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Famous Art Detective Arthur Brand Recovers Stolen Documents So Historic That They’re UNESCO-Listed

The cache of papers, dating from the 15th through the 19th centuries, was stolen from the National Archives of the Netherlands in 2015. Among the recovered papers are archives from the early days of the world’s first multinational corporation, the Dutch East India Company. - France 24

How Websites Are Coping With The Collapse In Referred Traffic

“The problem started with Facebook pivoting away from the news in 2022, and has accelerated in recent months as Google makes seemingly corrosive changes to its search algorithm while rolling out the innovation that will one day replace traditional search results: AI summaries.” - New York Magazine (MSN)

Does America Really Have A Youth Literacy Crisis?

“How much panic over kids’ literacy is warranted? Scholars who study the subject, concerned English professors, and experts in the ‘kids these days’ phenomenon told me that the literacy landscape is a lot more nuanced than either of my gut impulses would have led me to believe.” - Vox

Is A Deal At Hand To Return The Parthenon Marbles? Britain’s Right Wing Sure Thinks So.

“The former prime minister Liz Truss and a hard-right lobby group have been accused of stoking culture wars after reportedly writing a letter claiming they would take legal action over alleged ‘covert’ plans to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece.” - The Guardian

Gilberto Gil, Giant Of Brazilian Music, Has Retired From Live Performance

“I’ll always have my guitar, my inseparable companion,” said the 83-year-old. “But my relationship with it will be more open, freer. It’s simpler when you don’t have as many commitments. I’ll have much more time to, eventually, get back to composing and maybe recording albums.” - The New York Times

Is The Summer Group Show Disappearing From Art Galleries? No, But …

“Some have wondered if the group show is fated to die out altogether. But in talking to dealers and advisers, it seems less like the once-ubiquitous summer group show is not quite disappearing. Instead, galleries have simply become more clear-eyed about the true purpose of these shows.” - ARTnews

How Leisure Became Digital

For many Canadians, play has migrated from board games or the rec leagues to smartphone screens. It’s no longer confined to the weekend or even to a full hour of downtime. Instead, it creeps into moments between work calls, while waiting in line, or during that ambiguous half-hour between Netflix and sleep. - The Walrus

How The Grateful Dead Made Live Music Sound Great At Concerts

Phil Spector had famously created a figurative wall of sound by layering instruments and orchestral sweeps. But the Dead’s wall was essentially a behemoth sound system, a hulking electrical mess of amps, speakers, wires—like the menacing heavy-metal rig in Mad Max: Fury Road, but far larger, louder, and, perhaps, more ludicrous. - The Atlantic

Australia’s New Funding Body For Literature And Writers: What Will It Actually Be Doing?

“On the surface, this is welcome news for Australian writers with its funding package of $26 million ($8.6 million per year) over the next three years. But what exactly does this new support look like in the wider context of Australian literary sector funding over time?” - ArtsHub (Australia)

HBO Returns, Conceding Its Brand Change Was A Colossal Blunder

The gambit to chase Netflix with a service called Max didn’t work. Warner Bros. Discovery’s leaders eventually recognized the tremendous value in the HBO name, and sheepishly brought it back for an encore. - Los Angeles Times

YouTube Is Being Overwhelmed By AI Slop. So Some New Creator Rules…

Alphabet has to acknowledge not only the downsides of AI, but its potential to overwhelm platforms that rely on user-generated content—in other words, rein in instances of repetitive, inauthentic slop created with the very technologies that it’s investing so heavily in. - Fast Company

Roadshow: America’s Midwest Art Museums

Arriving at art museums after four or five hours on these roads, day after day, is reliably uplifting. Everything is reversed. You’re in a huge building, with high ceilings and no predetermined path. You meander through different centuries and cultures, encountering different ideas of beauty, different understandings of power and mortality, different ways of living. - Washington Post

Japan Has A Big Ballet-Fan Community. Now It’s Working On Homegrown Ballet.

“Until recently, that audience lavished attention mostly on prestigious foreign companies that tour Japan regularly, such as the Paris Opera Ballet and the Royal Ballet. The country has struggled to build world-class companies and hold on to the top talent it trains. The National Ballet of Japan wants to change that.” - Financial Times

Actors Unions Approve New Video Game Contract, Ending Strike

As with the dual strikes in 2023, artificial intelligence was a big sticking point in negotiations. As such, the new contract establishes performer safety guardrails and gains around AI, including consent and disclosure requirements for artificially generated digital replica use. - Deadline

Training A New Generation Of Dancers For A Different Kind Of Career

"Today’s young adults have also been through the Covid shutdown, and they’re starting their careers at a time of huge financial uncertainty." - ArtsATL

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