The competition was overshadowed by Russia's attacks on Ukraine; silver medal winner Anna Geniushene fled Russia for Lithuania and has been critical of the war, and bronze medalist Dmytro Choni is from Ukraine. Yunchan Lim, who won gold, is the youngest winner ever, at 18. - The New York Times
When I hear people in the corporate world talking about creativity and storytelling — how what they’re really doing is ‘telling a story,’ how everything is about creativity and storytelling, how everything is narrative — I hear it and think: Do you actually know what it means to be creative? - Chicago Tribune
The Museum of Rescued Art opened this week in part of the ancient Baths of Diocletian in Rome. Its exhibits will rotate every month, with various objects recovered by the Carabineri's admired "art squad" displayed there temporarily before being returned to their region of origin. - AP
Gary Ginstling, currently executive director of the National Symphony at DC's Kennedy Center, will assume the title of executive director this fall and move fully into Borda's position, president and chief executive, as of next July. Borda, now 72, will remain available as a consultant. - The New York Times
After almost nine months of no labor contract and a musicians' strike over wage cuts, the board decided on Thursday to file for Chapter 7 (liquidation) bankruptcy. (The board last declared bankruptcy in 2003, and the orchestra has struggled financially ever since resuming operations in 2004-05.) - Texas Public Radio
That was the proposition of Kevin Kelly, founding executive editor of Wired: if you can amass 1,000 people who'll each spend $100 annually to support your work, that's a good middle-class living. That didn't work out in the '90s or '00s, but might it be possible now? - The New Yorker
“BAM isn’t just for one audience. We were consistently sold out this season and more often than not had a standby line. That’s because the programming is doing lots of different things. And that diversity of programming allows us to reflect the diversity of this borough.” - Variety
Merryl Goldberg hand-encoded names, addresses, and other details of the Phantom Orchestra, a group of Jewish refuseniks and Christian activists trying to help Jews and others escape the USSR, in composition notebooks - hidden from the prying eyes of Soviet officials. - Wired
The announcement comes a week after the company abruptly cancelled this month's production. "Rep officials cited significant financial issues, the challenge of operating in an active construction zone at Horton Plaza and unexpectedly low ticket sales since its post-pandemic reopening last October for the closure." - The San Diego Union Tribune
It all seemed promising two years ago, when pianist Anne-Marie McDermott was hired as artistic director to replace the orchestra/concert presenter's retiring co-founders. Now McDermott has resigned, key staffers have been fired or fled, and the organization's largest donor has walked away in disgust. - Santa Fe New Mexican
At 41, Alexandra Suda will be the youngest director in the PMA's history, and she comes to Philadelphia after three years at the helm in Ottawa. She succeeds Timothy Rub, whose 12-year tenure in Philadelphia included both a $500 million renovation/expansion and considerable staff turmoil. - MSN (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
"Through its lengthy development process, A Strange Loop underwent countless loop-the-loops of revisions, workshops, and more revisions. Here, its key players detail the dizzying path to production — and the sense of déjà vu that drove its success." - New York Magazine
“I don’t think anyone has any idea of the cultural impact that small data set is having on the country as a whole,” says the APTN’s Jones. Coles has some idea. One of the findings that surprised her most was how much an “imagined audience” was used to justify decisions “laced with racism, sexism, homophobia.” - The Walrus
It is now more than half a century since the heyday of political modernism and the sociological project that accompanied it. Are we still, today, postmodern? Are we really still grappling with the fallout of 1968? - London Review of Books
Fans are increasingly demanding a return for the precious resource of their attention, their clicks and eyeballs and adulation. We may call celebrities influencers, but we want to influence them too. We are the customers, and our gaze is money. - The New York Times
“Clickbait” has long been the term for misleading, shallow online articles that exist only to sell ads. But on today’s Internet the term could describe content across every field, from the unmarked ads on an influencer’s Instagram page to pseudonymous pop music designed to game the Spotify algorithm. - The New Yorker
Arts administrators are starting to try to measure things like mental and even physical wellbeing as a gauge of how successful their programs are, and are using terms like "impact framework." The idea, at heart, is that the arts are a means to an end, rather than being an end in themselves. - Axios
"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives." - Slate
