Reversing the pro-culture stances of his predecessor, left-leaning former president Gabriel Boric, new president José Antonio Kast has ordered a 3% reduction of the culture ministry’s budget. What’s more, his government has no stated cultural policy of any kind. - The Art Newspaper
What I learned is that modern LLMs are built in a way that is antagonistic to great writing; they are engineered to be rule-following teacher’s pets that always have the right answer in hand. - The Atlantic
If they are to survive America’s post-literate era and serve society in the future, colleges need to invest in programs that answer the question, “Why read?” They must also design courses where the techniques of close reading are taught. - The Hill
The industry still has an obsession with “perfect” feet. High arches have traditionally been praised in ballet, and some dancers today use farches (fake arches), which give the illusion that your foot is more bendy than it is. - The Guardian
Puccini died without finishing the opera, and the standard completion by Franco Alfano is widely considered unsatisfactory. Not to mention, of course, that the opera is an Orientalist fantasy. So Washington National Opera commissioned a new completion (plus editing of the original libretto) by two Asian-American artists. - The New York Times
Theaters have experimented with “Black Out” nights intended to attract patrons of color. At issue in the lawsuit was whether a discount offered as part of the Playwrights event was discriminatory. - The New York Times
Los Angeles County lost more than 42,000 entertainment jobs from 2022 to 2024; and Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery made just 15 theatrical movies combined that filmed in the country over the last two years. - The Hollywood Reporter
Though it has long been one of the country’s most successful technology hubs, Shenzhen has always been on the margins of the global cultural map. Now it is trying to shed its reputation as a “cultural desert” and claim a place in Asia’s increasingly active art scene. - Artnet
It certainly won’t happen fast. “Restoring the physical infrastructure is going to take a lot of money and some time but it can be done,” said the VOA’s White House bureau chief. “What is more difficult is recovering from the trauma that our newsroom has gone through.” - AP
“Within the Czech Republic, the dismissal has been viewed by some as a politically motivated gesture. (Alicja) Knast took up the position in 2021, having been appointed to the role by … a Social Democrat. … (Otto) Klempíř, a member of the right-wing Motorists party, became culture minister last year.” - ARTnews
“(A) grant (from the Stephen Sondheim Foundation) will go toward rebuilding Steppenwolf’s Scout program, which supports new works by emerging writers and was shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Steppenwolf has developed and launched more than 130 plays in its 50-year history.” - WBEZ (Chicago)
“Today, CBS News Radio provides material to an estimated 700 stations across the country and is known best for its top-of-the-hour news roundups. The service will end on May 22, the network said Friday.” - AP
“The lawsuit (by the American dictionary publisher and British encyclopedia) incorporates both the ‘mass-scale copying’ of their copyrighted content for training AI models and for real-time RAG scraping (retrieval-augmented generation). It also claims ChatGPT generates outputs that contain ‘full or partial verbatim reproductions’ of Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster content.” - Press Gazette (UK)
“After a nearly two-week trial in Santa Monica, jurors found Cosby, 88, liable for the sexual battery and assault of Donna Motsinger. They awarded her $17.5 million in past damages and $1.75 million for future damages, … (plus) an additional $40 million in punitive damages,” totaling $59.25 million. - AP
“(Her) memorable film roles included a porn actress abducted by aliens in Slaughterhouse-Five, Lex Luthor’s secretary in two Superman films and an Oscar-nominated performance as the wife of Lenny Bruce in Lenny. (She died) following a 15-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.” - Deadline
