The subject has grown rarer as the art world has gotten more commercial, but there are still people who immerse themselves in projects that take years and sometimes decades to complete, assuming they have any end date at all. - The New York Times
“I thought the (wider) world was so interesting (when I was young), and outside was where I could breathe. I think the world I was coming from was not one in which I could survive. As a queer, white Arab (in Belgium), everything about me was problematic for my environment.” - The Guardian
Call the genre the AI-and-I essay. Between April and July, the New Yorker published more than a dozen such pieces: essays about generative AI and the dangers it poses to literacy, education, and human cognition. Each had a searching, plaintive web headline. - n+1
The Trump administration’s settlement proposal to UCLA — which includes a nearly $1.2-billion fine over allegations of antisemitism and civil rights violations — seeks to drastically overhaul campus practices on hiring, admissions, sports, scholarships, discrimination and gender identity. - Los Angeles Times
“When I started the Institute, the major studios dominated the game, which I was a part of,. I wanted to focus on the word ‘independence’ and those sidelined by the majors — supporting those sidelined by the dominant voices. To give them a voice. - Los Angeles Times
“A spokesperson said the number eligible for voluntary redundancy was 420 of its (835) permanent employees, as part of a programme running until October 5, following which compulsory redundancies will begin.” - The Stage
Chris Jones has a look at the company’s three-theater headquarters, which has just undergone an on-time, on-budget $80 million renovation, and at the programming and engagement strategies which help maintain Milwaukee Rep’s growing audience base and healthy finances. - Chicago Tribune (Yahoo!)
Philip Kennicott: “If you can erase ‘The Scourged Back,’ if you can erase … any one of the millions of enslaved people who suffered similar torments or worse, then you can erase anything, and nothing will trouble the American conscience ever again.” - The Washington Post (Yahoo!)
The agreement, retroactive to Nov. 24, 2024 and ending on Nov. 20, 2027, maintains the starting weekly base salary of $3,450, with biannual increases which rise to $3,960 (making an annual minimum salary of $205,920) in the last six months of the contract. - Riff Magazine (San Francisco)
“Fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide in the capital’s air are accelerating the decay of the sandstone fort, built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan and recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Researchers … found black crusts up to half a millimetre thick on some walls.” - The Independent (UK)
“For the past decade, visitors to the Louvre could rent a Nintendo 3DS console for personalized tours, audio commentary and additional information about more than 700 artworks at the famed Paris museum. Now, the Louvre is getting rid of the handheld gadgets” — because Nintendo has stopped making them. - Smithsonian Magazine
In 2024, due to data security concerns, Congress passed legislation requiring the Chinese company ByteDance to either sell TikTok to an American owner or withdraw the app from the U.S. market. Presidents Trump and Xi Jinping will reportedly speak on Friday to finalize a deal. - AP
Working with a physician and several dancers, Lynne Charles (who had a 35-year-career as a principal ballerina) developed 4Pointe, a somatic method to strengthen specific muscles for pointe work. “It’s not meant to replace traditional pointe class,” she stresses. “It’s meant to go hand-in-hand alongside it, like Pilates or Gyrotonic.” - Pointe Magazine
Headlines focus on that tiny segment of the arts that garners extraordinary numbers (whether readers, audience members, or dollars). The lucky writers and performers are ultimately discovered and rewarded with untold riches and rewards. But what about those creative people—many quite talented, a few geniuses—who struggle to have their work recognized? - Nightingale Sonata
“In the months and years since the siege that destroyed it, the city has been turned into a showcase of the concept of the ‘Russian world’ — an idea of Russia as encompassing nations in its former sphere of influence — and an exemplary model of forced Russification.” - The Dial
