Stories

The Half-Dozen DC-Area Venues Where The National Symphony Will Play This Season

“Many performances will be staged at multiple venues, bringing the NSO to new places and making the shows more accessible to the broader D.C. region than ever before. With so many venues to choose from, we put together a guide.” - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)

Following Trump’s Example, The “South Park” Guys Rename Their Show “South America”

“Inspired by the bravery and patriotism of Apple and Google, we are changing the name of South Park to SOUTH AMERICA,” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker said in a statement. “We especially want to thank our parent company Paramount – a Skydance Capitulation.” - The Guardian

Appalled Eiffel Tower Staffers Strike After Their Female Colleagues Are Told To Make Themselves Scarce

“The Eiffel Tower closed Monday due to strikes over outrage that female workers were allegedly ordered to leave and stay out of sight to comply with a special request from a traditional Hindu delegation that visited the monument over the weekend.” - ARTnews

Anna Netrebko’s Lawsuit Against Met Opera Thrown Out For Second Time

“In her decision, ... Judge Annalisa Torres said that Netrebko and her team failed to prove that Peter Gelb ‘acted with actual malice when he made the allegedly defamatory statements.’ Additionally, the judge concluded that Netrebko’s team were unable to prove that ‘Gelb’s 2024 and 2025 remarks’ were made in retaliation for the lawsuit.” - OperaWire

Cate Blanchett, Herbert Blomstedt, Jenny Holzer, Daniel Libeskind, Andy Goldsworthy Win 2026 Praemium Imperiale

This year’s laurates of the ¥15 million (approximately $95,000) prize, awarded by the Japan Art Association in the categories of painting, sculpture, architecture, theatre/film, and music, are visual artists Holzer and Goldsworthy, architect Libeskind, actress Blanchett, and 99-year-old conductor Herbert Blomstedt, who was still working until earlier this year. - Artforum

The Dance-Pop Singer That Argentines Treat As A Saint, Complete With Prayers, Shrines And Miracles

Miriam Alejandra Bianchi, known by the stage name Gilda, died 30 years ago in a highway collision, and she’s since become one of Argentina’s many folk saints, not officially recognized by the Vatican but venerated by ordinary people nevertheless. Gilda’s wrecked tour bus has even become a pilgrimage site. - AP

What Does A Healthy Arts Ecosystem Look Like?

A healthy cultural ecosystem needs not just the creation and presentation of art. It needs education, access, discovery, interpretation and criticism, documentation, advocacy, funding, participation, connection, preservation and audience development. - Culture OC

Fans Are Angry That This Season’s “Dancing With The Stars” Features Stars Who Can Already Dance

“Why do you keep adding professionally trained dancers to the cast?” tweeted one fan in response to the news that the next crop of celebrity competitors — Jenna Dewan, Julia Stiles, and Harry Shum Jr. — have all at some point danced for their livelihood. - The Independent (UK)

Hollywood’s Record Summer Box Office Has Analysts Dreaming Of A $10B Year

The summer’s total was a nearly 30% improvement on the lackluster 2025 season. Notably, this summer’s tally was 9% higher than that of the same period in 2019 — before the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes upended the industry — though when accounting for inflation, this summer ends up ranking below. - Los Angeles Times

Trump Attacks UK Plans To Boost BBC On YouTube

In a submission to Britain’s consultation on the proposals, the U.S. government said the plans would be state meddling in the algorithms of American companies that could amount to “extraterritorial censorship of protected speech by Americans online.” - Deadline

How Knowledge Is Assembled

Just because something makes sense doesn’t mean that it’s true. Even valid reasoning cannot establish that its starting premises are correct. Even today, science continues to rely on experience, reasoning, and knowledge passed down by others. Much of the scientific process comes down to how we check our knowledge. - 3 Quarks Daily

American Literary Culture Is Besotted With Reissues

“If the past few years of American literary publishing have had a zeitgeist, it has been more like a series of geists from zeits past.” - n+1

The Making Of A de Kooning

Like Balanchine, de Kooning made images for the mind about the body as it was expressed in the streets of the city. Sometimes, when I watch Balanchine’s choreography, I can’t help imagining “Monumental Woman” and other drawings from the “Women” series flashing behind the dancers as they embody de Kooning’s symphony of flesh. - The New Yorker

Smithsonian Chief Lonnie Bunch To Retire Amid Trump’s Culture-War Attacks

“Bunch's resignation comes at one of the most politically fraught moments in the Smithsonian's 180-year history. ... Trump has sought to purge what he calls ‘improper ideology’ from its museums, while his administration has threatened the institution's federal funding, tried to fire a museum director and challenged its authority over personnel and exhibitions.” - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)

How Neoliberal Policies Corroded Democracy (And How To Fix It)

Promises of prosperity by Reagan, Thatcher and other advocates of neoliberalism were mistaken because it brought only fragility to previously prosperous democracies. - Aeon

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