Stories

How Foucault Anticipated What’s Happening Today

“What Is an Author?” predicted a future where old ideas about authorship would give way to new questions about technology and power. “What are the modes of existence of this discourse?” Foucault asked. “Where does it come from, how is it circulated” and — perhaps most important — “who controls it?” - The New York Times

Did Munich’s Ballet Company Just Fire One Of Its Principal Dancers Via Instagram?

So claims Julian MacKay, who was a principal at the Bavarian State Ballet from 2022 until this week. He says he complained about unfair treatment and threatened to resign, then was dismissed without warning while on sick leave. The company says he was properly terminated in an in-person meeting. - The Violin Channel

Foreign Artists Are Skipping The US Because Of Broken Visa Process

The time it takes to process a visa has dramatically increased. The number of available interview slots at U.S. embassies is backlogged. Application costs have surged. And there's an added layer of uncertainty: paperwork can be perfect, fees can be paid, and yet artists still can be turned away at the border. - NPR

Major Publishers Sue Google Contending Unprecedented Copyright Infringement

A group of major publishers have filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the company of illegally using millions of copyrighted books to help build its Gemini artificial intelligence models, in “one of the most prolific infringements of copyrighted materials in history”. - The Guardian

Seattle To Build A New Concert Hall Dedicated To Chamber Music

When it opens in 2028, this new Center for Chamber Music will be Seattle’s first permanent venue designed exclusively for chamber music performance, featuring a 271-seat concert hall engineered to create an immersive experience where no listener will be more than 40 feet from the performers. - Seattle Times

One Of Our Most Prominent Living Philosophers Argues That Opera Can Save Us

“In the opinion of Martha Nussbaum, now 79, …opera can help to fix Western societies that have become nasty, brutish and narcissistic. In particular, we need more men like Cherubino, the cross-dressing boy of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro … than we do Putins, Hegseths, Trumps and Tates.” - The Telegraph (UK) (MSN)

Why Did Toledo Museum Of Art Cancel Its Exhibition Of Bongs?

The museum began work on “High Style: The Art of Cannabis Pipes” three years ago, thinking that increasing legalization and acceptance of marijuana made the timing good. Yet the show was cancelled this spring; museum management says it was for logistical reasons. The question: the logistics of what exactly? - The New York Times

Chicago’s Bilingual Improv School Is A Big Hit

“(Starting) in March 2025, (Rudy Mendoza) offered drop-in classes at Logan Square Improv to students who wanted to try playing in either (English or Spanish). The school has grown exponentially since. There are now three full levels of classes for bilingual students. He has a roster of seven other teachers.” - Chicago Tribune

Ohio’s School Librarians Are Worried

“Proposed legislation to filter the reading choices students can make has brought concern, and budget reductions make some worry about the future of public school librarians. … ‘Right now, a lot of administrators and school boards look at having school librarians as a luxury,” said (union president) Gayle Schmuhl.” - Ohio Capital Journal

What Happens To Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center Without Robert Wilson?

“’Bob was always saying he didn’t want Watermill to become an institution,’ said Charles Chemin, Watermill’s new artistic director. ‘He didn’t want to create a Bob Wilson school. But Watermill is filled with the vision of Bob Wilson, with his unique form of composition and his unique way of collaborating.’” - The New York Times

As California Sues To Block Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger, Paramount Considers Leaving California

“CEO David Ellison’s … confidantes have pushed him to consider moving its corporate headquarters and reallocating much of its $30 billion in planned spending outside the state” in reaction to the lawsuit. “The considerations may just be a show of brinkmanship, given so much of the industry’s production takes place outside of Hollywood already.” - Semafor

Writers Guild Files Latest Legal Challenge To Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger

“This proposed combined entity would be the largest employer of writers, with tremendous power to suppress our wages, eliminate opportunities for emerging writers, cut jobs across the industry, and produce less programming,” said Writers Guild of America East president Tom Fontana in a statement. - AP

Terrified To Dance At A Party, Nightclub, Or Wedding? Now There’s An App For That

Dance Guru is a virtual reality application in which a digital teacher, seen through your headset, walks you through the steps for salsa, waltzing, bachata or cha-cha — repeating as many times as you need, with no human there to make you self-conscious or to get impatient or bored. - NPR

Andrew Lloyd Webber Warns Of Broadway Crisis After “Cats” Closing

Andrew Lloyd Webber has addressed the closing announcement of CATS: The Jellicle Ball, pleading for "theatre owners, unions and producers to come together urgently to address what is a crisis coming to a head." - Broadway World

A Samuel Beckett Biennale Is Coming To Both Sides Of The Irish Sea

“(The festival) promises experimental ‘performed readings’ of the playwright’s works in pockets of Ireland and Britain over the next 12 years. ... Events will unfold at locations of significance to Beckett’s life and legacy – from Enniskillen, Belfast and Dublin to Folkestone, Reading and Snodland – tracing his footsteps across Britain and Ireland.” - The Guardian

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss