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Teatro ZinZanni Is Ending Its Chicago And Seattle Shows

The dinner theater/circus arts hybrid's founder says that attendance never really recovered from COVID, but that, this past fall, there began a fatal decline in sales which he attributed to an uncertain economy and fear of ICE. - WBEZ (Chicago)

With Little Warning, SFMOMA “Pauses” Its Free First Thursday Program

“Free First Thursday, which waives the general admission fee for all Bay Area residents from 4-8 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month, has been temporarily halted starting in February. … No return date has been set, but SFMOMA plans to announce a new program series in the summer.” - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)

Studio Museum In Harlem Closed Through Next Week Due To “Sprinkler Emergency”

Last Saturday, as museum staff were preparing the building for the winter storm, a sprinkler malfunction caused water to pour from a ceiling near the gift shop. The building was evacuated and closed for this week, but full repairs will require one additional week. - ARTnews

Despite Withdrawal Of Federal Funding, Public TV And Radio Are Hanging In There

“Six months after the funding cuts, few public TV or radio stations have closed their doors. Many have scraped together a patchwork of funding from concerned donors, philanthropies or government grants. Others, facing insurmountable budget issues, have resorted to mergers with bigger stations to stay online.” - The New York Times

Finally, A New Broadway Musical Is Turning A Profit

“The Outsiders, … which opened in April 2024 and won the Tony Award for best new musical two months later, has recouped its $22 million capitalization costs. … The milestone, though occasionally achieved by plays and musical revivals, is an increasingly rare one for new musicals.” - The New York Times

Study: AI “Creativity” Leads To Cultural Stagnation

The researchers called the outcomes “visual elevator music” – pleasant and polished, yet devoid of any real meaning. - The Conversation

Trump Tries To Shift Blame For “Massive Deficit” At Kennedy Center

He posted on Truth Social, referring to cascading cancellations and plummeting ticket sales, “People don’t realize that The Trump Kennedy Center suffered massive deficits for many years and, like everything else, I merely came in to save it and, if possible, make it far better than ever before!” - The Daily Beast

It’s An Old Question, But Let’s Consider Art Versus Entertainment

Entertainment is about diversion and pleasure. Fun. It occupies our attention, distracts us from boredom, and amuses. But many things in life can do that: food, games, conversation, idle distractions. If we define art solely as entertainment, we risk conflating it with any activity that gives pleasure, and end up with nothing distinctive about art. - 3Quarks Daily

How The First Indigenous Work Commissioned By A Major Dance Company Came To Be

It’s part of an effort by the Royal Winnipeg, Canada’s oldest professional ballet company, to foster meaningful reconciliation with the country’s Indigenous people — echoing a broader national goal that has been pursued for decades. - The New York Times

How Anthropic Scanned And Destroyed Millions Of Books Into Its AI Model

Within about a year, according to the filings, the company had spent tens of millions of dollars to acquire and slice the spines off millions of books, before scanning their pages to feed more knowledge into the AI models behind products such as its popular chatbot Claude. - Washington Post

National Parks Pull Historical Signs And Displays To Comply With New Trump Directives

Trump officials have ordered national parks to remove dozens of signs and displays related to climate change, environmental protection and settlers’ mistreatment of Native Americans in a renewed push to implement President Donald Trump’s executive order on “restoring truth and sanity to American history.” - Washington Post

How Do We Compete When “Excellence” Is No Longer The Quality That Stands Out?

The question is no longer just "How do we play Beethoven better?" but "How do we survive as a cultural institution in a digitized, competitive economy?" in a way to convince 21st-century society that it is still worthy? - LinkedIn

Understanding The Trade In Culture Between The US And Canada

In 2023, the United States accounts for roughly two-thirds of all cultural exports ($18.1 billion, or 67%) and imports ($22.2 billion, or 62%). Canada had a $4.2 billion trade deficit with the USA in 2023. - Statistical Insights on the Arts

Too Much TV? Let’s Think About What’s At Stake

I can’t imagine saying to my son that TV kills brain cells, but I do think it — or fear it. Our language might have shifted (today we talk about rotting), but the notion endures that watching too much TV and other visual content is detrimental for kids or at least has a whiff of moral failing. - The New York...

How El Sistema Has Survived During Venezuela’s Turmoil

Eduardo Méndez acknowledges that running El Sistema with the political and social backdrop of recent years has been challenging. - NPR

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