The legislature's collections include nearly 4,000 items dating from the 17th century to the present day. Notable among them is the Keiskamma Tapestry, nearly 400 feet long, which depicts South African history from early indigenous peoples through the end of apartheid and the first democratic election. - Bloomberg
Mailer's longtime publisher, Random House denies that it has dropped his work entirely (it continues to maintain his backlist), but passed the planned Mailer centennial collection to Skyhorse Publishing, which has picked up titles by Woody Allen, Blake Bailey, and Garrison Keillor abandoned by major houses. - AP
She joined the network as a reporter in 2005 and began hosting the flagship evening program in 2012. She gave no specific reason for her departure, but other well-known hosts who've left NPR in the past few years have gone on to jobs with other outlets. - The Hill
With the return of audience capacity limits and distancing rules due to the Omicron surge, and with performances being cancelled on short notice if company members test positive, the government announced £21 million in aid before Christmas and added £45 million last week. - The Scotsman
The 43-year-old native New Yorker, who just began his first season as music director of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia, will become Generalmusikdirektor at the Komische Oper Berlin in the fall of 2023. - Broadway World
“Hobbies take on this aura of being good, useful, appropriate, and socially sanctioned. Something you should—the word here is should—be doing. And if you’re one of those slackers that doesn’t have a hobby, then you are suffering from some kind of a moral weakness or failing.” - The Atlantic
Above all else, the popularity of Immersive Everything spoke to the way in which a year-long period of cultural life existing mostly on tech platforms rewired how people think about culture, giving “art” a permanent cyborg makeover. - Artnet
For knowledge workers, the biggest sign that the status quo is broken is the rise in self-reported burnout. McKinsey and Lean In collaborated on a survey of knowledge-sector jobs. They found a significant increase in those describing themselves as feeling burnt out “often” or “almost always." - The New Yorker
Now that we have more storytelling than ever, has empathy increased apace? If stories have such sunny effects, why has the big bang of storytelling coincided with an explosive growth of hostility and polarization rather than harmony and connection? - Boston Globe
Why are composers like Mozart, Beethoven and Bach widely regarded as the greatest of all time? Why is it that in a 1985 survey of art experts by the Illustrated London News, only 2 of the 20 greatest paintings of all time were from the 20th century, one from the 18th century, and none at all from the 19th century? - EconLib
What if dance-floor catharsis could be good not only for the soul but also for the planet? This month, SWG3 and the geothermal energy consultancy TownRock Energy will begin installing a new renewable heating and cooling system that harnesses the body heat of dancing clubbers. - The New York Times
"More than 20 acts have pulled out of the 2022 Sydney festival, just 48 hours before opening night, boycotting the festival over a sponsorship deal with the Israeli embassy." - The Guardian
A small study of college students found they now only focus on any one task for 65 seconds. A different study of office workers found they only focus on average for three minutes. This isn’t happening because we all individually became weak-willed. Your focus didn’t collapse. It was stolen. - The Guardian
The list includes a couple of huge movie stars whose work this year hasn't caught fire, a few lesser-known talents, a couple of very respected actors who ought to be more famous, and an English heartthrob performing an entire role in German. - The Guardian
From Muppets to major stars, Lawrence composed the music for hundreds of Sesame Street songs. He also served as music director for Free to Be... You and Me, the beloved children's music album conceived and produced by actress Marlo Thomas. - NPR
