“The Scottish Government makes great play of our cultural heritage and the importance of promoting culture. The cuts they are making – £7 million – is negligible in terms of redressing the economic and social issues the country faces, but astronomical in its destructive impact on our cultural industry.” - The Scotsman
The plaintiffs claim the artwork were stolen from Fritz Grünbaum by the Nazis via an unlawful power of attorney while he was imprisoned and tortured at Dachau. - The Daily Beast
Six in ten professional musicians say they are worse off financially now compared to the same time last year. Nine out of ten are worried about affording food over the next six months, with 84 per cent concerned about paying their mortgage or rent. - The Strad
“Nobody wants to admit that they’re not selling tickets. Because of COVID, now Broadway is sort of admitting … sales are down, audiences are not coming back. - AMNY
Detached from agency, the meanings of new terms drift. Nonprofit organizations alert supporters to “donation opportunities,” though “a chance to give” has half the syllables. Now, “donation opportunity” may also mean the organization’s chance to land a gift from a donor. - Hedgehog Review
Matt Zoller Seitz: "Badalamenti did what Herrmann did for Hitchcock and John Williams did for Steven Spielberg: he created a recognizable musical character to go along with Lynch's already keenly developed ear for sound design." - Vulture
What’s the point of watching workers? Maybe, as Franz Kafka suggested in a short parable, the point is not simply to alter a person’s behaviour temporarily, but to fundamentally change them. Through this transformation, the demarcations separating those who watch from those who are watched begin to dissolve. - Psyche
This month saw the inauguration of Jashn-e-Rekhta, an annual three-day festival devoted to Urdu verse, old and new. Attendance was over 300,000 —notwithstanding the fact that Urdu, while very, very closely related to Hindi, is commonly associated with Islam in a country awash in Hindu nationalism. - The New York Times
"The Guardian took every Christmas song that had charted in the UK Top 100 since 1952, and selected the 100 most popular of those on Spotify. Two-thirds were released at least 30 years ago." Which is to say: "all we want for Christmas is mid-20th-century nostalgia." - The Guardian
Working pro bono with engineering studio Arup, the Norman Foster Foundation and Kharkiv Group of Architects, Foster + Partners founder Foster has developed a masterplan for the rejuvenation of the city following heavy bombardment during Russia's invasion of Ukraine. - Dezeen
"(Creative New Zealand) has, over the last several months, found itself (in) multiple controversial decisions, including declining funding applications for ... the Shakespeare Globe Centre of New Zealand and Arts on Tour, among others, which resulted in a call for an inquiry into how the agency operates." - Stuff (New Zealand)
According to Google’s Year in Search, an annual retrospective of trending searches compiled by the tech company, dark academia was among ten trending interior styles from 2022, a representative confirmed. - Architectural Digest
The Gospels don't really tell much about the birth of Jesus: the shepherds are only in Luke, the Wise Men only in Matthew. So depictions of the Nativity over the centuries — what they include, what they leave out, what they add — offer something of a history of Christianity. - Smithsonian Magazine
