If Emilia Pérez doesn’t win much tonight, at least it looks good: "Saint Laurent clothes played pivotal roles in the wardrobes of various characters, including a faux fur coat worn by Selena Gomez and a red suit worn by Zoe Saldaña.” - The New York Times
“French president Emmanuel Macron has said he is concerned about the 'arbitrary detention’ and health of Boualem Sansal, days after the French-Algerian author began a hunger strike over his imprisonment in Algeria.” - The Guardian (UK)
The kingdom’s status as the birthplace of Islam is the very basis of its identity; as such, its pre-Islamic past was largely taboo. Yet current Saudi leaders see the ancient rock-hewn monuments of the Nabataeans (who also built Petra in Jordan) as the linchpin of a developing tourism industry. - History Today
Whatever you think about the first Fyre – with its limp cheese sandwiches, its disaster-relief-tent accommodation, the absence of advertised headliners, the $26m of unpaid debt, you have to admit it lived up to one promise: it was legendary. - The Guardian
“The real crisis we’re facing, in addition to people rescinding their membership, is that we’re normally finalising our season at this time and it’s been completely turned upside down. You see performers pulling out and that has real ramifications for staff and morale. We feel like we’re walking on eggshells. - The Guardian
As DEI efforts crumble and institutions scramble to figure out how to do the “right” thing, we appear to be in a new wave of pandemic-level chaos. This time, though, access has less to do with audiences and more to do with keeping doors open to the inclusive workforce. - Hyperallergic
"Taking diversity and inclusion out of art, that doesn't seem possible," Amy Austin, president and CEO of Theatre Washington, told TheWrap. "So I'm just not sure where this is going to lead." - The Wrap (MSN)
Colgate lasagna, spray-on condoms, the Fyre Festival, Theranos — all these and more are included in a pop-up exhibition which has appeared on three continents since 2017. Now the concept’s creator and the producing company are embroiled in legal conflict, not for the first time. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
A new report from the UK's Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) found that 92 percent of students have used generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, for their studies. - Engadget
Many organizations are taking advantage of exceptions in British wage laws for student internships as part of a curriculum, and the practice blocks crucial career experience for those who can’t afford to work for free, say advocates. (On the other hand, cash-strapped arts organizations can’t afford to pay interns.) - The Guardian
To the extent that Trump’s cultural designs offer a coherent vision, it shares his larger ambition to restore the country to a “golden age” (and a gilded one). In usurping control of Washington’s premier cultural institution, he appears set on rebuilding Camelot in his own image. - The Atlantic (MSN)
Faced with a concerted backlash from some of the country’s most famous celebrities, officials are looking for ways to offer them extra protections. One could be to allow creative industries to opt in to the new system, while offering AI companies the use of mass media such as journalism for free unless those companies opted out. - The Guardian
The problem is that the definition of “free speech” has strayed far from its origins in the rights of ordinary folk to speak without interference from higher powers like governments. It has become a vacuous term, a plea to be able to act without any constraints, a dumb binary that either you’ve got or you haven’t. - The Guardian
When it opens on May 22, Epic Universe will become Florida’s first major new park in a generation — and, Universal hopes, a property that will reverse a longstanding business dynamic with Walt Disney World to the south. - The New York Times
