Books reach Americans in multiple ways these days, not only as e-books. They might arrive as audio books, in serialized form through online services, and so on. Likewise, book clubs have remained and even increased their popularity. Yet no matter how we see it, the act of reading is in decline. - LitHub
If one person shouts that she can’t stop thinking about something, the natural response is not to join in her particular obsession but to yelp that you, too, have something that you are obsessed with. An unspoken competition takes place to see who can profess their passion. - The New Yorker
In his new book, Chávez uses media industry data and 50 interviews with public media workers to argue that NPR’s growth has come at the expense of serving Latinx audiences in the U.S. - NiemanLab
I think people accurately recognize that just by watching people get involved in crypto. You watch an artist who starts selling NFTs, and over the course of months, their artwork itself shifts and it starts becoming more and more about crypto itself. - Salon
It’s not as if more money isn’t a goal for these organizations; more often than not, they say, it’s a question of resources and visibility. Seventy-three percent of reportees said that they lacked the staff to apply for grants and cultivate individual donor relationships. - Artnet
Such cultural programming is often invisible, unquestioned, limiting and even dangerous when applied carelessly beyond its community of origin. That’s why ethical frameworks for AI are being hastily commissioned around the globe right now, drawing upon as many different perspectives as possible. - Aeon
"Scolds from the Anti-Defamation League … will never end an ancient prejudice, but they could ruin a good time. … That has made me look closer at the disturbing rise in antisemitism today, Jewish culture and identity, and the implications of what we find funny." - The New York Times
Like a Tammany Hall-type of administrative corruption but on a national or even international scale, key actors representing political regimes and multinational corporations conspire to change the rules to protect special interests with the most wealth in financial as well as symbolic terms. - Aeon
"Slate had a whole editorial style that was based around provocative — some would say trolly — articles and up-is-down theses. … Everyone understood what made a pitch a Slatepitch." These days, writes Slate alum Matthew Yglesias, the site has lost its unique character — but so has most online journalism. - Slow Boring
A public Instagram account detailed dancers’ and staff members’ accounts of inequities. Amid the fallout, Executive Director Kelly Tweeddale, hired in 2019, stepped down in 2021. - KQED
"As director of preservation (and archivist), Norton Owen oversees exhibitions, the growing online resource Jacob's Pillow Dance Interactive, PillowTalks, pre- and post-show lectures, and film programs. Owen describes his motto as having 'one eye looking backward and one eye on what's happening currently." - Dance Magazine
I’d never encountered the 432 Hz phenomenon. Its lore has all the hallmarks of your archetypal conspiracy theories. No one version dominates, but most accounts include a selection of the following tropes. - Van
At the L.A. Philharmonic, Kraft was principal timpanist, composer-in-residence, and associate conductor; he co-founded the L.A. Phil New Music Group, with which he started the orchestra's now-famous Green Umbrella concerts of contemporary music. (Kraft was also Stravinsky's preferred percussionist.) - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
According to a dozen LA-area artistic directors interviewed, the annual budget of small arts organisations has spiked by an average 40%, disproportionately punishing companies operating on less than $300,000 a year, particularly common in a state with a dearth of public funding for the arts. - The Stage
The joint program of the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music is now working with its first class of fellows, who get commissions for new scores as well as mentorship from Esa-Pekka Salonen, Edwin Outwater, and Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser. - KQED (San Francisco)
