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A 15th-Century English Manuscript Gives A Rare Glimpse Of A Real-Life Traveling Minstrel’s Routine

"The manuscripts were copied by cleric Richard Heege, a tutor to the Sherbrooke family, part of the Derbyshire gentry. … Dr. Wade concluded that Heege copied the text of an unknown minstrel who performed near the Derbyshire-Nottinghamshire border in about 1480." - BBC

Book Banning Comes To Newtown, CT… And Fails

Republicans on the Newtown Board of Education sought to have Flamer by Mike Curato and Blankets by Craig Thompson removed from the local high school library as if Connecticut was some benighted red state. - The Daily Beast

Warning The National Art Museum of China, Xi Jinping Uses The Phrase “Politically Correct” With No Irony Whatsoever

In a letter last month on the institution's 60th anniversary, the Chinese president said NAMOC should "be persistent in upholding a politically correct direction, putting people first, and practicing the core values of socialism … in order to … promote self-strengthening of cultural confidence, and new glory of the socialist culture." - Artnet

Oregon Shakespeare Festival In Crisis: Appoints New Leader, Says It Needs To Raise $7.3 Million To Finish Season

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival announced Thursday that former tech executive Tyler Hokama has been appointed the company’s interim executive director, and at the same time announced a new fundraising goal to complete its 2023 season. - The Oregonian

Collaboration Gone Wrong, Vicious Feud, Or Performance-Art Prank? The Drama Between Author Michel Houellebecq And A Dutch Art Collective

It certainly started as a collaboration, with the collective KIRAC making a documentary about France's reigning literary provocateur (age 67 and married, as if that mattered) going to Amsterdam to get laid. By now it's two court cases and a public appearance in a cockroach suit. - The New York Times

Controversies Over Research Into One Cambridge College’s Ties To Slavery Turn Ugly

"What happened at (Gonville & Caius) demonstrates the collision between two different worldviews: one that sees research into the history of slavery as a routine, but vital, academic exercise; and another that sees it as an overtly biased undertaking and a threat to the way historical knowledge is produced." - The Guardian

Hollywood’s Commercial Choreographers Have Formed A Union of Their Own

"After forming in 2022, the Choreographers Guild started accepting members this spring. The labor organization plans to tackle a host of issues: It aims to establish a standard pay minimum, secure health care and pensions, strengthen choreographers' copyright rights and more." - Marketplace

Unreleased Live John Coltrane Recordings Rediscovered In New York Public Library

The recordings of joint concerts with Eric Dolphy at New York's Village Vanguard were stumbled on by a Bob Dylan researcher. They've now been remastered and will be released in June on a 2-CD set. - NPR

How The Smithsonian Has Helped Rebuild Mosul’s Cultural Museum, Wrecked By ISIS

Dr. Richard Kurin, founder of the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative, writes about how the Washington museum complex, along with the Louvre, the World Monuments Fund and the ALIPH Foundation, have helped Iraq's State Board of Antiquities and Heritage restore the ravaged institution. - Smithsonian Magazine

Salman Rushdie’s Next Book Will Be About His Getting Stabbed Onstage

"It will be a relatively short book, a couple of hundred pages. It's not the easiest book in the world to write but it's something I need to get past in order to do anything else. … So I just have to deal with it." - The Guardian

Oklahoma Legislature Overrides Governor’s Defunding Of State’s Public TV Network

"Cheers broke out in the Oklahoma House of Representatives as lawmakers approved the bill that reauthorizes OETA (the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority) as a state entity for at least another three years. The Senate added its override vote a few hours later." - Deadline

How The Supreme Court’s Warhol Decision Will Stunt Creativity

Our remix culture has democratized art by letting anyone with a phone create new art from the pieces of previous works. The Supreme Court’s decision “stymies and suppresses that process,” as Kagan put it, in ways that we might not fully understand for years. - Slate

Sotheby’s Buys Whitney Museum’s Breuer Building

Designed by Bauhaus-trained architect Marcel Breuer, the building has had its share of occupants since it was erected. It was first the third home to the Whitney from 1966 until 2014, before the museum moved into its current residence in the Meatpacking District in May 2015. - Hyperallergic

Amnesia After Taylor Swift Concerts? Yes, It’s A Thing

From out-of-body experiences to entering a dream-like state, Swift's fans - or Swifties as they prefer to be known - have taken to social media in recent days to reveal their guilt at not being able to remember key moments from the Eras tour. - BBC

Toronto’s Fringe Festival Is In Trouble

Behind the scenes, Toronto’s largest theatre festival was struggling. Audience attendance fell below expectations. Fundraising efforts came up short. All that while the festival saw COVID subsidies wind up and operating costs increase. - Toronto Star

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