"The war recalibrates everything. The humanism and decency of Chekhov now seem less relevant than the survey of Russian violence in the works of Maxim Gorky. ... Everything is situated around burning questions: How could a country come to this? How could a people commit these crimes?" - MSN (The Washington Post)
"The bill, if passed, would allow more performing artists to deduct essential work expenses from their taxes by updating what's called the Qualified Performing Artist (QPA) deduction." - Broadway News
In partnership with food pantries, housing nonprofits, support organizations for ex-prisoners, and similar groups, the Ticket Bank will offer 1,000 free or pay-what-you-wish tickets each week to performances at the National Theatre, the Barbican, the Roundhouse, and four nonprofit theatres, with more to be added. - The Guardian
Having only launched as a public beta on Nov. 30, ChatGPT crested well over a million users in five days. Since then, media coverage has ballooned, and its user base has only continued to grow. - Gizmodo
This week, practitioners in India have once again sought to draw attention to what they see as cultural appropriation of yoga, amid allegations it has been whitewashed. Vikram Jeet Singh, a yoga instructor in Goa said that “his own culture” has been “wiped out and suppressed by colonisation”. - The Guardian
The walkout by part-time faculty (87% of the total) at the New School University, which encompasses both Parsons and Mannes, began on November 16 and ended over the weekend with tentative agreement on a new contract which includes pay raises, health insurance, and compensation for work outside the classroom. - Artforum
Books on Amazon are cheap and arrive quickly. Spotify offers tens of millions of songs and podcasts for less per month than what we pay for a single CD. But for creators, chokepoint capitalists—the firms that control access to their work—are an exploitative nightmare. - The Atlantic
The pandemic was over in 2022, phew! Well, of course it wasn’t. But live entertainment pushed forward, with mask mandates dropping, and people rushing to buy things like, oh, Taylor Swift tickets! - Baltimore Sun (AP)
"After ample reflection and prayer, I have made the painful decision to downsize our blessed hamlet. Lord be praised, not all is lost. The petting zoo will continue to prosper, and the gift shop will actually be receiving an expansion. However, we will be purging many of the village’s less popular features." - The New Yorker
Many artists have found that old age, for all its physical and emotional burdens, can be a moment of creative liberation comparable to, even superior to, anything in youth. - Washington Post
John Killacky, performing arts curator at the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis 1988-1996, presented much of the work attacked by right-wingers: Holly Hughes, Ron Athey, Tim Miller, Bill T. Jones, and Karen Finley, whose We Keep Our Victims Ready at the Walker was a lightning rod. - The Arts Fuse (Boston)
"As well as offering workshops in ballet, contemporary dance, hip-hop and singing, she explains, the Paris Opera will also launch an apprenticeship programme for production skills, such as make-up and set design" in the South American territory, over 4,000 miles from mainland France. - Radio France International
"A survey of professionals across the performing and visual arts found overall incomes for women were 25% less than their male counterparts, ... almost double the size of the pay gap in the overall workforce, research commissioned by the Australia Council has found." - The Guardian
As a group, arts leaders from all sectors and geographies must now recognize the threats to cultural institutions: potential physical harm to artists; damages and destruction of works of art in their care; censorship from autocratic governments, religious fanatics, and liberal sensitivities. - The Berkshire Eagle
