Stories

What’s Behind The Current Wave Of Theater, Film, Literature, And Other Art About AIDS

Much of the new work being done has a sense of mission — a feeling that, 45 years after the epidemic first broke out, something many gay people today are too young to remember — a struggle that changed our world cannot be permitted to recede into mere abstraction. - T — The New York Times Style Magazine

Did Drought Really Cause The Collapse Of Ancient Maya? New Studies Cast Doubt

Taken together, the research is part of a shift in how researchers have come to consider one of antiquity’s great mysteries, awakening yet another fierce debate in academia over the effects of climate on civilizations, and why they fray. - Washington Post

Auction House Phillips Appears To Be Reinventing Its Business

In conversations with several people with intimate knowledge of Phillips, past and present, it appears Phillips has decided it doesn’t want to be the same company it spent the last decade trying to become. - ARTnews

WBUR Chief To Step Down

Margaret Low joined NPR at age 23 as an overnight production assistant and rose to senior vice president for news, the network’s top editorial job. She then spent five years running The Atlantic’s live events division before becoming WBUR’s first CEO in January 2020 – “just in time for a global pandemic,” she said. - WBUR

YouTube Intends To Start Offering Audiobooks

“YouTube has weighed bundling the product in its ad-free YouTube Premium service, which starts at $15.99 a month and includes access to music and videos, the people said. Like other streaming platforms vying for consumers’ attention, YouTube has packaged offerings together to make lucrative subscriptions more appealing.” - The Wall Street Journal (MSN)

While Partly Closed For Construction, Broad Museum In L.A. Will Lend Scores Of Artworks To Paris

“The museum announced Tuesday that it's shipping 164 works to the Frank Gehry-designed Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris for its most extensive exhibition ever mounted outside Los Angeles. The show will open April 21 and run through Aug. 30,” as the Broad finishes major construction on a new extension. - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

Bayeux Tapestry Will Return Home Next Summer To A Completely Different Display Format

Before the 770-pound, 220-foot-long embroidery left its eponymous museum in France for London, it was hung vertically. At the British Museum, the enormous textile is lying flat in a display case in a darkened room, a format which the post-renovation Bayeux Museum will (mostly) adopt. - ARTnews

After Decades On The Sidelines, American Contemporary Opera Is Now Thriving

After a few decades when most US companies (especially the Met) treated new opera like kryptonite, many are now presenting a contemporary work almost every season — and selling lots of tickets. Michael Zwiebach examines why this is happening now. - San Francisco Classical Voice

The First Opera About Russia’s War On Ukraine Has Its Premiere

The Mothers of Kherson, with music by Ukrainian composer Maxim Kolomiiets and libretto by American playwright George Brant, was commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera three years ago and got its first full performance on Friday at the Polish National Opera in Warsaw. (The Met premiere is scheduled for April 2028.) - The New York Times

Teenage Suspect Arrested In Case Where Actor Was Chased Through Streets Before Performance

The incident happened last week at England’s Chichester Festival Theatre: last Tuesday’s performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream was cancelled after a cast member reported that he’d just been chased through the streets by people shouting abuse. One 16-year-old suspect has been arrested and charged. - The News (Portsmouth, UK)

Ann Hornaday, Longtime Washington Post Film Critic, Is Dead At 66

“(She) brought a casual, if knowledgeable, approach to her reviews, writing more from the viewpoint of a popcorn-eating moviegoer than from the lofty perch of a scholar of cinema. She wrote hundreds of reviews ... over more than 20 years and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in criticism in 2008.” - The Washington Post (MSN)

Louvre Temporarily Closes During French Protests

The Louvre temporarily closed Monday due to about 50 protesting arts and culture students, who blocked its glass pyramid entrance, Le Figaro reports.  - ARTnews

Why Awards Shows Are Leaving Broadcast For Streaming

In recent years, the shows have become money losers and the network TV business — faced with a decline in viewers that is squeezing profits — are cutting them loose. - Los Angeles Times

Pilot Draws Mona Lisa In The Sky

After four hours of these intricate aerobatics, he had sketched a version of the Mona Lisa instantly recognizable to anyone tracking his flight online. - The New York Times

Writers Are Struggling To Prove They’re Human

As AI-generated writing floods the internet, more people are trying to detect which creators are using such tools to spin up copy. That means writers penning all their own work—and people who acknowledge using chatbots for help—are trying to master something they never worried about before: how to sound human. - The Wall Street Journal

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