One study found that the best predictor of whether someone could imitate a new accent was being able to execute a tongue-twister. A good ear for music and openness to new experiences also correlate with skill at accents. - BBC
Maybe these two weren’t wildcatters or captains of industry, but their contributions to the cultural life of Houston and its global reputation as a destination for the arts are significant. - Texas Monthly
“I think the public’s relationship with dance has changed, to the point where for the generation coming up, dance is associated more heavily with TikTok than with the Royal Ballet. I think that is what has really opened up the doors and taken away the stigma.” - The Guardian
This previously undisclosed diplomatic push to keep Israel in Eurovision was just one aspect of a drama that unfolded over the past year around the world’s most watched cultural event. - The New York Times
The Minack Theatre at Porthcurno pulled a planned production of Léo Delibes’s Lakmé after a US-based Hindu campaigner described the opera as “shallow exoticism based on prejudice”. - The Telegraph (MSN)
Part of the appeal is that calling someone resilient in the endurance sense sounds kind. It feels like encouragement rather than judgment. But communicating kindness without taking any responsibility is just a way to make yourself feel more comfortable – that everything will be OK. - Psyche
“For a major release, paying for travel, accommodations and security for A-list talent … can run into seven figures. At a time when the U.S. entertainment industry is still in a period of contraction, … Cannes is an easily expendable line item.” - The Hollywood Reporter
More than 350 years after his death, the 17th-century dramatist has been revived after scholars at the Sorbonne University in Paris used artificial intelligence to help write an experimental play in his style. - The Guardian
Hackers who had previously targeted Google and Ticketmaster had purposely chosen now, when college finals are happening, to threaten Instructure, the company that makes Canvas, that they would leak the personal information of 275 million Canvas users. - The Atlantic
Artificial intelligence has made its way into almost every corner of professional workflows, prompting the architectural industry to rethink how it works. To adapt to this shift, firms are now facing the limits of a model that has changed very little over the past few decades. - ArchDaily
“Many parties, including colleges that accepted UArts students and a charitable trust that had funded more than half of the endowment, have been vying for the money in court.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
The findings are the first to show that both participating in arts activities and attending events, such as viewing an exhibition, lead to people staying biologically younger. - The Guardian
The pressures on higher education seem extraordinary, even to someone like me, who is generally convinced that real change is rare, perhaps especially when it comes to America’s tried-and-tested system for replicating its élites. - The New Yorker
Humanities chairs—anxious about increasing political interference, declining enrollments and students’ skepticism toward the value of humanities degrees—are largely pessimistic about the future of their departments, according to a new report from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. - InsideHigherEd
“Reed’s reviews, as well as his stylishly written profiles of Hollywood and Broadway stars …, moved beyond the bland and laudatory, offering candid and penetrating portraits of artists and celebrities that stand out in an era where A-listers are (more protected). … His writing often moved beyond the incisive into the offensive.” - Variety
