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Dallas Opera Raises Record $54M

More than 100 donors contributed to the campaign, with recent significant gifts from the Perot family, the Hamon Foundation, the Vansickle Family Foundation, Cece and Ford Lacy, an anonymous donor and the TDO board, trustees and honorary directors. - Dallas Morning News

Can Generative AI Generate Convincing Dance Movement? Nope, Not Yet.

“CalMatters and The Markup tested four commercially-available AI video-generation models — OpenAI’s Sora, Google’s Veo, MiniMax’s Hailou, and Kuaishou’s Kling — and so far, dancers don’t have much to worry about.” - CalMatters

Minneapolis Arts Organizations Join General Strike Today

“We’re pausing operations to recognise the weight of this moment in our community and to care for our employees and people in the Twin Cities community.” - The Art Newspaper

Ghost Light: When Theater’s Cast Goes Digital Forever

Simon Stephens' mixed-reality experiment at The Shed asks the existential question: if actors perform in cyberspace and no one applauds, is it still theater? Four digitally-captured performers test mortality's latest theatrical frontier. - American Theatre

Author Declares Culture Dead, Publishers Still Printing Books

W. David Marx diagnoses 25 years of creative stagnation in a new cultural history. Presumably the irony of launching a fresh cultural critique about the death of cultural innovation isn't lost on anyone involved. — Artnet

The Heart Of Small-Market Weekly Newspapers? The Obituaries

“It has long been recognized that newspaper obituaries hold value for communities, documenting lives and preserving local history. Their significance is rarely debated. Their value to the business of news and in sustaining local newsrooms is far less understood.” - Reynolds Journalism Institute

Amazon’s AI Authors Lack What Writers Need Most: Attitude

Machine-generated novels and coloring books are flooding the marketplace, but they're missing literature's secret ingredient—artistic ego. Turns out readers might actually miss all that human neurosis and creative self-importance after all. — LitHub

AI Art’s Predictable Problem: The Cliché Machine Cranks On

As algorithms churn out endless variations on tired themes, human artists are discovering their secret weapon isn't perfection—it's the beautiful, messy unpredictability that no code can replicate. — Aeon

Justice System Meets Its Deepfake Moment

When seeing is no longer believing, Canadian courts face an existential crisis: how do you prove what's real when reality itself can be manufactured? The legal system's analog truth tests meet digital deception. — The Walrus

Houston Grand Opera Is Doing Very Well These Days. Meet The General Director Behind It.

“The company’s recent successes include two Grammy nominations; press attention for the hiring of music director James Gaffigan; announcements of bold new works; and critical acclaim by critics, audiences, and the music ‘industry.’” Asked what her “secret sauce” is, Khori Dastoor replied, “There is no such thing.” - San Francisco Classical Voice

There’s A New Oscar Category For Casting. Not Many People Really Get What It’s For.

“Even in a case where a star comes on first, … the casting director has to build an entire world around them — not just actors who fit each individual part but combine to form a harmonious vision, one that can be disrupted by a single off-key line.” - Slate (MSN)

Should Struggling Artists And Performers Get Preference In New York City’s Affordable Housing Programs?

After all, large numbers of creatives have been fleeing the city, driven away mostly by the high cost of apartments. But would such a preference be fair to other struggling New Yorkers? - Gothamist

Chaos At One Of San Francisco’s Beloved Indie Performance Venues

“CounterPulse … is in crisis caused by financial strain, leadership collapse and a bitter labor conflict. With just one show on its calendar for all of 2026 and no one at the helm, its predicament raises questions about sustainability, power and labor in small arts organizations.” - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)

New York State Governor Proposes $150 Million Retroactive Extension Of Theater Tax Credits

“(State agency) Empire State Development … currently isn’t accepting applications for the New York City Musical and Theatrical Production Tax Credit. … The proposed state budget announced today ‘increases the aggregate amount available under the program by $150 million for productions with initial performances on or after December 1, 2025.’” - Broadway Journal

There’s A New Cliburn Competition Coming — This One For Conductors

“The first Cliburn International Competition for Conductors will take place in 2028 in Houston. … The competition will be hosted in partnership with the Houston Symphony and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.” Marin Alsop will chair the jury. - KERA (Dallas)

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