"Equity said its members in the ENO chorus would vote in early January on whether to launch industrial action. The union said it was fighting plans to cut chorus salaries by 40% under moves to shorten their contracts" with ENO's reduced season in London and headquarters move to Manchester. - The Guardian
Joanna Smith pled guilty to injuring museum property, punishable by up to five years' imprisonment; Tim Martin wants to see what a jury will say about his act and the "end-of-the-world climate emergency." The two splashed paint on the case of a Degas at the National Gallery. - The Washington Post (MSN)
"What should Wagner look like in the age of the Wagner Group? How can the hammer of the Norse god Thor appear on stage, after the Russian mercenary army used a sledgehammer to shatter a captive’s skull, his face bound with clingfilm, in a video broadcast to the world?" - The New European
The very idea of popularity is up for debate: Is that trend really viral? Did everyone see that post, or is it just my little corner of the internet? More than before, it feels like we’re holding a fun-house mirror up to the internet and struggling to make sense of the distorted picture. - The Atlantic (MSN)
Researchers such as Jonathan Haidt and Jean Twenge have shown that various measures of student well-being began a sharp decline around 2012 throughout the West, just as smartphones and social media emerged as the attentional centerpiece of teenage life. Some have even suggested that smartphone use is so corrosive, it’s systematically reducing student achievement. - The Atlantic
There is a significant audience for arts and culture: 96% of adults in Aotearoa New Zealand participated in arts and cultural events in the past three years. As we argue in the report, strengthening arts and culture media leads to better public conversations, more engaged arts consumers, and a healthier arts and culture sector. - IJNet
Children start to distinguish fantasy from reality around preschool, but a belief in Santa Claus or Father Christmas usually lasts longer, to around seven or eight years old, according to research conducted in the United States in the 1980s and ’90s. - Psyche
In total, the BBC has now spoken to more than 100 former dancers who attended UK schools from the 1990s through to the present day, and who all claim they experienced a "damaging" culture. - BBC
The discovery and development of synthetic aniline dyes in the 1850s and the widespread adoption of color printing in the following decade made the brightly colored paper greetings, once hand-crafted and very expensive, available to regular people. - The Guardian
Arts Council of Wales (ACW) previously announced that the theatre charity's £1.6m support was to be cut down to nothing following an investment review. But after NTW recently said it had won an appeal against the cuts, ACW "agreed unanimously" the cuts should still go ahead. - BBC
"A best-selling author, essayist, playwright and screenwriter, (his) satirical prose examined Jewish angst, women and sex, and (he) later produced a series of humorous children’s books." - The New York Times
"Like all exuberant behaviour, it takes you off the scale, so if you are really overwhelmed you have nowhere to go aside from making your standing ovation last even longer." - BBC
Notwithstanding the big bets on the continent made by Netflix and Showmax, "multiple producers and executives in countries including Nigeria and Kenya … said African producers in 2023 had to adapt to tighter production budgets driven by harsh macroeconomic conditions, and they expect more of the same in 2024." - Semafor
"Honestly, the majority is always wrong. Music is just the backdrop to their life. I’m not saying that mainstream music isn’t important to them, but they’re not connoisseurs. They’re not making it their whole life. But the people who really love it, they will be at the shows." - The Wall Street Journal
"The reason … is one that several pop stars who made it out of the 20th century have cited lately. 'The road life just got too hard,' (said) Alan Paul, 74 and one of the two remaining original members. 'And schlepping doesn’t swing.'" - San Francisco Classical Voice
