Arts news

• Gear Shift Artist Development Programme / The HandleBards / East / Nationwide

  10-03-2021 13:02
  We’re looking for the next generation of creative change-makers to join our new artist development programme – Gear Shift.
  There are four spots on this year’s...
  
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• The Kids Are Fine. Check On Grandpa.

  18-07-2026 05:46 via artsjournal.com
  Good Morning,Every few years America convenes a panic about young people abandoning culture. Today’s stories suggest we’ve been watching the wrong generation. Since 2003, daily reading time among older Americans has nearly halved. BUT it’s the young whose reading habits are growing (New York Times). And they’re not just holding: Gen Z is choosing culture that puts bodies in rooms together, movie theaters included (New York Times), buying novels by the pallet because BookT
  
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• Surrealists Were The Original Antifa

  17-07-2026 20:50 via artnews.com
  
  “While Surrealism is figured as a style in popular imagination — trippy, dreamy, and escapist, detached from reality in every way — (the exhibition) ‘In the Very Bowels of Change: Surrealism and Antifascism’ reminds just how much the movement was formed in response to the politics of its time.” – Art in America
  
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• AI-Created Music – What We Can Learn From Copyright History

  17-07-2026 20:31 via theconversation.com
  
  AI can now generate songs, images, novels and artworks in seconds. Many of these works are already being streamed, licensed and sold. This raises an increasingly important question: should works produced without direct human authorship receive copyright protection? – The Conversation
  
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• How The Pedant Became A Stock Character In Theater

  17-07-2026 20:03 via publicdomainreview.org
  
  Going all the way back to before 1600, the cantankerous, pompous, book-smart nincompoop has been a figure of mockery on European stages, a target for venting people’s dislike for know-it-all behavior. Some of the stereotypes associated with the character, however, were rather nasty. – The Public Domain Review
  
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• We Should Worry About How AI Might Change Us With Its Use

  17-07-2026 19:44 via humanistreview.ai
  How, then, could an automated oracle help? It cannot tell you what to feel, because feeling is not something you can summon by obedience. But neither can it settle the matter by telling you what to do. Reasons matter, and to be a morally responsible agent you must reason for yourself. – Humanist Review
  
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• What If Smartphones Are Not Responsible For What Ails Our Kids?

  17-07-2026 19:15 via theatlantic.com
  
  Which change that happened 15 years ago was the real source of so much misery for children? “You can’t run experiments on history,” Haidt said, so we’ll never be able to prove that smartphones and social media caused the steep decline in youth mental health. – The Atlantic
  
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• Brooklyn Man Sentenced To 20 Years For Fatal Stabbing Of Dancer O’Shae Sibley

  17-07-2026 19:02 via gothamist.com
  
  Though Dmitriy Popov, now 20, was acquitted of murder, he was convicted of first-degree manslaughter as a hate crime and other charges for attacking Sibley — a Black and visibly gay man — with a knife and puncturing his heart while Sibley and friends were dancing outside a Brooklyn gas station in 2023. – Gothamist
  
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• FCC Will End Ownership Caps On Local TV Companies

  17-07-2026 18:44 via variety.com
  
  “Today, national programmers can distribute their programming to 100 percent of the country — either through their own streaming services or through deals they cut with nationwide ‘virtual cable companies,’ like YouTube TV. The cap no longer constrains their control over distribution in this respect,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr wrote. – Variety
  
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• Why TikTok Has Become A Force In Book Buying

  17-07-2026 18:29 via newyorker.com
  
  One of the reasons TikTok’s book-review videos, known collectively as BookTok, have become so popular—and powerful in the publishing world—is that they offer a human-based, quasi-critical recommendation portal for fans and genre devotees to connect, commiserate, and promote their favorite work. – The New Yorker
  
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• Gen Z Has Big Nostalgia For Eras Before They Were Born

  17-07-2026 18:15 via bigthinkmedia.substack.com
  
  In a nationally representative survey conducted by our team at the Archbridge Institute’s Human Flourishing Lab, 68% of Gen Z respondents reported feeling nostalgic for eras before their lifetime, and 73% said they are drawn to media, styles, hobbies, or traditions from earlier periods. – Big Think
  
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• Brenda Fricker, First Irish Actress To Win An Oscar, Has Died At 81

  17-07-2026 18:04 via hollywoodreporter.com
  
  She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1990 for playing the mother of disabled painter/writer Christy Brown (Daniel Day-Lewis) in My Left Foot. She’s remembered by a (mostly) different set of moviegoers as the Central Park Pigeon Lady in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. – The Hollywood Reporter
  
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• Who’s Reading Less? It’s Older Americans, Not Younger

  17-07-2026 17:44 via nytimes.com
  In 2003, older Americans read on average just under an hour each day — 58.5 minutes. By last year, that had fallen nearly by half, to roughly 32.4 minutes each day, a drop that represents the lion’s share of overall reading declines. – The New York Times
  
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• Why Trump Is Fixated On Smithsonian History

  17-07-2026 17:31 via nytimes.com
  People often joke about how Trumpism would like to return us to some version of the 1950s, when America supposedly was “great.” In this report, the administration has done just that. The report would prefer that nothing had ever happened since the ’50s to mar the White House’s polished, superficial, puerile version of America’s past. – The New York Times
  
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• Culture Shift: Why Young People Are Choosing Culture That Brings Them Together

  17-07-2026 17:15 via nytimes.com
  We human beings remain stubbornly, beautifully starving for one another. More surprising — and heartening — we are looking upward and outward, and returning to one another after being tethered for so long to our screens. This all portends well for the entertainment business, no doubt. – The New York Times
  
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• How Vanderbilt University Made Itself Competitive With The Ivy League

  17-07-2026 17:04 via msn.com
  Twenty years ago, the school’s acceptance rate was 38%; now it’s under 5%, roughly equivalent to Yale’s, and its undergraduates are reportedly the happiest in the country. The change is the result of deliberate, planned effort by two successive presidents over 20 years. – New York Magazine (MSN)
  
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• Hong Kong Government Gives Ominous Warning To Booksellers

  17-07-2026 16:33 via apnews.com
  
  “Hong Kong’s top security official said Thursday that booksellers should ensure the titles they sell do not harm national security, a day after five people linked to two bookstores were arrested. The police operation on Wednesday was the third round of arrests targeting independent bookstores within four months.” – AP
  
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• Madison Symphony Appoints Laura Jackson Music Director

  17-07-2026 16:05 via captimes.com
  
  Jackson is currently music director of the Reno Philharmonic in Nevada — a position she’ll keep through 2028-29 — and will officially take up this post as of the 2027-28 season. She succeeds John DeMain, who retired in June after 32 years. – The Cap Times (Madison, WI)
  
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• White House May Bring US Government Into Trump’s Lawsuit Against BBC

  17-07-2026 15:32 via ft.com
  “According to filings seen by the FT, the US government told the court in Florida ‘that it is considering participating in this litigation’. … The ‘conflict of interest is clear and stark’, the BBC said in a filing responding to the US government’s submission.” – Financial Times
  
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• Trump Drops A Portion Of His Defamation Case Against The BBC

  17-07-2026 15:06 via yahoo.com
  “Trump is demanding damages from the corporation, claiming a Panorama documentary defamed him because of an allegedly misleading edit of footage of one of his speeches. … However, while (he) is pressing on with the case as a whole, he has dismissed defamation claims against … the broadcaster’s commercial and production arms.” – The Telegraph (UK) (Yahoo!)
  
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• Nashville Symphony’s New CEO: Mark Cantrell Of Colorado Symphony

  17-07-2026 14:34 via nashvillepost.com
  
  “Cantrell’s appointment comes after a nationwide search sparked by the retirement of longtime Nashville Symphony leader Alan Valentine, who served in the role for 28 years. Cantrell, who will officially assume the position on Aug. 1., comes to Nashville Symphony from the Colorado Symphony in Denver.” – Nashville Post
  
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• Ravinia Festival Cancels Performance Due To Wildfire Smoke

  17-07-2026 14:00 via ravinia.org
  The July 16 performance of Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio, with James Conlon conducting the Chicago Symphony and soloists including Katherine Lewek and Miles Mykkanen, was called off due to hazardous air quality caused by smoke from wildfires raging in Canada. – Ravinia Festival
  
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• Mahler: Fact and Fiction

  17-07-2026 05:10 via artsjournal.com
  
  The books of Robert Seethaler, one of Europe’s pre-eminent novelists, include a 2020 novella about Gustav Mahler: Der letzte Satz. It’s
  
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• The Howard Theatre in Washington, DC, seeks an Executive Director.

  16-07-2026 23:45 via artsjournal.com
  Position Summary
  The Howard Theatre seeks a strategic, entrepreneurial, and externally compelling Executive Director to lead the organization through its next phase of growth. This is a formative leadership opportunity for an executive who will shape the organization’s next chapter. The next Executive Director will not inherit a mature nonprofit operating platform. They will help create one. The Howard has an extraordinary legacy, renewed Board energy, strong public symbolism, and real mo
  
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• Managing Director – Texas Performing Arts via TOC Arts Partners

  14-07-2026 01:16 via artsjournal.com
  About the Opportunity
  The Managing Director is Texas Performing Arts “number two” leader. The position is responsible for implementing the Executive & Artistic Director’s strategic vision by leading daily operations, providing financial management, and guiding the work of TPA’s operational and administrative teams. The position works closely with colleagues across UT Austin and engages extensively with the university’s centralized systems and policies.Reporting
  
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• Yo-Yo Ma Plays the Drainage Ditch

  13-07-2026 22:18 via artsjournal.com
  Good Morning,Yo-Yo Ma is among the musicians turning the Los Angeles River — neglected, trashed, half-restored — into an impromptu concert stage (Los Angeles Times). And in Oakland, a nonreligious choir is packing a church with people who just want to sing together (San Francisco Chronicle).
  The ownership end of culture had a busier day. Twelve states sued to block Paramount’s $111 billion purchase of Warner Bros. (The New York Times), while Netflix — struggling to keep v
  
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• Is It Really Possible To Map The Odyssey?

  13-07-2026 20:05 via theconversation.com
  
  The ancient Greek polymath Eratosthenes, who was the first person to measure the circumference of the Earth, disputed that the Odyssey had anything to do with geography. He said: “You will find the scene of the wanderings of Odysseus when you find the cobbler who sewed up the bag of the winds.” – The Conversation
  
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• The Fault Lines Of PEN America’s Support Of Free Speech

  13-07-2026 19:41 via theatlantic.com
  
  PEN America currently sits on a widening fault line, one that divides old-school liberalism, which treats the right to speak as more important than any particular ideology, from a surging and fiercely ideological left that sees Israel and Zionism as its enemy. – The Atlantic
  
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• Survey: Americans Support AI Companies Transferring Half Their Stock To A Public Fund

  13-07-2026 19:21 via fastcompany.com
  According to a new national survey of 1,690 adults from research firm Verasight, 69% said they support “forcing” AI firms to transfer half their stock to a public sovereign wealth fund that would, in theory, pour AI profits back into the economy and even provide direct payments to Americans. – Fast Company
  
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• Music Industry Proposes Labels For AI-Use

  13-07-2026 19:01 via deadline.com
  
  The labels are simple icons that distinguish between those that are “AI-generated” and “AI-assisted,” but they are designed to be adopted by digital music services, distributors and others. The track labeling is voluntary. – Deadline
  
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