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Why Jon Batiste Was The Grammys’ Unexpected Big Winner

So he is a traditionalist choice to win—but a traditionalist choice for an institution that has been changing. Following years of accusations about gender and racial bias—including from the Recording Academy’s own ousted leader—the Grammys have lately been on a reform mission. - The Atlantic

The Legendary Music Tree, From Which Are Made Guitars Like No Others

Here is the story of one particular trunk of mahogany in a remote Belizean forest. - Smithsonian Magazine

How NFTs Are Upending The Art Market

What’s happening now is larger than the traditional tension between art and commerce, and it’s occurring at internet speed. - Alta Journal

Charles Darwin’s Notebooks Mysteriously Returned After Years Missing

The 1830s notepads, last seen 22 years ago and formally declared missing in 2020, were left in a pink gift bag on a floor in the Cambridge University Library with a printed note reading "Librarian, Happy Easter, X." - BBC

Jeremy O. Harris Wants Audience Members To Come Into His Plays Blind

"I think a lot of people's response to my plays are based on projection. ... I love that. It's my ideal. Because then you're just coming with whatever you've projected on to the three lines you've read about it on the internet." - The Guardian

The Razzies Withdraw One Of Their First-Ever Nominations, To Shelley Duvall

The Golden Raspberry Awards, while rescinding Bruce Willis's nominations after his aphasia was made public, also took back Shelley Duvall's award for The Shining because director Stanley Kubrick "tried to keep his lead actress in a constant state of panic, and made horror a reality." - The Washington Post

Boris Johnson’s Government Will Privatize Britain’s Channel Four

"'I have come to the conclusion that government ownership is holding Channel 4 back from competing against streaming giants like Netflix and Amazon,' tweeted Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries." Channel 4 was created in 1982 as a public-service network for underrepresented audiences. - Variety

UNESCO Tallies Damage To 53 Cultural Sites (So Far) In Ukraine Since Russia’s Invasion

"As of March 30, UNESCO said, the confirmed damaged sites, located in several regions across Ukraine, include 29 religious sites, 16 historic buildings, four museums and four monuments." - NPR

Priceless Morozov Collection Will Be Returned From Paris Exhibition To Russia, Not Seized By Authorities

The gathering of these 200 artworks at the Fondation Louis Vuitton was one of the most popular museum shows in French history. Following the invasion of Ukraine, there were calls to withhold the collection rather than giving it back to Russia; those have now been rejected. - Artnet

The Hermitage Amsterdam, Having Cut Ties With St. Petersburg, Rebrands As Dutch Heritage Amsterdam

The museum was originally set up as a privately funded branch of the St. Petersburg flagship, an affiliation now ended due to the invasion of Ukraine. Other museums in the Netherlands will lend items to DHA for a five-part series of shows. - The Art Newspaper

A Computer Creates Poetry That Works

Computer scientists had been trying to coax machines to write verse since at least the 1960s, and Racter was a singular example of how something mindless could create something meaningful. Indeed, it led the avant-garde poet Christian Bök to wonder if humans were needed to produce literature at all. - New Criterion

Saltz: A Whitney Biennial That Works

It’s great to have the Biennial back — to talk about, to love and hate — after it was postponed a year because of the pandemic. The Biennial has always trafficked in the contemporary, but this year’s offering, even with the inclusion of deceased artists, radiates with the power of now. - New York Magazine

Pianist Joseph Kalichstein, 76

Over a career that spanned half a century, Mr. Kalichstein presented thoughtful, impassioned and deeply musical performances of the piano repertoire from Bach, Mozart and Brahms through the masters of the early 20th century, including Bartok, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. - Washington Post

The Choreography That Works On TikTok

Although the dance challenge “aesthetic” has undoubtedly fed the app’s popularity, there’s more going on in the dance world of TikTok. - Dance Magazine

How Technology Is Connecting Musicians With Audiences

Here's an app that helps connects smaller bands and audiences with venues off the beaten path, some of them way off. The majority of concert venues listed on SideDoor are in peoples' homes — but there are also quirkier spaces. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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