MOST RECENT AJBLOGS

They Come at Night

- Jan Herman

Lincoln Center’s new-ish Festival Orchestra is cheered by audiences – upstairs and down – but has a ways to go

- David Patrick Stearns

“Mahlerei” — As Inspired by Zero Mostel

- Joe Horowitz

Tammy Yi talks about creating impact through DE&I

- Aaron Dworkin

Grueling Grünbaum Disputes: Manhattan DA Takes on Museums (once again)

- CultureGrrl


 

DANCE

The New Artistic Director Of Richmond Ballet Steps Smoothly Into Position

- Pointe Magazine

Raygun, The Professor B-Girl, Earned Her Spot On Australia’s Olympics Team Fair And Square

- Vox

Remembering Doc Brown, “The Prince Of Cakewalking”

- KCUR (Kansas City)

New York’s Dance And Performance Awards Have Paused For What’s Being Called A Restructure

- Playbill

“I Think One Of The Funniest Things You Can Do Is Try To Dance The Undanceable”

- The New York Times

A Ballet Festival Curated With Care

- The New York Times

We Fired All Our Dancers, But Not Because They Unionized, Says Dallas Black Dance Theatre

- KERA (Dallas)

The Academic Who Competed In Breaking At The Olympics

- The Guardian

As The Olympics Showed, Women Can Break

- The New York Times

IDEAS

Americans Love Free Speech, Survey Finds — Until They Think About What’s Being Said

- The Conversation

Our Memories Are Like Unfinished Works Of Art

- Nautilus

The Discovery Of Fossils Changed Everything About How (Western) Humans See Themselves

- The Atlantic (MSN)

How Shall We Deal With Google?

- The New York Times

We Should Teach Schoolkids Meditation Skills The Same Way We Do Sports And Arts

- Psyche

“Population Stereotypes,” Or How To Convince A Crowd Of People That You’re Psychic

- The MIT Press Reader

The Case For Occasionally Being Mean (And How That’s Different From Being Cruel)

- The Hedgehog Review

How Does Cultural Transmission Survive Without Written Explanations?

- Aeon

What Happens When You Ditch Your Smartphone For What Might Be Called A Brick

- Washington Post

Horror Movies Need More Than Just Vibes

- The Verge

Artists And Activists Both Have A Purpose, But Not The Same One

- The New York Times



 

ISSUES

Confidentiality Clauses In The Arts Can Be Vital, But May Need To Be Modified For Safety

- ArtsHub

In Rome, Racist Graffiti Defaces A New Mural To An Olympic Champion

- The Guardian (UK)

Yet More Turmoil At Nashville’s Arts Funding Agency As Three Senior Staffers Resign

- WPLN (Nashville)

Thousands Of Protestors March Against Slovakia’s Culture Minister And Her Firing Spree

- ARTnews

For The First Time In Years, Burning Man Is Not Sold Out

- The Guardian

A Person Has Been Arrested For Suspected Arson At The Jewish Museum Of Maryland

- ARTnews

A Disney Theme Park Is Apparently Closing One Of Its Most Beloved Attractions: Muppet*Vision 3D

- TheWrap

The Big Jobs Facing The New South African Government’s Minister of Culture

- The Conversation

Despite Protests, Harvard Will Not Remove Arthur Sackler’s Name From Two University Buildings

- AP

Asking AI Programs About Rip Van Winkle (Philip Kennicott Tries An Experiment)

- The Washington Post (MSN)

Did Paris Benefit From The Olympics?

- Slate



 

MEDIA

The True Crime Producer Who Documented His Own Horrifying Illness And Descent

- The Guardian (UK)

The Pay Equity Model At The Heart Of The Movie Sing Sing Could Change Hollywood

- KCRW

Another Round Of Layoffs At America’s Largest Public Radio Outlet

- Inside Radio

Gamergate’s Angry Dudes Haunt The Internet

- Wired

Animators Fear What Hollywood Will Do With AI

- LAist

A Veteran Dolly Grip In Hollywood Fears That His Profession May Become Extinct

- TheWrap

The Bigger, Better Return Of The Edinburgh Film Fest

- The Guardian (UK)

The Boston Globe Hires A Podcasting Staff, Then Decides Not To Make Podcasts

- CommonWealth Beacon (Boston)

More Pre-Merger Carnage: Paramount Is Closing Its TV Studio

- The Hollywood Reporter

Here Comes The Carnage At Paramount Ahead Of Its Merger With Skydance

- Los Angeles Times (MSN)



 

MUSIC

How San Francisco Symphony Plans To Makeover Davies Hall (If It Ever Has The Money)

- San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

Manfred Honeck On What Makes A Great Bruckner Conductor

- Bachtrack

Turns Out No Matter How Big A Star You Are, You Can’t Just Film In Protected Areas Without A Permit

- CBC

Melbourne Symphony Walks Back Its Cancellation of Pianist Over Gaza Statement From Stage

- The Guardian

David Robertson Has A Metaphor For Conducting

- San Francisco Classical Voice

Is It Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s Time, At Last?

- The New York Times

Esa-Pekka Salonen Is Soon To Be, For The First Time In Many Years, A Free Agent

- The New York Times

Chattanooga Symphony & Opera Appoints New Music Director

- Chattanooga Times Free Press

Why Two Of London’s Major Classical Institutions Are Rebranding

- Classical Music (UK)

This Conductor’s Group Gets Funding From A Russian State Bank, But Somehow It’s Still Welcome In Austria

- The New York Times

No Taylor Swift? No Problem

- NPR

Re-Creating The Music Of Medieval Europe With One Instrument

- Open Culture

The Cellist Of Auschwitz

- The New Yorker

AI Music Production Is Getting Easier, But Is It Getting Better?

- Vox



 

PEOPLE

The Curious Incident Of The Brain Fog That Left Author Mark Haddon Unable To Read Or Write

- The Guardian

Betty Prashker, Trailblazing Feminist Editor, Has Died At 99

- Publishers Weekly

Peter Marshall, Host Of The Original “Hollywood Squares,” Is Dead At 98

- The Washington Post (MSN)

An Appreciation Of Gena Rowlands, The Fiercest Star Of Indie Movies

- The Guardian (UK)

Gena Rowlands Has Died At 94

- The Washington Post (MSN)

You’ve Seen Him Dominate Shogun, But There’s So Much More To Hiroyuki Sanada

- Los Angeles Times (MSN)

“Radical Courage” — How André De Shields Managed To Have A 50-Year Career In New York Theater

- Gothamist

Fanny Van De Grift Stevenson And How She Made Robert Louis Stevenson Possible

- Literary Hub

Charles R. Cross, One Of America’s Leading Rock Journalists, Is Dead At 67

- Variety

Ireland’s Black Gay Population Finds A Voice

- Irish Times



 

THEATRE

The Year Of Celebrating America’s Favorite Fighting Frenchman

- The New York Times

Another Bay Area Theatre Meets Its Fundraising Goal, But Plans To Downsize Anyway

- San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

What Do You Get When You Cross “Waiting For Godot” With An Escape Room? This.

- Los Angeles Times (MSN)

Ivan Van Hove Finds Inspiration In Bleakness

- The New York Times

A Taiwanese Play That Openly Addresses The Question of Independent Statehood

- The Guardian

We Know Theatre Has To Adapt And Change, But How?

- American Theatre

The Unnerving Experience Of One-To-One Shows At The Edinburgh Fringe

- The Guardian

Stans Of The Greatest Showman Movie, Rejoice

- Variety

This Rural Wisconsin Company Knows How To Do Summer Theater Right

- The New York Times

No Mics, No Musicals, Just A Lot Of Wisconsin Theatre Fans

- The New York Times



 

VISUAL

A Second-Century Roman Mosaic Has Been Discovered In England

- ARTnews

Longtime Curator Resigns From The Mütter Museum

- The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

Jewels Stolen From Dresden’s Green Vault Are Now Back On Display

- Artnet

In Saint Pete, The Museum Of Fine Arts Gets A New Executive Director

- Catalyst

The Walls Have Eyes, Not To Mention Mouths

- The Guardian (UK)

Indonesia’s New, Expensive, Environmentally Alarming New Capital Is About To Open

- The Atlantic

“Chile Is A Nation Of Muralists”

- The Guardian

Rothko Chapel In Houston Is Closed Indefinitely Following July’s Hurricane Beryl

- Artnet

Banksy Strikes Again, This Time At The London Zoo

- ARTnews

Getting That Perfect Olympics Shot

- Artnet

Vienna Offered Free Museum Admission To Cancelled Taylor Swift Ticketholders — And They Came

- ARTnews

French Customs Officers Thwart $1.4 Million Sale Of Counterfeit Leonardo Da Vinci Portrait

- The Guardian

Save The Brutalist Buildings, People, Because We’ll Need Them Someday

- NPR

Saving Soviet-Era Masterpieces In Ukraine

- The Guardian (UK)

We Broke The Law By Losing 2,000 Items, Finds British Museum’s Internal Audit

- ARTnews

Another Jackass Gets Caught Leaving His Mark On The Walls At Pompeii

- Artnet

To Greet The Democratic Convention, The Chicago Transit Authority Puts New Public Art All Over The “L”

- The New York Times

Abu Dhabi Is Buying A Billion-Dollar Piece Of Sotheby’s

- ARTnews



 

WORDS

Talk About Bucking A Trend: The Onion Has Gone Back Into Actual Ink-On-Paper Print

- The New York Times

A Tale Of Three Translators

- Three Quarks Daily

A Guy Who Writes Fiction Suggests How To Get Guys To Read Fiction

- GQ

On A Late Summer Road Trip, Check Out These Literary Stops In Each State

- LitHub

Creating Something Better From The Ashes Of A Beloved News Site

- Nieman Lab

Fire Up Your Libby And Overdrive

- LitHub

News Publishers Increase Their Efforts On Reddit As Traffic Soars

- Adweek

AI Has Dramatically Speeded Up Work On Reassembling The Epic Of Gilgamesh

- The New York Times

Will Colleen Hoover’s Reign Over The Romance Lists Subside Now That Her Movie Is Out, And Not Great?

- The Atlantic

When Your Novel Accidentally Meets The Zeitgeist

- The Guardian (UK)

After Last Year’s Absolute Disaster, This Year’s Hugo Awards Came With A Full Transparency Report

- Glasgow Worldcon

Iowa Law Banning Books With Sexual Content Goes Back Into Effect

- The New York Times