“In recent years, covers had been assessed as part of the best recording package category, which considers all physical materials and images. … Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. (said) the split is an effort to recognize the impact of cover art in the digital age.” - AP
To begin the new year at public schools across the state, Utah officials banned three more books. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult, and The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. - BookRiot
One study found that people who danced frequently (more than once a week) had a 76 percent lower risk of dementia than those who did so rarely. - Washington Post
“The New York Times invited cast members of American Street Dancer to demonstrate the fundamentals of Detroit Jit, Chicago Footwork and Philly GQ.” - The New York Times
“The 73-year-old Bychkov agreed to a four-year contract (starting in August 2028) and will conduct two operas and six symphonic concerts per season, (general director Alexander) Neef said.” Until then, Bychkov will remain music director of the Czech Philharmonic. - AP
“Tarr became internationally in the ‘90s and ‘00s as his films” — among them Sátántangó and Werckmeister Harmonies — “were shown more widely, partly because of their inordinate length and partly because of what appeared to be his definitive expression of middle-European black-and-white miserablism.” Yet he insisted his movies were comedies. - The Guardian
“The incident occurred on Monday morning, when the man approached the monument in Paris’s 8th arrondissement — with Joan of Arc dramatically riding a horse in mid-gallop — and committed a crime captured by a security camera.” - ARTnews
“The nonprofit charged by Congress with allocating funds to NPR, PBS and other US public radio and television stations … announced on Monday that its board of directors had voted to dissolve the organization after nearly 60 years in operation.” - The Guardian
“A bipartisan spending package released Monday by House Speaker Mike Johnson includes $32 million for operating expenses at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts through Sept. 30, 2027.” - AP
“The strike initially launched last month was suspended over the festive period, but staff have now voted overwhelmingly to walkout over working conditions leaving the world's most visited museum partially open.” - Euronews
Truth and trust are often treated as virtues, but they function as conditions: the prerequisites for coherent societies, functional institutions, and stable international systems. Without them, even the most advanced technologies fail to deliver progress. - Time
It was not long before people began poking holes in Joan Lowell’s story. But the book didn’t sink—it was a great success, in part for reasons new to her era and familiar to ours. - The New Yorker
A trio of prominent museum openings is expected in Los Angeles in 2026. Perhaps the most anticipated is the expansion of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. - The Art Newspaper
Movie theaters in the United States and Canada sold an estimated $8.9 billion in tickets in 2025, a 2 percent increase compared with a year earlier. - The New York Times
