ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

Stories

DC’s Woolly Mammoth Theatre Appoints New Artistic Director

“Reggie D. White, whose résumé spans acting, directing and playwriting in addition to in-office leadership, will (succeed) Maria Manuela Goyanes, (who) announced her departure in March for New York’s Lincoln Center Theatre.” White will be only the third director in the company’s 45-year history. - The Washington Post (MSN)

Philadelphia Will Host A Five-Week Arts Festival For America’s 250th Birthday

“Dozens of Philadelphia artists across disciplines will present more than 30 original works, staged from late May to July 2026 in venues around Philadelphia, coinciding with the Fourth of July and FIFA World Cup matches as part of the city’s Semiquincentennial events.” - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

Playwright Jeremy O. Harris Released From Custody In Japan

“The Tony-nominated playwright and actor (was) released after spending three weeks in custody on suspicion of attempting to smuggle illegal drugs into the country. … (A) spokesman declined to say whether Mr. Harris had been charged.” - The New York Times

Workers At Louvre Vote Unanimously To Strike

“The museum is in ‘crisis,’ with insufficient resources and ‘increasingly deteriorated working conditions,’ said the unions’ strike notice to Culture Minister Rachida Dati.” - AP

Eight Matisse Prints Stolen In Brazil

“In a daylight robbery on Sunday, two armed thieves stole eight prints by Henri Matisse and at least five engravings by Brazilian modernist painter Cândido Portinari from the Mário de Andrade Library in São Paulo.” - ARTnews

Struggling To Define Intelligence: What Does It Take?

We are running out of intelligence tests that humans can pass reliably and AI models cannot. By those benchmarks, and if we accept that intelligence is essentially computational — the view held by most computational neuroscientists — we must accept that a working ‘simulation’ of intelligence actually is intelligence. - Nature

Spotify Wrapped Is Everything That’s Wrong About Our Outsourced Musical Taste

It nudges listeners away from deep consideration and towards accepting a corporate-branded scorecard reflecting a very specific perspective on musical value. It encourages music fans to believe that the records they streamed the most must be the ones they liked the most, which is surely not always the case. - The Guardian

Architecture Is Shifting From The “Lone Genius” Model To Collective Activism

Architects are expanding their boundaries into other fields such as gastronomy, music, design, and the corporate world, applying spatial thinking to address challenges of various kinds. As social, environmental, and political crises deepen, the role of the architect continues to evolve from a solitary author to a mediator, activist, and collective agent of transformation. - ArchDaily

Inside The Enormous New Grand Egyptian Museum

Located on a desert plateau formed by the Nile thousands of years ago, the Museum's geological setting was integral to the design. Beginning at a focal point outside of the entrance, the Museum structure radiates outward toward the pyramids along a visual axis that aligns directly with the positioning of the three pyramids. - ArchDaily

Why Small Publishers Are In Crisis

There’s a sense that big publishing has stopped investing in people, authors, and good writing, and is just producing huge amounts of product, which means a completely oversaturated market and overstuffed bookstores. - LitHub

Trump’s FTC Might Block The Netflix/Warner Deal. That Wouldn’t Be A Bad Thing

From a competition standpoint, Warner Bros. going to Netflix is sharp a step in the wrong direction. It’s turbocharging the runaway market leader, leaving the other studios’ streaming services to wither on the vine. - Slate

How An Ex-Actress Created Tilly, The AI Actress

Eline Van der Velden toiled with her 15-person team to nail down the look of her leading lady, creating 2,000 iterations of an actress unbound by the limits of physical ability, age or talent. She passed on dud iterations with the ruthless efficiency of a casting director who makes actors cry at auditions. - The Wall Street Journal

How Netflix Swallowed Hollywood

Piece by piece, Netflix has disrupted a more-than-century-old industry, from the way consumers rent movies and TV shows, to the cadence at which new series are released and even the economics of how entertainment is made. - The Wall Street Journal

Another Big Departure At The George Lucas Museum

“There are no immediate plans to replace Pilar’s role as Chief Curator and Deputy Director of Curatorial and Collections,” wrote interim Chief Executive Jim Gianopulos in an email obtained by The Times. “George Lucas will continue to oversee curatorial content and direction.” - Los Angeles Times

Are Indie Studios Dead? Not According To The Golden Globes Nominations

A24 and Neon absolutely dominated the best picture nominations, leaving predicted nominees like Wicked: For Good and Jay Kelly out in the cold. - The New York Times

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss

function my_excerpt_length($length){ return 200; } add_filter('excerpt_length', 'my_excerpt_length');