"On December 27, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that Amanda Jones’s 2022 defamation case against two local men who accused her of pushing pornography to children can continue. In a 4-2 ruling, the court found that an appeals court erred in denying Jones’s appeal based on an apparently missed deadline." - Publishers Weekly
"Cultural venues, festivals and events have been given a new £20 million boost weeks ahead of crucial decisions on their future funding by (Creative Scotland). The Scottish Government has committed to provide a record £74m a year for long-term funding programmes by 2026 — much more than had been expected." - The Scotsman
The funding application process for local productions has been streamlined, and the cash-back production grant (which covers foreign studios shooting in Germany as well) has been raised from 5% to 30%, making the country more competitive as a location. - Variety
A pan-European forgery network, a disputed Malevich at the Pompidou Center, supposed Monet and Renoir on eBay, yet more fake Basquiats, and the bogus Picassos in Tasmania that went undetected for over three years. - ARTnews
Step into a music class today and you might find laptops, turntables and MIDI controllers joining the expected clarinets, recorders and violins. From elementary through post-secondary schooling, some teachers are expanding music education and encouraging more students to try more contemporary forms of music-making. - CBC
"Two decades after theatre’s funding taps were turned off, editor Alistair Smith embarked on a tour from the tip to the toe of the United Kingdom, taking in productions across the four nations and speaking to those behind them, to discover how this period has shaped the industry we see today." - The Stage
Swift’s music still forms the basis of their interest in her. Fans study it like scripture, offering various interpretations of the lyrics. Uniting these interpretations is a desire to understand more about the figure of Swift and who she “really” is. - The Conversation
In The Times, Jason Farago defended an artistic movement against its detractors: “If you find Monet, Renoir, Degas too pretty and popular — if you think Impressionism is the artistic equivalent of a pumpkin spice latte — I want you to taste the espresso beneath the foam.” - The New York Times
From sexy frescoes emerging from the ashes to hidden cities surfacing due to Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) scans, archaeologists continue to make discoveries that transform our understanding of the past and how best to preserve it for the future. - Hyperallergic
Thinking hard makes sense if you want answers; it makes less sense if the highest reward you anticipate from your intellectual efforts is surprise. The difference between a philosophical life and an essayistic one is that the former aims at knowledge, while the latter aims at novelty. - Unherd
"A wax cylinder containing the oldest recorded country song was discovered in Pennsylvania. The track, 'Thompson's Old Gray Mule,' was recorded in 1891 and sung by Louis Vasnier, a Black man from New Orleans." - BBC
Young people today are no less obsessed with climate disasters than Gen X was with nuclear war. Where we had nightmares about missiles, theirs feature mass extinctions and climate refugees, wildfires and water wars. And that’s just the beginning. - The Atlantic
