Arts news

• New Orleans Mardi Gras Blackface Tradition Under Fire

  08-03-2019 23:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  Modern-day Zulu Club members defend their practice by saying they are honoring the original group who were poking fun at the white actors. And there is a lot to like with this defense if you are a member of the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club, or a preservationist-hawk for all New Orleans culture. However, if you are neither of those things and you happen to be in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, then Zulu blackface may not be for you. But you will be subjected to it anyway, even if it offen
  
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• San Diego Symphony To Do Its First-Ever European Tour

  08-09-2026 16:33 via msn.com
  The 116-year-old orchestra’s European debut will be in Barcelona in late April of next year, followed by performances in Toulouse, Hamburg, Paris and Dublin. Music director Rafael Payare will conduct, with pianist Javier Perianes as soloist in Spain and violinist Leonidas Kavakos featured on the remaining dates. – The San Diego Union-Tribune (MSN)
  
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• The Metropolitan Opera Auditions Boa Constrictors

  08-09-2026 16:01 via apnews.com
  
  Zoe Ziegfeld, a carnival performer who plays a snake handler in the Met’s Coney Island-inspired staging of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, tried out a number of snakes for this season’s revival of the production. This time out, she settled on a sun-glow boa named Princess. – AP
  
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• AMC Settles Lawsuit Over Profit-Sharing On “The Walking Dead”

  08-09-2026 15:36 via hollywoodreporter.com
  
  “The lawsuit, initially filed in 2022, was about the profit participation rights for the original Walking Dead series, and its first spinoff series Fear the Walking Dead. AMC says that it will pay $120 million to resolve the lawsuit, including $85 million this month, with another $35 million next year.” – The Hollywood Reporter
  
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• Summer Season At U.S. Movie Theaters Sets All-Time Box Office Record

  08-09-2026 15:04 via variety.com
  
  “Domestic ticket sales from May 1 through Labor Day on Sept. 7 stand at $4.76 billion, according to Rentrak. Revenues surpassed the long-held record set in 2013 with $4.755 billion, anchored by Iron Man 3, Despicable Me 2 and Man of Steel.” – Variety
  
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• Today In French Museum Robberies: Thieves Take Renoirs From Museum On Riviera

  08-09-2026 14:32 via apnews.com
  
  Just a few days after the question of whether Pierre-Auguste Renoir was even a good artist re-entered public discussion, some “well-equipped” and “well-informed” burglars made off from two paintings from Renoir’s home in Cagnes-sur-Mer. (In their rush to escape, the thieves left two other works in the garden.) – AP
  
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• Kennedy Center Chairman That Trump Fired Buys Sculpture That Trump Had Removed

  08-09-2026 14:00 via nytimes.com
  David Rubenstein, the billionaire philanthropist who was chair of the Kennedy Center’s board until Trump ousted him in early 2025, has purchased the Joel Shapiro sculpture Blue, which was carted away from the Center’s grounds last week. Rubenstein will loan the work to the National Gallery’s Sculpture Garden. – The New York Times
  
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• What the world sounds like

  07-09-2026 22:40 via artsjournal.com
  Good Morning,A piece of the Kennedy Center’s ceiling came down Friday, and the Center’s spokesperson called it fresh proof of the need to close for the renovation its chairman champions (AP).
  In Los Angeles, the Lucas Museum opens this month on a bet that comics, illustration and film belong on the same walls as the canon — and that the public, not the field, gets to say so (Los Angeles Times). Venice, by contrast, has two films by women this year; one of their directors says t
  
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• The Point Of Reading Pauline Kael

  07-09-2026 19:45 via hedgehogreview.com
  I don’t read Pauline Kael to track my sensibility with hers on an aesthetic oscilloscope. I read her because I think she—more than any writer I know, including Agee—brings the whole of herself to writing about movies.  – Hedgehog Review
  
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• How Art And AI Can Hold Each Other Accountable

  07-09-2026 19:31 via hai.stanford.edu
  Beyond pushing our concepts of “who” can make art, AI provides a new medium for art experience — it is immersive and participatory.  – Stanford
  
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• What We Didn’t Understand About Yayoi Kusama

  07-09-2026 19:15 via nytimes.com
  When she died last month, 37 years later, Ms. Kusama — in her life and her art — was obscured, paradoxically, by too much fame. – The New York Times
  
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• Would A NYT Lawsuit Win Against Anthropic Be A Disaster For Smaller Publishers?

  07-09-2026 19:01 via niemanlab.org
  “If the administration’s position was accepted, it would result in an unprecedented, uncompensated transfer of IP rights from news organizations to tech companies,” said Matt Topic, a lawyer at Loevy & Loevy who is representing The Intercept in the case. – NiemanLab
  
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• UK Loans Parthenon Pieces To Germany

  07-09-2026 18:31 via greekreporter.com
  The British Museum will lend two fragments of the Parthenon sculptures to an exhibition in Frankfurt, Germany, while Greece has rejected a request to lend nine Parthenon fragments from the Acropolis Museum for the same exhibition. – Greek Reporter
  
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• Officials Renew Calls To Close After Falling Ceiling Piece At Kennedy Center

  07-09-2026 18:15 via apnews.com
  
  A Kennedy Center Spokesperson called the partial ceiling collapse Friday “another example of the urgent need to close for renovation and revitalization, as our Chairman President Trump has championed.” – AP
  
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• The Lucas Museum’s Populist Bet

  07-09-2026 18:04 via latimes.com
  
  It would be easy to describe the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, which opens Sept. 22, as “unconventional,” a description the museum’s leaders seem to favor, though “oppositional” also comes to mind. – Los Angeles Times
  
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• Visions of ‘Ground Zero’ That Fell by the Wayside

  07-09-2026 17:31 via artsjournal.com
  <a href="https://www.artsjournal.com/herman/2026/09/visions-of-ground-zero-that-fell-by-the-wayside.html" title="Visions of ‘Ground Zero’ That Fell by the
  
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• Other Industry Leaders Say Not To Worry About AI, At Least If You’re A Designer

  07-09-2026 17:00 via theguardian.com
  In Britain, “the head of the Society of Garden and Landscape Designers said many people working in his industry were nervous about AI. He said design companies were more likely to use AI as ‘the intern in the office’ than as a replacement for skilled staff.” – The Guardian (UK)
  
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• Bill Gates, Yes, That Bill Gates, Sounds A Strong Alarm Over AI

  07-09-2026 16:30 via msn.com
  “He laid out five broad areas of concern: jobs, biotechnology, cyberattacks, psychosocial harms and whether humans will be able to maintain control over the systems they are building.” – Los Angeles Times (MSN)
  
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• Rob Reiner Wins A Posthumous Emmy For His Work On The Bear

  07-09-2026 16:00 via nytimes.com
  “The award was Reiner’s third Emmy. He won his first in 1974 for best supporting actor in a comedy for his portrayal of Mike Stivic in All in the Family, and a second in 1978 for his work in the same show.” – The New York Times
  
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• Are Actors Who Support Gaza Getting Blacklisted In Hollywood?

  07-09-2026 15:45 via theguardian.com
  Susan Sarandon certainly thinks so. “Sarandon said resistance to hiring outspoken critics of Israel ⁠remained particularly strong among major studios.” – The Guardian (UK)
  
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• Want To Hear What Anyplace In The World Sounds Like?

  07-09-2026 15:30 via theverge.com
  
  Try this site. Though many recordings are from the UK, Europe, and the US, “it’s still quite fun and soothing to set the globe to rotate automatically, and as the reticle nears points on the Earth, it transitions to those new sounds.” – The Verge
  
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• Marian Anderson’s Importance As A Groundbreaking Singer Means We Sometimes Forget Her Skills And Ambition

  07-09-2026 15:15 via nytimes.com
  “Anderson (1897-1993) won renown as a true, rare contralto with a rich, resonant low range who could also soar into the soprano sphere. Yet from the start, just being an excellent singer was not enough.” – The New York Times
  
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• The ‘Cult Of Male Directors’ Must End

  07-09-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Venice only has two films directed by women this year – and one of those directors says that “the enduring cult of male genius is keeping down female film-makers.” – The Guardian (UK)
  
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• Who’s The Next Bond?

  07-09-2026 14:45 via bbc.com
  
  The interest levels, and rumors, are rather off the charts right now. After all, “in the last decade alone the UK has had more prime ministers, and twice as many people have walked on the moon than have played the British secret agent.” – BBC
  
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• Artistic Director -Florida Studio Theatre working with Management Consultants for the Arts

  05-09-2026 01:08 via artsjournal.com
  Florida Studio Theatre (FST) is seeking a talented theater professional to lead the planning and execution of the organization’s core programming as Artistic Director. This newly conceived role will be part of a reimagined leadership team as FST’s long-serving Producing Artistic Director transitions into retirement and top leadership of the organization transfers to an Executive Director, a role effectively defined as a chief executive officer leading a team that includes the Artist
  
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• Managing Director -Florida Studio Theatre working with Management Consultants for the Arts

  05-09-2026 01:05 via artsjournal.com
  Florida Studio Theatre (FST) invites applications for its Managing Director, a role for individuals with strong talent for running complex, multi-venue producing operations. The new Managing Director will lead the day-to-day administration of an organization producing more than 1,600 performances annually across five stages, with three additional stages and expanded housing and campus operations coming online at the end of 2027 with the creation of the McGillicuddy Arts Plaza.
  In a newly concei
  
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• Bannanas are serious business

  05-09-2026 00:09 via artsjournal.com
  Good Morning,Maurizio Cattelan, the man who taped a banana to a wall and watched it sell for $6.2 million, says his work has always been serious — the trouble is that people stop at the joke (The Guardian). Today’s stories keep making his point: things filed under “decorative” turn out to be structural the moment someone tries to remove them.Public television, for instance, is not just programming. Stations are hardwired into FEMA’s alert system, and when Congress d
  
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• Maurizio “Banana Taped To The Wall” Cattelan Insists He’s Serious (And He’s Probably Right)

  04-09-2026 20:50 via theguardian.com
  The art world’s merriest prankster; the guy who duct-taped a banana to a gallery wall, called it “Comedian,” and saw it get eaten, sold for $6.2 million, and then eaten again — he says “My work has always been serious. The problem is people often stop at the joke.” – The Guardian
  
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• How Errol Flynn Beat The Rap For Statutory Rape

  04-09-2026 20:03 via yahoo.com
  Two credible allegations of sex with teenage girls would by themselves be enough to get Flynn cancelled today, especially since both complainants said that he forced himself on them. Unfortunately, that’s not how it played out in 1942 and ‘43 for Hollywood’s biggest star. – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
  
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• Why The Bayeux Tapestry Thrilled Ancient Audiences

  04-09-2026 19:44 via theconversation.com
  
  If we look at the meanings incorporated into different objects during the early medieval period, we see that the Bayeux tapestry is a visual form of the scop, an early medieval storyteller who told tales of heroes and great deeds, helping to preserve the oral tradition of the early English peoples. – The Conversation
  
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