Stories

Are Opponents Of The Paramount/Warner Merger Defining The Movie Market Wrong?

By focusing narrowly on the theatrical release market, the AGs and judge are like Norma Desmond clinging to a bygone era. The same is true of the deal’s union opponents in Hollywood who worry the merger could result in fewer of their films premiering on the big screen. - The Wall Street Journal

Robert Cole, Who Made Berkeley’s Cal Performances Into One Of America’s Leading Arts Presenters, Has Died At 95

During his tenure as director (1986-2009), Cal Performances developed longstanding partnerships with myriad performers and organizations, from Merce Cunningham to Mark Morris Dance Group, from Laurie Anderson to Robert Wilson to Robert Lepage, from Les Arts Florissants to Jordi Savall to Philip Glass to the Kronos Quartet. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

Banning Books Is Not Enough: One Florida County Questions Whether There Should Even Be School Libraries

The school board of Clay County (mostly suburbs of Jacksonville) has ordered an unusually large selection, even by Florida standards, of titles off its public school bookshelves. Now some of its members are debating “what would be a high-level function for that space” instead. (One official suggested school stores.) - WUSF (Tampa)

Marlboro Music Festival At 75

“The most important thing about Marlboro, musicians say, is that it removes the pressure of performance. Ensembles are free to rehearse and study as long as they wish. … The outsize focus on study and exploration raises the question of whether Marlboro is, at heart, a festival or a school.” - The New York Times

Scottish Ballet Cancels Week Of Edinburgh Performances Because Lodging There Is Too Expensive

The company, based in Glasgow, will cut short its December run of Cinders in Edinburgh, canceling Christmas-to-New-Year’s-week shows, because — especially with an upcoming 5% addition to the hotel tax — the cost of accommodation for up to 150 performers and crew is simply too high. - STV News (Scotland)

Judge Approves $1.5 Billion Settlement Of Author/Publisher Lawsuit Against Anthropic

“A federal judge has approved a $1.5 billion copyright settlement in which artificial intelligence company Anthropic will pay thousands of authors about $3,000 per book after using pirated copies of their works to train its Claude chatbot.” - AP

The Next Director Of Britain’s Tate Galleries Will Be —

— Jessica Morgan, currently director of New York’s Dia Art Foundation. “Morgan will need to guide the organisation through a difficult financial landscape, raise poor staff morale and grapple with fluctuating visitor numbers.” - The Guardian

Fired Trinity Wall Street Music Director Pleads Guilty To Possession Of Child Sexual Abuse Material

“Conductor and composer Julian Wachner has agreed to plead guilty to five counts of possession of child sex abuse material and to one count of possession of cocaine after he admitted to using cryptocurrency hundreds of times to buy (such imagery). … Wachner could be facing 10 years in prison.” - OperaWire

Monumental Chilean Mural Painted Over By Pinochet Is Being Uncovered

Beginning and End, a 452-square-foot mural painted by Julio Escámez, was unveiled in 1972 by the Allende-aligned government of the city of Chillán, 250 miles south of Santiago. After Pinochet’s coup, he ordered the mural destroyed, and it was thought lost; in 2021, conservators discovered that it had been only painted over. - Artnet

Disney Cutting Hundreds Of Creative Jobs

Disney is cutting several hundred positions, with Pixar and National Geographic among the divisions most affected by the move. - Deadline

Many Theatregoers No Longer Know The Difference Between Previews And Post-Opening Night

“The distinction between a preview and an official opening night, once a universally understood boundary, has become increasingly blurred. In an era dominated by instant social media reaction, some no longer seem to realise there is a difference at all.” - WhatsOnStage (UK)

Ten New Stadiums That Will Change The Form

Stadiums are no longer just being designed for matchdays, with architects boldly pursuing novelty to create distinctive year-round landmarks. - Dezeen

How $50 Million Could Make An Impact On American Literary Arts

Stabilizing a modest number of impactful, sustainable nonprofit literary organizations via large, annual gifts puts them in the best position to do what they do best—which is find great books to publish, support translations, and dream up new ways to reach readers—rather than having to spend so much time drumming up funding. - Publishing Perspectives

Revisiting The Tortured History Of America’s Culture Wars

“One of the sad things about this story is that we did not emerge with a more active, permanent activist constituency for the arts in America. We got complacent and people were exhausted. - The Guardian

What Leading Classics Scholars Have To Say About Christopher Nolan’s “Odyssey” Film

Both Emily Wilson, who published a widely acclaimed English translation of The Odyssey in 2017, and well-known professor/writer/editor Daniel Mendelsohn are glad the movie is out there and doing so well, and they praise a number of the film’s elements, but they each think Nolan missed something crucial in the original. - AP

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