Managing Director

Managing Director opportunity at NYTB, leading growth, operations, partnerships, governance, and teams, delivering expansion, innovation, and compliance across the dance community.

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The Columbia Museum of Art (CMA), in Columbia, South Carolina, an AAM-accredited institution, seeks an Executive Director to build upon its 75-year legacy.

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The Carmel Bach Festival (CBF) seeks a dynamic and results-oriented Director of Development.

The McCallum Theatre seeks Vice President—General Manager

The McCallum Theatre seeks Vice President—General Manager. Salary range is between $170,000 and $185,000.

Classic Stage Company seeks General Manager

Classic Stage Company seeks General Manager. Salary is $90,000. Expected state date is mid-March.

A.O. Scott Annotates The Court Order Freeing The Five-Year-Old Held By ICE

“Judge Biery’s decision … is much more than dry judicial reasoning. It’s a passionate, erudite, at times mischievous piece of prose. … In fewer than 500 words, Judge Biery marshals literature, history, folk wisdom and Scripture to challenge the theory of executive power that has defined Trump’s second presidency.” - The New York Times

This Opera Lampooning Trump Features Zombies, Vampires, And A Libretto By A Nobel Prizewinner

Elfriede Jelinek, winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize for Literature, and composer Olga Neuwirth, who received the 2022 Grawemeyer Award, have created Monster’s Paradise — now premiering at the Hamburg Opera — with an Ubu-like President-King who looks very familiar and gets eaten by the monster Gorgonzilla. (Yes, there are also zombies and vampires.)...

Washington Post Begins Sweeping Layoffs, Drops Sports and Books Sections

“Executive Editor Matt Murray … said the Post will shutter its sports desk, while keeping some sports writers who will write feature stories. It will likewise close its Books section and suspend the signature podcast Post Reports. The international desk will shrink dramatically,” as will the Metro desk. - NPR

Three Men From Oscar-Nominated Documentary Moved To Solitary In Alabama Prison

“Family members of the three men said they fear for their loved ones’ safety and are concerned the moves to solitary confinement are a form of retaliation for outspokenness about problems within the prison system.” - The Guardian (UK)

After Numerous Artist Cancellations, Trump Says He’s Closing The Kennedy Center For Years For Renovations

Trump wrote on Truth Social that “he would shut it down this summer, on July 4, arguing that a dramatic step was necessary to safeguard one of Washington’s most treasured cultural institutions.” - The New York Times

The Latest ‘Restoration’ Scandal Is An Angel Possibly Painted To Resemble The Italian Prime Minister

“Italy’s culture minister and the diocese of Rome have launched investigations after claims were made that an angel in a landmark church in Rome was restored in the likeness of the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.” - The Guardian (UK)

How The Kennedy Center Forced The National Opera Out With Economics

The “uniquely American” model of funding opera meant that the National Opera had to leave, thanks to “a new mandate set forth by the Kennedy Center that every performance break even through only ticket sales and corporate sponsorships.” - The New York Times

Even In These Terrible Times, A Maine Arts Program For Immigrants Persists

“Before I started my dancing, I wasn’t really close to my culture. I was really into the Western stuff. … Then as I got into dancing, I kind of learned how beautiful my culture is and how important and meaningful it is to me.” - The New York Times

Neil Young Has Given His Entire Catalogue Of Music To Greenland

Young wrote: "My music will never be available on Amazon, as long as it is owned by Bezos. … I think the message I am sending is important and clear. Thanks for buying music locally and from independent digital services.” - Rolling Stone

Layoffs Thrust Boston Museum Of Fine Art Firmly Into A Credibility Crisis

“Against the backdrop of the Trump administration’s targeting of DEI policy at universities and cultural institutions and expanding ICE raids, the layoffs are causing a community-wide crisis of confidence that good faith is guiding leadership at one of Boston’s leading art institutions.” - Boston Art Review

Canadian Legend Catherine O’Hara, Of Schitt’s Creek, Best In Show, And Home Alone, Dead At 71

“Though Big Hollywood roles didn't follow Home Alone's success, O'Hara would find her groove with the crew of improv pros brought together by Guest for a series of mockumentaries that began with 1996's Waiting for Guffman.” - CBC

The Real Oral History Of The Sundance Festival In Park City

“The sweetest, spiciest and most shocking Sundance stories are ones you don’t hear at Q&As inside the Eccles or Egyptian. … Who better to rewind the times than a group of filmmakers who had their lives changed by what went down during America’s most consequential gathering of independent film insiders?” - The Hollywood Reporter

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