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The Man Who Saved The Slovenian Language

Over six centuries in the Habsburg empire and most of another in Yugoslavia, the tongue of this tiny Alpine land might well have faded away. But one dedicated (or obsessive) 18th-century priest/author/publisher led the effort to mold a bunch of hillbilly dialects into a serious language. - Atlas Obscura

They Said COVID Would Kill Cities. Clearly It Hasn’t

What is so alluring about the perpetually imminent End of Cities? Why won’t that idea itself die? - The New York Times

British TV Has Become A Major Worldwide Export

And it isn't just Downton Abbey and Killing Eve: MasterChef and Naked Attraction air in dozens of countries. In fact, other nations are now considering mandated limits, fearing that UK programming is crowding out their own industries. - The Guardian

The Arts Have A Class Problem

Our research found that a complex blend of social inequalities, labour market failures, and outright discrimination are making these jobs so exclusive and keeping talented working-class people from making it. - The Conversation

Robots Are Now Sculpting In Carrara Marble

AI software isn't designing the sculptures in the Italian quarry town (yet), but it is controlling precision machines that do the strenuous grinding and chiseling of rock that used to wear out human sculptors' bodies. - The New York Times

Movie Theatre Stocks Down As Industry Realigns

“Imagine being a theater owner and realizing studios need you less and less every day. Leverage is shifting rapidly in the streaming era toward the studios.” - Deadline

Wayne McGregor: ”We Need, In Dance, To Slightly Rebalance What It Is We’re Watching And What We’re Expecting”

"The more we see diverse body types on stage, the more people understand that dance as an expressive art form can have this wide range. It doesn't have to be a narrow version of what a sylph is like." - The Guardian

Warner (Seeing Easy Money) Introduces “NFTs For The Masses”

Nifty’s, which launches on Monday, is all about making NFTs more accessible to the average person who may not want to spend money (let alone millions) on a digital file that’s stored on a blockchain network. - Fast Company

The Play For Our Moment? A Harold Pinter One-Act From 1960

Charles McNulty: "The Dumb Waiter lampoons the subservience to authoritarian power by focusing on the behavior of the stooges. Pinter humorously captures their moral rationalizations, their willingness to answer even the most nonsensical of demands, the way their own brutality suffuses them with fear." - Los Angeles Times

Master Bluegrass Fiddler Byron Berline Dead At 77

"Weaving elements of pop, jazz, blues and rock into an old-timey approach to his instrument, Mr. Berline contributed instrumentals" to recordings by Bob Dylan, The Band, and The Rolling Stones. Yet "he was considered a musical visionary in his own right" as well. - The New York Times

‘Voice Cloning’ — AI-Generated Copies Of Individuals’ Speech Intrigues And Worries Voice Actors

Artificial intelligence software can now create very convincing reproductions of people's vocal timbres and speech patterns. Could this be a tool to let voice performers accept more work, a tool for taking work from them, or both? - BBC

Jerry Saltz Turns Down $250K Substack Offer To Stay At New York Mag

The Pulitzer-winning art critic said tweeted, "I think it's fishy to always be barking to your readers to subscribe. … I like being in my huge department store @Nymag where people find me who have no idea who I am … or even thought about art before." - Twitter

Who’s Up For Taking Over Dallas’s Classical Radio Station?

Last month, the City of Dallas, which owns and (for now) operates WRR Classical 101 FM, issued a Request for Proposals from nonprofits to take over management of the money-losing station. Fortunately, both of the top logical candidates are interested. - The Dallas Morning News

You’ll Still Be Wearing Masks At Performances In England, Even After July 19

Freedom Day (as Boris Johnson has called it) will see all COVID-related legal restrictions on arts venues lifted, but the Society of London Theatres and UK Theatre will continue to "strongly encourage" all audience members to mask up. - WhatsOnStage (London)

Verbier Festival Orchestra Quarantined, Misses Its First Concert Of Year

Nine cases of COVID have been discovered (so far) among the orchestra's young musicians, who are isolating from everyone else at the site. The opening concert has been reprogrammed for the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, a separate group. - The Violin Channel

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