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Apple’s Tim Cook: We Have To Say All Engagement Isn’t Good Engagement

"At a moment of rampant disinformation and conspiracy theories juiced by algorithms, we can no longer turn a blind eye to a theory of technology that says all engagement is good engagement — the longer the better — and all with the goal of collecting as much data as possible. Too many are still asking the question, 'how much...

After 30 Years, Co-Founder/Editor Of London Review Of Books Retires

"Mary-Kay Wilmers … was one of the founders of the literary magazine in 1979, along with Karl Miller and Susannah Clapp, became co-editor in 1988, and has been its sole editor since 1992. In 2019, when the LRB celebrated its 40th anniversary, she was dubbed 'Britain's most influential editor' by the New York Times." - The Guardian

The Improbable Story Of A Disney Movie That Almost Didn’t Get Made

"So, uh, how — and why — did all of this happen? Here is the oral history of The Emperor’s New Groove, an irreverent, pratfall-heavy, non sequitur of an animated movie that so defied Disney’s painstakingly deliberate traditions, it’s hard to believe it actually exists today." - New York Magazine

New Design For COVID-Safe Pop-Up Theatre

The Vertical Theatre, as it's called, will be modular, with a capacity of 1,200 to 2,400, seated in small groups separated (if necessary) by clear screens. The structure has a roof, but the sides are open to allow airflow. The UK-based creators hope to have at least one Vertical Theatre hosting shows later this year. - WhatsOnStage (London)

Public Radio And TV Face Looming Shortage Of Broadcast Engineers

"The workforce of broadcast engineers — those who know to fix broadcast transmitters, tubes and wires — is reaching retirement age. … Far fewer skilled young people are waiting in the wings to take on their roles. The apprenticeships that provided training to the engineers who are now approaching retirement are increasingly rare." And perpetually strapped public broadcasting stations...

Hey, Joe And Kamala! You Know Who Can Help You Save America? Arts Researchers!

"In addition to being creative thinkers and makers, many artists, designers and architects are also researchers whose work reveals new insights and approaches to solving some of the most complex challenges facing our world. … It is vital that our federal government includes art researchers so that their unique perspectives and voices can help catalyse change for a better...

Did Stock-Trading Redditors Just Save Live Cinema?

Or, if not the entire movie-theater business, at least AMC. The pandemic had made the already-difficult financial situation of the world's largest cinema chain disastrous. But the same amateur stock-traders on the subreddit r/wallstreetbets who put GameStop in the news this week bought lots of stock in AMC as well. As a Bloomberg columnist put it, "Six hundred million...

Museum Of The Bible Gives 5,000 Artifacts Back To Egypt

"The collection" — which, the museum says, has "insufficient reliable provenance" — "includes manuscripts and papyrus fragments with texts written in Coptic, hieratic and demotic scripts, and Greek. Some of the papyri feature Christian prayers written in Arabic and Coptic or Arabic only." - Hyperallergic

Botticelli Portrait Is Now Most Expensive Old Master Painting Ever Sold (Except For ‘Salvator Mundi’)

"A sterling 550-year-old portrait by the Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli that was the star lot of Sotheby's Old Masters sale has sold for $92.2 million, making it the second-most-expensive Old Master artwork to sell at auction, according to the company. The artwork, Young Man Holding a Roundel (circa 1444/5–1510), is one of only three portraits by Botticelli left in...

Eva Coutaz, Longtime Director Of Classical Label Harmonia Mundi, Dead At 77

"Having started her career with Harmonia Mundi in 1972 as a press officer, she went on to produce more than 800 recordings with artists including Philippe Herreweghe, , Jean-Guihen Queyras, Isabelle Faust and Paul Lewis. She retired from the classical music label in 2016 following a career spanning nearly 30 years. When her husband Bernard Coutaz, Harmonia Mundi's founder,...

Cicely Tyson, 96

"Regal in bearing, with willowy beauty and delicately chiseled features, Ms. Tyson was known for embodying women of great poise striving under great pressure. … electrifying portrayals of resilient Black women — foremost in the 1974 TV movie The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman but also as Coretta Scott King and Harriet Tubman — brought some of the...

Cheech Marin’s New Museum Gets A Green Light

After years of planning, the long-awaited Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art and Culture of the Riverside Art Museum in Riverside, California, has finally received the green light from the city. - Artnet

With No Mardi Gras Parade, New Orleans Creates Floats Out Of Houses

"Look around Rona, socially distanced float houses have become a thing. A really big thing. Apparently, if you to take the parades off our streets, our streets become the parade. From Gretna to Metairie to Bywater: Lavishly, lovingly, laughingly decorated houses are becoming as ubiquitous as potholes." - NOLA.com

The Perils Of Our Time Demand An Artistic Response

Deborah Cullinan: "The events of the past year, and the shocking insurrection that took place at the Capitol on Jan. 6, have reinforced the value of art in our society. We have always known that art can be a source of peace, solace and joy in times of struggle. But art also provides the intellectual, economic and emotional healing...

A Rethink In Investing In Smaller Arts Organizations

"It is time to make significant investments in these smaller organizations to increase their capacities and develop a practice that does not make becoming more mainstream the ultimate goal. Most of these smaller organizations devote a significant portion of their energies to the task of survival, and while that might be a given in the nonprofit world, many of...

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