Treating freedom of expression and social cohesion as trade-offs is a category error. Freedom of expression is an internal attribute of cultural activity, an inherent good. Without it there is no culture worthy of the name, only sanctioned content. - ArtsHub
Adelaide Wisdom Benjamin, a queen of Carnival who became a lawyer and philanthropist whose gifts of money, determination and leadership helped save New Orleans’ symphony orchestra, died Saturday in her sleep at her New Orleans home. - NOLA.com
“Maybe it was very important, and maybe you’re a doctor, and you’re saving someone’s life, and I hope you are, but we do see these, we do feel them. I’ve got you, I feel like I’ve got to hold you all, so when I feel that and see it, it’s hard.” - The Guardian
The orchestra’s keyboardist had suddenly fallen ill. Was there by any chance a pianist in the house? And one with exceptional sight-reading skills? - The Guardian
The research demonstrates that our “semantic knowledge”, the internal cognitive map of how concepts connect and apply to one another, is the absolute precondition for meaningful invention. - Neuroscience
Machine learning represents a seismic shift, both in society and in the arts, and we need storytellers, artists, teachers and thinkers in this space to help determine the direction of that shift and help us navigate this unfamiliar territory. - The Guardian
“Christy Tanner, a veteran of CBS News, took the helm at NYPR in early February. Since then, she has let many of its top figures go with little explanation, … surprising the organization’s staff and unsettling some of its remaining leaders. … None of the departures have been announced publicly.” - Semafor
As of August 1, Dawn Airey, a longtime television executive who is currently chair of the National Youth Theatre and the educational platform Digital Theatre+, will succeed Nicholas Serota, who spent almost a decade leading the Council after a famously successful tenure as director of the Tate galleries and museums. - The Independent (UK)
“We began evacuating the artefacts while the roof was still ablaze and the firefighting operation was still under way,” said the director of one museum. “We could hear the roof collapsing. We were constantly wading through water.” - The Guardian
In fact, the missing glands on the bovine in this 19th-century floor mosaic had been gouged out by excessive tourist traffic some time ago, and the restorers (and the landlord) declined to replace them. Here’s why. - Smithsonian Magazine
The theft of the fruit from the jokester artist’s piece Comedian happened this past Saturday at the Pompidou Center’s outpost in Metz, France; the duct tape was left behind. No suspect has yet been identified, and museum staff promptly replaced the banana. - ARTnews
If the National Science Foundation does stop funding social scientists, experts told me, our 5,000-foot-view of American life will get foggier. The NSF, through the SBE division, is the primary funder of the “big three” social-science surveys, which have enabled the work of several generations of academics, economists, and policy wonks. - The Atlantic
Computers talk to computers, producing information to train computers to sound more like humans or to better engage them. Humans type into the box, scroll, and wait. - The Atlantic
Ballet has a reputation for upholding rigid body standards. In recent years, though, the art form has been rethinking its relationship to diversity in areas like race and body type. - The New York Times
