MOST RECENT AJBLOGS

Erin Harkey shares the critical role the arts play in society

- Aaron Dworkin

Channeling Rimbaud’s Last Words

- Jan Herman

Opera Philadelphia, $11 tickets, and a predictable outcome

- Hannah Grannemann

SUMMER RERUN: The Con Is On – Raising Emergency Money at the Expense of Everyone Else Is Not a Heroic Act

- Alan Harrison

Stephanie Shonekan talks about the value of the arts in a modern world

- Aaron Dworkin


 

DANCE

Ballet Shoe Company Faces One-Two Punch: Catastrophic Fire And High Tariffs

- Marketplace

This Family Has Kept The Whirling Dance of Sufism Alive In Syria

- The World

Indoor Skydiving — Not Only Is It Really A Thing, It’s Turning into A Form of Dance

- The New York Times

How The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Got Their Pay Quintupled

- Time

Miami City Ballet Appoints A New Artistic Director, Only The Third In Its History

- Miami Herald (MSN)

Nearly Half Of Sarasota Ballet Dancers Quit, Claiming Toxic Work Environment

- SunCoast Searchlight

IDEAS

The Loneliness Epidemic And Its Link To Technology

- Aeon

AI Is Rewiring The Internet And… Of Course There Are Downsides

- The Atlantic

So Why Does Everyone Seem To Be Identifying With Imposter Syndrome?

- The New Yorker

AI Bots Are Scouring Our Museum and Library Collections. Is Our Culture Being Stolen?

- 404 Media

How Medieval Monks Spread Culture And Learning

- LitHub

What, Exactly, Defines Real Creativity?

- Psychology Today

Our Notions Of Copyright May Be Standing In The Way Of Creativity

- MIT Technology Review

Defining The Art Of Genius

- The New Yorker

The Urge To Isolationism Isn’t New

- Aeon

The Schomburg Center, At 100, Is Ready For Its Day In The Sun

- Seattle Times (AP)

Thanks To Our Phones, We Deeply Lack Boredom

- The Guardian (UK)



 

ISSUES

The Festival That Puts a Scientist In Every Pub

- ArtsHub

Why Culture Desperately Needs Better Digital Infrastructure

- LinkedIn

How Detroit Reinvented Through The Arts

- National Geographic

One Of Philadelphia’s Biggest Arts Funders, Left Homeless By UArts Collapse, Has New Home

- The Philadelphia Inquirer

Why The French Government Withdrew An AI Video It Released Celebrating The Nazis’ Withdrawal From Paris

- Artnet

How Did A Giant Water Pistol Get To Be The Symbol, And Preferred Weapon, Of Europe’s Movement Against Overtourism?

- AP

Huge Crowds Protest Overtourism In Spain, Portugal, And Italy

- The Washington Post (MSN)

Fulbright Board Resigns Over Interference In Awards

- NPR

This Administration Almost Sold The Freedom Rides Museum, And Other Civil Rights Monuments

- The New York Times

British Comedian David Walliams Performed The Nazi Salute Twice During A Panel Taping

- BBC

How Los Angeles Museums Have Failed Undocumented Immigrants

- Hyperallergic

Disney And Universal’s Battle With Midjourney May Reshape Copyright

- Time



 

MEDIA

Why Don’t The Emmys Have A Category For Outstanding Performance In Reality TV?

- Vulture

Despite Anger From Industry Workers, FilmLA Gets Five More Years To Handle Film Permits

- https://variety.com/2025/film/news/filmla-contract-extension-renewal-criticism-opposition-1236436942/

“Jaws” At 50 – Why It Became Iconic

- The Conversation

“Golden Girls” Gossip: Bea Arthur And Betty White Despised Each Other

- The Hollywood Reporter

Martial-Arts Classics Starring Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan, And Jet Li Will Get AI-Powered Remakes

- The Hollywood Reporter

Netflix To Start Streaming Broadcast Channels

- Ars Technica

Cambodia Bans Thai Films And TV

- AP

Some Broadcast TV Series Are Getting Impressive Viewer Numbers On Streaming For Weeks After Airing

- The Hollywood Reporter

Use Of AI In Movies, TV, Becoming Widespread

- NBC News

Report: More Than Half Of Americans Now Get Their News From Social Media

- BBC



 

MUSIC

The Music Industry Can’t Stop The AI Onslaught

- The Verge

Miss Manners Weighs In On Female Orchestra Musicians’ Concert Attire

- UExpress

Explaining The ABBA Phenomenon (In Retrospect)

- The New Yorker

Neuroscientist: Music Involves Every Cognitive Ability We Have

- El Pais

Curtis Institute Raises Nearly $200 Million To Keep Tuition Free

- The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

Audience Members Explain Why They Went To L.A. Opera Despite Protests, Troops, And Curfew

- Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)

How California Became The Home Of Innovation For Music Technology

- Music Radar

From Atlanta To Savannah To Valdosta, Orchestras In Georgia Seem To Be Thriving

- The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Met Opera Attendance This Spring Was Down, Probably Due To Reduced International Tourism

- AP

Opera Montreal Picks A New General Director

- OperaWire

Study: Music Listeners In Cities Have Wider Tastes But Share Less

- Phys

Music Is Now UC Berkeley’s Fastest-Growing Major

- The Daily Cal

The Scariest Two Musical Notes In Film History

- Washington Post (MSN)

The Paris Opera House Turns 150 This Year

- NPR



 

PEOPLE

Two Years After The British Museum Thefts Were Revealed, Big Questions About The Curator At The Center Of It

- The Observer

Journalist William Langewiesche, “Master Of The White-Knuckle Narrative,” Has Died At 70

- The Washington Post (MSN)

Tom Bodett’s Commercials For Motel 6 Are Legends. Now He’s Suing To Get Paid For Making Them.

- Tedium

Actor Hits Tyler Perry With $260 Million Sexual Assault Lawsuit

- AP

Pianist Alfred Brendel, 94

- The Washington Post (MSN)

Leonard Lauder, Major Philanthropist And Art Collector, Has Died At 92

- ARTnews

Dara Birnbaum, Who Transformed The Wonder Woman TV Show Into Art, Has Died At 78

- The New York Times

Joel Shapiro, Post-Minimalist Sculptor, Has Died At 83

- The New York Times



 

THEATRE

What It’s Like Watching The Evita Balcony Scene From A London Sidewalk

- The Guardian (UK)

Bringing Malaysian Shadow Puppet Theater Into The 21st Century

- Hyperallergic

France’s Most Notorious Rape Trial Is Put Onstage Only Six Months After It Ended

- The New York Times

West End “Evita” Has “Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina” Sung To A Crowd Outdoors From A Balcony. Ticket-Buyers Inside Aren’t Happy.

- The Hollywood Reporter

Oregon Shakespeare Festival Loses Its Recently-Hired Executive Director

- The Oregonian

Together: Inside The Sonia Friedman-Hugh Jackman-Ian Rickson Low-Cost Theatre Project

- The Guardian

Here’s The Early Post-Tony Awards Fallout On Broadway

- The Hollywood Reporter

Reworking A Nouveau Circus Show On Short Notice After A Key Performer Gets Injured

- The New York Times

National History Day Has Turned Into A Deeply Competitive Performance Extravaganza For High School Students

- The New York Times



 

VISUAL

World, Especially US, Politics Hang Over Art Basel

- The New York Times

Can The Venice Architecture Biennale Use AI To Gain Popularity?

- The New York Times

Why Is Velázquez’s “Las Meninas” So Important? Because Of The Tricks It Plays On You.

- ARTnews

GAO Agency Finds That Trump Administration Withholding Of Library And Museum Funding Breaks Law

- ARTnews

Colorado Museums Brace For Program Cancellations

- Colorado Newsline

One Of Gaudí’s Most Famous Barcelona Houses Has Its Rear Façade Restored

- Artnet

This 13th-Century Yemeni Citadel May Not Survive Its Own Restoration

- Smithsonian Magazine

Posting The Receipts: Writers Are Documenting Themselves Writing On TikTok To Prove They’re Not AI

- Wired

Is Art Basel Losing Its Mojo?

- The New York Times

Man Drives Mercedes Down Rome’s Spanish Steps, Gets Stuck

- Artnet

Is Art Basel Being Overshadowed By Its Own Spinoffs?

- The New York Times

With Its Own Building Closed For Renovations, Pompidou Center Moves Into Newly-Restored Grand Palais

- Dezeen

What AI Art Looks Like When It Hasn’t Trained On Artists’ Work

- The Verge

Bringing The Plants To Life At Philly’s Soon-To-Open Calder Sculpture Garden

- The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)

Iran Closes Its Museums And Orders Artifacts Transferred To Safe Storage

- The Art Newspaper

Tourists Sit On, And Break, Crystal-Coated “Van Gogh Chair” In Museum

- ARTnews

The Cultural Implications Of The UK National Gallery Rehang

- The Conversation

Egypt’s Grand Egyptian Museum Opening Is Delayed Due To “Regional Developments”

- ARTnews



 

WORDS

Oops, Sorry, Authors – TikTok Doesn’t Actually Want To Publish Books

- The New York Times

The Long-Controversial Semi-Colon Is Falling To Neglect

- Smithsonian

Seventeen Years Later, Spain’s Publishing Industry Works Itself Back To 2008 Level

- Publishing Perspectives

The Reason American Small-Town Newspapers Are Closing Isn’t Lack Of Money

- Columbia Journalism Review

Inside Pensacola, America’s Book-Banning Capital

- LitHub

Fish Out Of Water: A Working Class Writer At The Iowa Writers’ Workshop

- LitHub

Alt-Weeklies Are Not, In Fact, Dead (Despite The Long Casualty List)

- Columbia Journalism Review

How Our Reading Is Changing

- The New Yorker

How AI Can Refocus History

- The New York Times

How The Fake Research Publishing Game Works

- Nature

Publisher Releases Facsimile Edition Of García Lorca’s Secret Homoerotic Sonnets

- The Guardian

Figuring Out The “Ulysses” Phenomenon

- The Atlantic

Data: Why We Still Need Women’s Writing Prizes

- The Conversation

Writing Joy Where Publishers See Only Pain

- LitHub