Unity, cohesion, and a sense of epic narrative have been lost. Freedom, pluralism, sensitivity, and a respect for difference have been gained, and, overall, I am glad. - History Today

Behavioral economics has identified dozens of cognitive biases that stop us from acting ‘rationally’. But instead of building up a messier and messier picture of human behavior, we need a new model. - Works in Progress

If we consider literacy not as the ability to parse simple sentences but as the capacity to comprehend and enjoy complex texts, and ultimately as a sensibility that approaches the world itself as a text that requires interpretation, it’s obvious we live in an unprecedented decline of what neuroscientist Maryanne Wolf calls “deep literacy.” - Baffler

With the Internet of Things, and more broadly the layering of networked computers into every interaction, the function of almost anything, or the availability of any service, can be made contingent on the provider and the customer keeping a good relationship, subject to terms of service set unilaterally, revocable at will. - Commonplace

Now that so many of us say that we mistrust or distrust things like Big Pharma and the government, we need to think about what the consequences of a breakdown in institutional trust would be. - Psyche

What A.I. imperils is not human creativity itself but the ability to make a living from creative endeavor. - The New York Times

The history of Montréal’s night-time regulation reveals how managing nightlife expanded police power and budgets — and how burdensome effects of these changes fell disproportionately on sex workers, the queer community and hospitality industry workers. - The Conversation

“It was such a surprise to me when they said we’re going to rename it,” she recounted in a phone interview. “I said, ‘Oh my gosh,’ and pushed my button. But then I was muted.” - The New York Times

“The Japanese conglomerate has bought 41% of Peanuts Holdings, which owns the intellectual property Schulz created, from the Canadian children’s entertainment company WildBrain (for C$630 million/US$458 million). The deal raises Sony’s total stake, which it began building in 2018, to 80%. The Schulz family owns the remaining 20%.” - The Guardian

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced the "Trump-Kennedy Center" name changer earlier Thursday after a board that the president handpicked earlier this year voted unanimously to rename the performing arts venue. - Axios

“Most nonprofits that lost promised funding after the city of San Antonio ended a grant program to protect federal dollars are getting money back this month through a new, similar initiative. Still, most awards are several thousand dollars less than before, and one organization — the Network for Young Artists — received nothing.” - San Antonio...

As the world becomes more digital, more "optimized", and more isolated, the value of embodied, shared, human experience increases, not decreases. And we’re already seeing the backlash begin. - Blair Russell

Music has a variety of “jobs,” as the other arts do. It can calm, soothe, and delight. It can also provoke, disturb, bite. No one expects the other arts to be beautiful and soothing, only. (Think of theater!) But some people have that expectation of music. - Plough

The June event, formerly the 96-Hour Opera festival, is being expanded and rechristened as the NOW Festival (New Opera Works), with well-known librettist and director Tazewell Thompson as artistic advisor. - EarRelevant

Rather than serve the public’s curiosities, he said, he wants to serve artists—to give them “a place for them to learn a little bit more about themselves.” - The Atlantic

Those worries are being deepened by how the major labels, once fearful of the technology, are now embracing it – and heralding a future in which ordinary listeners have a hand in co-creating music with their favourite musicians. - The Guardian

 In an ever-changing and fast-paced attention economy, musicians hustled to put out records, connect with listeners and demand accountability from some of the industry's biggest power players. - NPR

“Billboard uses an outdated formula that weights subscription-supported streams higher than ad-supported. This doesn’t reflect how fans engage with music today and ignores the massive engagement from fans who don’t have a subscription.” - TechCrunch

After years of “fast-casual architecture” — blocky, drab grey hulks clad in relentless grid façades which look all the worse next to the city’s fine old brick rowhouses — architects in Philadelphia are getting back in touch with the craft of bricklaying and getting away from straight lines. - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

Behind the walkout are not only frayed labor relations, but a building itself under strain, with crumbling parts of the aging former palace now deemed unsafe. At the heart of the crisis lies a deeper rupture: a $102 million jewel heist that exposed security failures. - APNews

“Dr. Nicholas Cullinan, the British Museum director, told The Telegraph that the project would be a ‘new model’ for working with countries seeking redress for colonialism, with former nations of the empire welcome to strike long-term deals for artefacts held in Britain.” - The Telegraph (UK)

“The decision was taken during a general assembly of museum workers, who voted unanimously to pause the strike to allow the museum to welcome visitors. … The suspension followed five meetings with Culture Ministry officials but said progress remains insufficient, particularly on staffing levels, pay and long-term security plans.” - AP

As trends go, one can only hope the style spreading through US museum design today will eventually fall out of fashion. All forms of creativity could use moments of self-reflection; perhaps it is time some museum architecture has its own. - The Art Newspaper

The newly updated renderings follow news announced last year that the studio led by Pritzker-prize-winning architect Diébédo Francis Kéré is designing the building, which will be located in a former parking lot in the Symphony Park area of Downtown Las Vegas. SOM is the architect of record. - Dezeen

A recent report from NielsenIQ found that trade nonfiction sales have slipped sharply. In volume terms, the category is down 8.4% between last summer and the same period this year – nearly double the decline in paperback fiction – and down 4.7% in value. - The Guardian

Increasingly, both professional writers and everyone else is facing a new, unwelcome constrained writing challenge: don’t sound like AI. - ArtsHub

“(Library executives’) stated ‘values’ included a roll call of abstract nouns: openness, honesty, compassion, equality and fairness. Yet staff tell a story of gross mismanagement, woeful pay and an executive board who are completely out of touch with the day-to-day running of the library.” - The Standard (London)

Many of the titles censored in school districts around the US relate to race, sexual violence or LGBTQ+ issues, but that’s not the case with the top two: John Green’s Looking for Alaska and Jodi Picoult’s Nineteen Minutes. As usual, the list includes classics by Toni Morrison, Margaret Atwood, and Maya Angelou. - Publishers...

“Elliott Investment Management, the hedge fund that owns the most popular bookstores in the US and the UK, has spoken to potential advisers about an initial public offering (IPO). … The multibillion-pound group is thought to prefer London over New York for the listing.” - The Guardian

The organization announced on December 1 that it intends to phase out all public programming, beginning with the discontinuation of its Forms & Features workshops and Library Book Club in the new year. A more recent statement stressed that the Foundation is transitioning into a grantmaking organization. - Publishers Weekly

Hey, if there’s going to be short-form piracy, why not consider it marketing and consumer outreach? - The Hollywood Reporter

“Inside the kingdom’s gilded palaces, industry players are mingling with princes and executives, while celebrities stroll red carpets at festivals, concerts and sporting events from Riyadh to Jeddah. ... The willingness to re-engage with the Saudis has been driven by several forces, (especially) Hollywood's insatiable need for new funding sources.” - Los Angeles Times...

“Estimates of the size of the video game industry range from $200 to $300 billion — larger than film, television and music combined, by some calculations — and Saudi Arabia, in its relentless, top-down drive to diversify from oil, is taking a big slice.” - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)

Bollywood produces films in Hindi, and there have always been “regional” cinema industries making movies in other Indian languages. Recently, following the huge international success of RRR (shot in Telugu), there has developed a Pan-Indian genre: big budgets, high-quality dubbing in multiple languages, no region-specific stories, nationwide and worldwide ambitions. - TheWrap (MSN)

At first, slop was a widely derided format, the kind of clicky nonsense churned out by content farms or trolls. But, in September, with the launch of OpenAI’s Sora app, a social network and feed for A.I.-generated videos, the company set about convincing users that slop was something we should all be making for fun. - The...

Gen Z moviegoer attendance grew by 25 percent over the last 12 months — the highest increase of any age group. - IndieWire

In 2023, when he was ballet director at Germany's Hannover State Opera, Marco Goecke did this and was promptly fired. Now he’s been given another chance: he’s artistic director of Ballet Basel in Switzerland. Critics have set aside any grievances, but Goecke’s big mouth has nevertheless gotten him into trouble. - The New York...

Ballet West in Salt Lake City reported Monday a “dramatic spike” in people “arriving at performances with fake or invalid tickets purchased from third-party sellers.” - The Salt Lake Tribune

“Having worked with the Ballets Russes, most notably with Vaslav Nijinsky …, Marie Rambert became a pioneer in British ballet: setting up a ballet school, and then establishing her own company, the first in the UK, Ballet Rambert, which she led for 40 years after its founding in 1926.” - Bachtrack

“Average seat occupancy is 97 percent, among the highest in Europe. … Now with confidence in its survival skills” — and an adept, energetic director — “the ballet company is eager to raise its profile from a company of regional importance to one that can rank among Europe’s best.” - The New York Times

The magazine, called something else earlier, has been around since before the Great Depression. In the 1960s, though, "dance emerged as a potent form of political expression.” - Dance Magazine

“(LA)HORDE is a choreographic collective running the National Ballet of Marseille and rewriting the ballet rulebook for a new era. Their work blends classical techniques with surprising influences, from queer nightlife to the political history of social dance.” - BBC (video)

Jaime Castañeda, a freelance director who has worked extensively with the top regional companies in California and with New York’s Atlantic Theater Company, will assume his role next July. He succeeds interim artistic director and resident director Jonathan Norton as well as former artistic director Kevin Moriarty, now DTC’s executive director. - KERA (Dallas)

For a struggling industry, these two theaters — and a handful of others — are models of success: They are producing a healthy menu of shows, drawing large audiences, running budget surpluses and raising money for capital projects. But they are definitely in the minority. - The New York Times

Even eight years after opening, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is outselling every other current show on Broadway. The lead producers are making millions in royalties, but investors, after earning back their initial investments, have gotten a return of only 6% (11% with a New York state tax credit). - Broadway Journal

One could say that they just put an actor in a bear suit, but it really isn’t that simple. There’s some real theatrical magic at work. - The New York Times

Drawing on data from 92 Australian performing arts organisations with annual turnovers of between $250,000 and $4 million, the survey charts the persistently lagging salaries of small-to-medium arts company employees – even in roles that enjoyed healthy increases over the past two years. - ArtsHub

“Liberation” was the only clear-cut consensus choice among the professional critics, as you’ll see below. - New York Theatre

“(He) was the Netherlands’ best-known choreographer for over sixty years and regarded as one of the great masters of contemporary ballet. He was also one of the most productive, creating more than 150 works. … All bear his distinct signature – clarity in structure, refined simplicity and an aversion to unnecessary decorative frills.” -...

In the 1960s, he was producer and then host of flagship arts magazine Monitor before supervising all music and arts programming. He co-founded London Weekend Television, then hosted ITV’s first major arts program, Aquarius. In the mid-1970s, he returned to the BBC, presiding over a golden age of arts on television. - The Telegraph...

Now 32 and being held without bail as a suspect in the murder of his parents, Nick was 15 when he entered drug rehab for the first time. He see-sawed between attempts at recovery and relapses with heroin and cocaine ever since. - The New York Times

Reiner was “a writer, director, producer, actor and political activist whose career in Hollywood spanned more than six decades and included some of the most iconic titles in movie history,” and a political activist who "emerged as a force in California politics.” - Los Angeles Times (MSN)

News broke late Sunday night that "the Los Angeles Police Department said it was investigating an ‘apparent homicide’ at the couple’s home in West Los Angeles.” - The New York Times

“He has outlived mentors, co-stars, romantic partners and several studios. He’s even outlived the jokes about his performance in Mary Poppins. These days his mangled cockney accent is regarded with more fondness than contempt.” - The Guardian (UK)