Yikes: "Rearing up at the western end of Oxford Street as a faceted green shell ... the 25-metre high Marble Arch Mound is one of the more unlikely strategies for stimulating our Covid-stricken high streets." - The Guardian (UK)
On Friday, the Public Theater canceled its show for the third night in a row because of a positive COVID-19 test. Can we ever depend on live performances again? - The New York Times
Eric Clapton's "dangerous stance on vaccines has forced yet another conversation about the importance of 'separating the music from the man.'" - Los Angeles Times
When your book release happens the same week - or day - that most of your country locks down for a pandemic, well ... that was 2020 for many writers. - NPR
Unfortunately, the messaging was muddled — the ideas crowding one another out — by a ceremony most notable for how small and muted the staging felt, an effect amplified by the empty stadium. - Washington Post
Artificial intelligence is an ethical quagmire. Its power can be more than a little nauseating. But there’s a kind of unique horror to the capabilities of natural language processing. - The New Yorker
While there are many sports devotees in the Australian arts sector (as a search for the Twitter hashtag #aflartsmafia reveals), the fallacy continues that loving the arts and loving sport are somehow incompatible. - ArtsHub
"There is a kind of bibliomancy, the use of books in divination, to being a reader of fiction. This magical concept begins while book browsing." - LitHub
The US is one of the largest markets for cultural goods, so it makes good sense that our country has taken a leading role in fighting the looting of cultural artefacts. - The Art Newspaper
Universal secondary education not only elevated Americans by spreading relevant knowledge and skills to the masses. It also gave rise to a more complex social and cultural transformation, as the adolescent period became pivotal in shaping who we are. - Aeon
Joshua Kosman: "My reviews over the years have not always reflected the splendor of the Opera Chorus's artistry. … In my defense, most of the time my task is simply to find new words for an old truth... - San Francisco Chronicle
Whether it’s the young people and local businesses left traumatized by evictions due to London 2012 Games, the elderly tenants whose homes were destroyed to make way for the new National Stadium in Shinjuku, ahead of Tokyo 2020. - Fast Company
Philly didn't invent house, but it made the style its own. The city's home to several professional companies (notably Rennie Harris Puremovement, the world's longest-running street dance troupe), house dance is taught at the University of the Arts, and itinerant parties keep the scene's roots healthy. - KQED
