"Even residents are wary of the city’s ongoing crime surge. Barely half (53%) of Cook County residents feel safe spending time in downtown Chicago (according to a Harris poll). If locals feel unsafe in their own city, how can we expect out-of-town visitors to feel comfortable?" - Crain's Chicago Business
"Although the pandemic was devastating for all arts organizations, non-majority-run organizations received a lifeline (via) government funding. … These theater companies, many of them small storefront operations, were able to add staff and produce more work. The question is whether these groups will be able to sustain their momentum." - Crain's Chicago Business
Well, yes … more or less. They are home-baked by Muppet wrangler Lara MacLean and contain entirely edible ingredients. Mind you, that doesn't mean they taste good (to humans). Flavor is not their most important quality. - The New York Times
"Authentic cuisine. Authentic voice. Authentic self. Authenticity as artifice. Lookups for the word are routinely heavy on the dictionary company’s site but were boosted to new heights throughout the year … in (this) age of deepfakes and post-truth." - AP
"Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures became a household name in the 1970s, helping launch them into creating and producing family and kids shows for more than 50 years. Eventually, Marty Krofft would be referred to as the 'King of Saturday Mornings.'” - CNN
With that sprawling stylistic range and its technical mastery, its enthusiastic curiosity about eminent and student composers alike, its precision and passion, the JACK has, since its founding in 2005, become one of contemporary music’s indispensable ensembles. - The New York Times
Now 84, Noreen Davies has gigged throughout the West Midlands with groups exploring everything from the blues to vintage jazz and big band funk. No matter the tune, she has stayed true to her vision of bending the notes on the giant horn, twisting and wailing like a held string on an electric guitar. - The Guardian
The law, passed by the Republican-dominated legislature, prohibits schools from teaching fourteen concepts, including that any individual is “inherently privileged, racist, sexist, or oppressive, whether consciously or subconsciously” and that “this state or the United States is fundamentally or irredeemably racist or sexist.” Our book examines the lingering effects of racist policies after Emancipation. - The New Yorker
ChatGPT felt new because it was capable of something much like a discussion. You can start with a half-baked idea and develop it with the AI’s help, using it as an aid to your own creativity. However, with each iteration of ChatGPT, ever more questions generate a stock or evasive response. - The Atlantic
“When a society cannot withstand diverse voices, it teeters on the brink of collapse. I am committed to voicing my perspective. The irony lies in staging such an exhibition precisely when art is most crucial for expressing alternative perspectives. Yet, self-censorship robs artists of this vital opportunity, a poignant contradiction in a time demanding diverse voices.” - Hyperallergic
Ideally, music festivals serve two purposes. They engage audiences by focusing on some topic in concentrated fashion and they generate interest in a given organization by presenting something out of the ordinary. But when they do neither, they mostly make observers wonder what went wrong—even when much went right. - The Wall Street Journal
While the current legacy-I.P. production boom is focused on fictional characters, there’s no reason to think it won’t, in the future, take the form of beloved real-life entertainers being endlessly re-presented to us with help from new tools. - The New York Times
Ravishing individual songs may reassure us that no one is alone but, in the five decades since “Company” made his reputation, Mr. Sondheim had been creating group portraits of a crowded world where loneliness was an existential fact. - The New York Times
"Without distractions, the days seemed to expand. We learned to harvest time, an idea that came to us in national forests across the U.S. We realized that days undisturbed by digital interruptions made time slow down and improved the quality of our time together." - The Atlantic
The academic music sector is fractured, especially in relation to classical music. This mirrors wider cuts or proposed cuts to English National Opera, BBC Orchestras and other institutions, and needs major shifts in government policy if the situation is to be reversed. - The Critic
