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For The First Time, A Male Dancer Plays The Evil Fairy In New York City Ballet’s “Sleeping Beauty”

In 2023, principal Taylor Stanley asked management if they’d permit a male-identifying dancer to play Carabosse; they said no. This year, they said no again. So Stanley went over their heads to choreographer Peter Martins, who’s fine with it. Now Stanley is making quite a meal of the role. - The New York Times

Australia’s First New City In 100 Years

The masterplan forms one of Australia's largest urban development projects and, once complete, will be the country's first major city built in over a century, according to SOM. - Dezeen

America’s Richest Humanities Funder (And Its Implications)

Is the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation the last best hope for American arts and letters—or is it killing them? - The Atlantic

A Dawning Recognition About AI And Music

Many worry that a kind of “canned” creativity will take over much of what originates from real people today, pushing a broad swath of lab technicians, ad writers, studio musicians, and commercial artists out of jobs and into unemployment lines. - Christian Science Monitor

How Minneapolis’s Theater Community Has Been Dealing With The ICE Occupation

It hasn’t been easy: some artists are scared to come to the theater, as are many audience members, and some shows have had to be cancelled. (Alex Pretti was shot two blocks from one theater on a two-show Saturday.) Yet performances are happening when and where they can — including, sometimes, in clandestine locations. - Playbill

Where The Power Lies: Institutions Versus Networks

Institutions foster cooperation by rewarding good behaviour and punishing rule-breakers. Yet they themselves depend on cooperative members to function. We haven’t solved the cooperation problem – we’ve simply moved it back one step. So why do institutions work at all? - Aeon

Scientists Look Inside The Brain Of A Musician While He’s Playing

What happens in a performer’s brain while playing? Traditional brain-imaging tools like functional m.r.i. (f m.r.i.) require subjects to lie motionless in a scanner. Newer wearable technologies, including EEG (electroencephalography) caps fitted with electrodes, make it possible to study musicians in more natural settings. - The New York Times

AI Companies Are Eating Higher Education

A.I. companies are increasingly exerting outsize influence over higher education and using these settings as training grounds to further their goal of creating artificial general intelligence (A.I. systems that can substitute for humans). - The New York Times

Is An Organized Ring Running Online Smear Campaigns In Hollywood?

“This clandestine smear machine seemingly connects some of the most talked-about scandals of recent years. … (Figures are) targeted by mysteriously operated websites that are filled with character-assassinating claims and impossible to take down. In recent months, the origins of these sites have been connected and allegedly unmasked in court.” - The Hollywood Reporter

Playwright Mark Ravenhill (“Shopping And F***Ing”) Is Directing Strauss’s “Salome”. Too Obvious A Choice?

“You know, when I said I was going to do Salome a couple of people told me that this was the perfect opera for me because it’s the closest to those ‘90s plays. And then in some ways I was a bit disappointed, because then I was wondering whether I was typecasting myself!” - Bachtrack

Cees Noteboom, One Of Europe’s Most Important Postwar Writers, Is Dead At 92

“A Dutch novelist, travel writer and journalist, (he) was lauded for his insights into European history and culture and often tipped as a possible winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.” - AP

More Kennedy Center Woes: Fundraising Is Reportedly A Mess

According to several staffers (speaking anonymously), senior vice president of development Lisa Dale — best friend of Kari Lake and a former TV host — has skipped meetings with potential high-level donors and sometimes gives fundraising figures to Kennedy Center president Richard Grenell which are higher than the money which actually comes in. - Politico

London’s National Gallery, Facing $11.1 Million Deficit, Announces Staff-Wide Buyout Scheme And Cuts

“In the face of an £8.2 million deficit in the coming year, … initially there will be a ‘voluntary exit scheme’ available to all staff. … With regard to the exhibition programme, (there could be) fewer free exhibitions, not as many ticketed shows, less international borrowing of artworks, and more expensive tickets.” - The Art Newspaper

Alleged Massive Ticket Fraud Scheme At Louvre; Police Arrest Nine Suspects

“The Paris prosecutor's office on Thursday said that nine people were being detained as part of an investigation into a suspected decade-long, 10 million euro ($11.8 million) ticket fraud scheme at the Louvre.” - AP

BBC To Cut Hundreds Of Millions From Budget

“Staff at the BBC were told about plans to cut about a tenth of its costs over the next three years in a conference call held by director-general Tim Davie on Thursday afternoon. Operating costs for the BBC were more than £2 billion last year.” - The Irish Times

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