Arts news

• Genesis Poetry Slam September 2019 / / London

  20-08-2019 21:15
  London's only regular 3 round poetry slam is back again after our August break- SO YES, YOU CAN COME AND GET ALL THAT POETRY BACK IN YOUR LIFE AT THE GENESIS SLAM!
  Who goes through to the final at...
  
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• Theaster Gates Bought America’s Last China Factory

  08-10-2026 22:30 via artsjournal.com
  Good Morning,Theaster Gates, the artist whose installations sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, has bought Pickard China, the last U.S. maker of high-end porcelain: a 12-person factory in Antioch, Illinois, producing a quarter of what it did in the 1970s (NPR). Meanwhile a historian in Edinburgh has found that Till the Bells Ring, a 46-minute talkie written in Scots, premiered in October 1926, a year before The Jazz Singer, widely thought of as the first talkie; two of its reels sit unscr
  
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• What The Bayeux Tapestry Is Really About

  08-10-2026 21:03 via prospectmagazine.co.uk
  One might subtitle the embroidered narrative “The Importance of Respecting an Oath.” Or, perhaps, simply “FAFO.” – Prospect (UK)
  
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• Documented: How Much Of LA’s TV Production Business Has Left

  08-10-2026 20:31 via latimes.com
  
  Over the last quarter-century, with the rise of streaming and the offshoring of production, the U.S. share of major-studio spending on TV episodes has fallen from 94% to 64%, according to a report commissioned by seven entertainment industry unions. – Los Angeles Times
  
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• Getting Duncan Sheik’s Final Musical To The Stage Just Days After His Death

  08-10-2026 20:02 via theatermania.com
  
  “What I am doing,” says music supervisor Or Matias of Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen, now in previews on Broadway, “is putting the puzzle pieces together in a way that best serves the evolution that (we need) during previews.” Says book writer Leah Nanako Winkler, “I feel like I’m trying to finish this painting.” – TheaterMania
  
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• Music Fraudster Jailed For Using Thousands Of Bots To Fake Stream Music Tracks

  08-10-2026 19:44 via arstechnica.com
  He had created “hundreds of thousands of AI-generated songs,” then dispersed billions of automated streams among them so that the bots could avoid raising any red flags by all targeting the same song at once. All together, the fake songs generated substantially more streams than some of the most popular artists today. – Ars Technica
  
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• Pangram Says Use Of Its AI Detector Is Increasing

  08-10-2026 19:31 via thebookseller.com
  Many still dispute the validity and accuracy of AI detection tools. The Atlantic’s Matteo Wong wrote that “while Pangram is accumulating the power to end reputations and careers, the tool does make mistakes, perhaps to a greater extent than is currently understood”. – Bookseller
  
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• How Defunding Arts Education Brought About Civic Unraveling

  08-10-2026 19:15 via artnews.com
  
  The Bicentennial offered everyday people in the middle of the map novel opportunities to appreciate and deliberate what America was, and it succeeded in this because it conducted more than a history lesson: Art was surprisingly paramount in this event of collective self-identification, historical commemoration, and political convocation. – ARTnews
  
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• A Ballet Where The Onstage Pianist Calls The Shots

  08-10-2026 19:04 via gramilano.com
  
  In 2012, superstar pianist Lang Lang contacted choreographer Stanton Welch hoping to collaborate. The result was Sons de l’âme, an evening-length ballet in which the onstage pianist plays Chopin while the dancers execute their steps in time with whatever tempos the pianist chooses. Here Welch talks about how the piece has developed. – Gramilano
  
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• For Lifelong Learning, It’s Better With Partners

  08-10-2026 18:46 via psyche.co
  The internet is full of resources for self-directed learning: for any subject, you can easily find blog posts about essential texts, links to university syllabi, and hours of YouTube lectures. When I attempted to make use of these guides, however, I often found myself disengaged and unfocused. – Psyche
  
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• How Venice Built The World’s First Ghetto

  08-10-2026 18:31 via aeon.co
  In 1516, the Venetian Senate voted to create the world’s first ‘ghetto’. All Jews then living in the city – as well as any others who might come later – were ordered to move immediately to a small island in the northeastern sestiere of Cannaregio. It was anything but appealing. – Aeon
  
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• What’s Special About Anne Carson’s Work

  08-10-2026 18:15 via theconversation.com
  
  At a time when scholarship and creative writing are often treated as separate pursuits, Carson has shown how deeply they belong together. Her work is a reminder that thought and imagination don’t compete with one another, but continually enrich each other. – The Conversation
  
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• Theaster Gates Has Bought An Old-School Porcelain Factory

  08-10-2026 18:01 via npr.org
  
  Pickard China in Antioch, Illinois is the last remaining manufacturer of high-end porcelain in the US — and with a shrinking market, aging and deteriorating equipment, and the retirement of the last Pickard family owner, the factory’s future seemed grim. Then Gates decided to make Pickard China part of his artistic practice. – NPR
  
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• How Data Visualization Tells Stories

  08-10-2026 17:44 via the-scientist.com
  Because data, and how we present it, tells a story, it’s important to transform results responsibly into visuals. A good visualization can show you really interesting patterns in your data; however, a bad visualization, like truncating the Y-axis or choosing the wrong type of plot, can lead you or your audience to the wrong conclusions. – The Scientist
  
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• Why Annie Dillard Deserved A Nobel

  08-10-2026 17:31 via 3quarksdaily.com
  
  She deserved the prize, first of all, as the major practitioner of literary nonfiction. The committee has historically overlooked this genre. – 3 Quarks Daily
  
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• The Growing Popularity Of Audiobook Walking Clubs

  08-10-2026 17:15 via time.com
  Audiobook walking clubs are now emerging around the country, turning an activity typically enjoyed solo into a low-pressure social event. For about an hour, everyone listens to a book of their choosing as they walk, then gathers afterward to compare notes, trade recommendations, and—in many cases—make plans to see each other again. – Time
  
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• Maybe “The Jazz Singer” Wasn’t The First Talkie After All

  08-10-2026 17:03 via theguardian.com
  “The 46-minute feature film (Till the Bells Ring), featuring spoken parts and synchronised sound throughout, premiered in Edinburgh in October 1926, a year before The Jazz Singer, starring Al Jolson, hit New York’s screens to widespread fanfare and took its place in the history books.” – The Guardian
  
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• Despite Being Shut Down, Voice Of America Still Costs $1.6 Million Per Week

  08-10-2026 16:34 via fortune.com
  
  “It’s been more than a year since the Trump administration dismantled Voice of America, the largest U.S. international broadcaster, saying ‘taxpayers are no longer on the hook for radical propaganda.’ Yet the agency is costing the government millions even as it stopped operations.” – Fortune
  
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• UK Conservatives Plan To Cut £1 Billion From Culture Budget If Elected

  08-10-2026 16:02 via thestage.co.uk
  “Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has revealed that her party plans to cut budgets extensively if it wins the next election, including slashing £1bn from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.” – The Stage (UK)
  
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• Leon Botstein Resigns All His Remaining Positions At Bard College

  08-10-2026 15:35 via theguardian.com
  The move came less than a day after a particularly damning email message from Botstein to Jeffrey Epstein became public and a Congressman called for an investigation. Botstein had been president of the college for 51 years until last May and was still a professor and a mainstay of Bard’s music programs. – The Guardian
  
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• Trump Administration Says Kennedy Center Is Too Dangerous For Public But Safe Enough For National Symphony To Rehearse There

  08-10-2026 15:01 via nytimes.com
  “So far, none of the musicians have encountered collapsing concrete garage decks, falling 2,500-pound roof sections or ‘electrical explosions’ — risks the center’s management says lurk everywhere.” – The New York Times
  
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• Anne Carson Wins 2026 Nobel Prize For Literature

  08-10-2026 14:36 via apnews.com
  The Canadian poet, essayist, and translator of ancient Greek drama was cited “for her bold and inventive oeuvre that, in playful dialogue with the classical tradition, has created new forms for contemporary literature.” – AP
  
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• Gramophone’s Record Of The Year Is A 10-Disc Set Of 17th-Century Chamber Music

  08-10-2026 14:00 via gramophone.co.uk
  An Erato release, headed up by harpsichordist Jean Rondeau, of the complete works of Louis Couperin has won the top prize at the 2026 Gramophone Awards. Among other honorees were Imogen Cooper (Lifetime Achievement), the Bamberg Symphony (Orchestra of the Year), and violinist Isabelle Faust (Artist of the Year). – Gramophone
  
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• Reading James Marriott’s The New Dark Ages

  08-10-2026 13:50 via artsjournal.com
  A year ago James Marriott had a Substack post on “the dawn of the post-literate society” that as I write has over 21,000 likes and 6,000 restacks: clearly something that struck a chord. And now we have a book length treatment of the issue, though a short book – put your phone away and you can read it in an afternoon.
  As someone who recently retired from over forty years of university teaching, my own sense is that there has been a genuine decline in the ability of college stud
  
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• Gillian Anderson, Doing Theatre, Asks Her Superfans To Get Out Of The Front Row

  05-10-2026 14:15 via yahoo.com
  She was laughing, but the X-Files (and current Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf) star told her fans, “It’s so distracting. You can’t come 20 times and sit in the front row, it’s driving me mad.” – The Telegraph (Yahoo)
  
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• Freaked Out About Artificial Intelligence?

  05-10-2026 14:00 via aeon.co
  Look to Kant. – Aeon
  
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• Powwow Dances Aren’t Always Very Accessible

  05-10-2026 13:45 via opb.org
  
  One man is trying to change that.  ”You can come down with your blankets, your tablets, your headphones. You don’t have to be in regalia. You can have your caregivers with you. You can have your parents with you, a support person or persons.” – OPB
  
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• In Censor-Happy Texas, School Librarians And Teachers Are Afraid To Discuss Books

  05-10-2026 13:15 via the74million.org
  
  “When you put your finger on every single book in order to type it into a spreadsheet, you really do think, ‘Am I willing to lose my job over this particular book?’ … I think that is a real concern for teachers around the state.” – The 74
  
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• Nashville Symphony’s Musicians ‘Blindsided’ By The Cancellations And Furloughs

  05-10-2026 13:00 via yahoo.com
  Violinist Dawn Gingrich: “We have new hires this season who upended their lives and moved to Nashville at the end of August … gave up prestigious fellowships and positions with other orchestras because they believed that the work here was secure.” – The Tennessean (Yahoo)
  
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• Anton Seidl and the Lost Promise of American Classical Music

  05-10-2026 03:23 via artsjournal.com
  
  This weekend’s online “ArtsFuse” carries an interview with me by Aaron Cohen (reproduced below).
  I will be speaking about my
  
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