A set of 13th-century murals from the Sijena Monastery in Spain were taken to Barcelona for safekeeping during the Spanish Civil War and are now in the National Art Museum of Catalonia — which is defying a court order to return them, saying the artworks are too fragile to be moved. - ARTnews
“Barack and Michelle Obama‘s production company Higher Ground is transitioning to an independent operation following eight years at Netflix.” - The Hollywood Reporter
“Across a career that stretched more than four decades, Hayward developed a reputation for paintings that were both restrained and intensely physical. His best-known works used dense layers of oil paint and repeated diagonal strokes to build ridged, meditative surfaces that explored color, gesture and the material force of paint itself.” - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
Plans for Trump’s National Garden Of American Heroes still haven’t been submitted to the agencies which must approve it. The choice of site hasn’t even been finalized. Artists and foundries that applied to work on the sculptures haven't heard anything back — and the statues are supposed to be finished by June. - CNN
“Nearly a year and a half after its prior effort to acquire the right-wing conspiracy-centric brand Infowars was nixed by a bankruptcy judge, The Onion is moving forward with a new effort to take over the company and secure justice for the families of Sandy Hook victims.” - The Hollywood Reporter
“The ALA on Monday issued its annual list of the books most challenged at the country’s libraries, part of the association’s State of America’s Libraries Report. … The (list) usually features 10 books, but this year has 11, with four tied for eighth place.” - AP
Shortly after authoritarian president Viktor Orbán took office in 2010, Schiff vowed that he would not return to his homeland as long as Orbán was in power. With the latter’s resounding loss in last week’s elections, Schiff has accepted the invitation of Budapest’s mayor to give a large public concert there. - Telex (Hungary)
Actors, musicians and politicians in sequined ball gowns and floral off-the-shoulder dresses ascended the steps of the New York Public Library’s regal main branch on Friday night to pose between the lions before the Martha Graham Dance Company’s 100th anniversary gala. - The New York Times
Enter Michael Govan, who joined LACMA in 2006. He wooed Swiss architect Peter Zumthor to conceive of a better LACMA, convinced the county to put in $125 million, and raised more than $500 million in private funds. Now, nearly 20 years later, Los Angeles has a new museum. What could be wrong with that? - LA Material
It is a free-form essay in concrete and glass, with no formal entrance, no front or back. Its undulating form has earned its share of abuse, and it has been compared to a pancake or an amoeba. If anything, it is a playful building, out for a 900-foot stroll. - The Wall Street Journal
The Geffen’s architecture overwhelms its objects. Entombed in a concrete bunker—one of the stand-alone galleries—and battling hulking walls and cavernous space, one of LACMA’s greatest masterpieces, Georges de La Tour’s “The Magdalen With the Smoking Flame” (c. 1635-37), doesn’t stand a chance. - The Wall Street Journal
Carson Zuck, 22, was a freshman in college when ChatGPT was released. As Berklee began integrating AI into courses, Zuck said, he watched his education go through the “five stages of grief” where denial arrived first and acceptance came later. - WBUR
Nexstar and Tegna, two of the largest television groups in the United States, agreed to merge last year in a $6.2 billion deal that put scores of stations under the umbrella of Nexstar, the biggest local broadcaster in the industry. - The New York Times
More people are going to the theatre than ever before. In 2025, over 37 million people attended theatres across the UK, while the West End alone welcomed a record-breaking 17.64 million theatregoers, almost three million more than Broadway. But behind the success story lies a quieter reality: the financial model that sustains British theatre is under growing strain. - UK Theatre
The most successful organizations of 2026 and beyond will not be those that simply use AI to do more things faster. Instead, they will be the ones that use AI as a creativity accelerator, freeing up human capacity for the work that only we can do: imagining, connecting, and creating meaning. - Fast Company
