Art News from Around the World

Visual Arts Mon, 05 Oct 2026 15:44 Smithsonian Is Using AI To Help Interpret Its Collection The goal is to allow the public and scholars to both search the institution’s collection and draw connections across the Smithsonian and other organizations, such as the Library of Congress, to gain a deeper sense of how communities formed and functioned at the nation’s birth. – AP NewsSource: Visual Arts Mon, 05 Oct 2026 15:15 How AI Might Help Humanize Museums In addition to museum workers, of course, the public and artists are already using AI, which means that AI is already affecting any museum’s digital strategy, ability to attract visitors, understanding of the ever-changing art world, and capacity to fulfill its mission. Avoidance is not an option. – ReMuseumSource: The World Tue, 06 Oct 2026 00:45 Oracle Pays $10 Million for Nashville Symphony’s Season Good Morning, Oracle is giving the Nashville Symphony $10 million, reinstating a season the orchestra cancelled a week earlier and ending furloughs of 77 musicians and 27 staff that were to begin Oct. 18 (The New York Times). Music director Leonard Slatkin, who had just conducted three sold-out concerts, was as surprised as anyone. Adults […]Source: Music Mon, 05 Oct 2026 21:22 Oracle Gives $10M To Help Save The Nashville Symphony The gift will allow the symphony to resume the season, which runs through June 2027, and to retain staff, Mark Tillinger, Nashville Symphony’s president and chief executive, said in a news release on Sunday. – The New York TimesSource: Ideas Mon, 05 Oct 2026 19:01 Why More Adults Are Playing With Kids Toys “People just stay very playful for a longer period of time. And it’s cross-brand. You know, it might be Teddy bears. It might be Lego bricks. It might be Transformers. It might be Barbie dolls.”  – The New YorkerSource: Words Mon, 05 Oct 2026 18:31 Will We Still Need Punctuation When Machines Are Writing? What are those commas doing there, anyway? By modern usage, they should mark off a non-restrictive clause, but they don’t. Nor are they marking items in a series or natural pauses in speech.  – The New YorkerSource: Music Mon, 05 Oct 2026 18:01 Musical Instruments Are Getting More Expensive The consequences have reverberated across the country. Higher instrument prices are a particular threat to lower-income districts where enrollment and budgets are shrinking. – The New York TimesSource: Words Mon, 05 Oct 2026 17:30 The NFL Is Trying To Woo New Fans With Its Own Romance Writing That is … not going well (though romance readers are still gaga for M/M, W/W, and M/W hockey tales from more traditional channels). Fans “see the stories as cheap pandering that fails to engage with female and LGBTQ hockey fans’ concerns about homophobia and toxic masculinity in the sport.” – WiredSource: Media Mon, 05 Oct 2026 17:01 Can A Movie Make A Global Difference? “In the coming weeks, NAZA will continue its rollout to theaters across the U.S., and this week it hit No. 1 at the Italian box office, surpassing Avengers: Endgame.” – VultureSource: Issues Mon, 05 Oct 2026 16:44 If You Can’t Hold It, You Don’t Own It Physical media are really making a comeback in the era of streaming services removing series and movies at (seemingly) random, book censorship, and AI music. – The Guardian (UK)Source: Issues Mon, 05 Oct 2026 16:31 Authoritarian Politics Are Threatening Culture Worldwide In addition to established understandings of intrinsic esthetic and historic values of heritage, new emphasis on development reconceptualizes heritage as a resource that can generate economic development, tourism, employment and social cohesion. – The ConversationSource: Words Mon, 05 Oct 2026 16:01 What, Exactly, Is Literary Substack? As Substack has become a more respectable platform and mainstream academics have begun to join in some numbers, they have encountered a strange simulacrum of fields they thought they knew intimately. Cultural and symbolic capital seem to work differently here. – ParoxysmsSource: Issues Mon, 05 Oct 2026 15:31 How Ravinia Reconfigured Itself The pavilion reopened partway through the 2026 summer season after two seasons of design and construction, then quickly began demonstrating its newfound flexibility. – Architect MagazineSource: Theatre Mon, 05 Oct 2026 15:00 Christopher Jackson Makes A Return To ‘Hamilton’ As An Older, Wiser Washington But Hamilton plays differently now. “The show was written in a time where hope was what we were striving for, holding on to, and the pandemic did a lot to diminish that and exhaust people and scare people.” – The New York TimesSource: Issues Mon, 05 Oct 2026 14:30 Philadelphia’s Beloved Academy Of Sciences Almost Made It To 200 “When they announced the one month notice it was a surprise for everybody. … It’s like the leadership didn’t even try to keep it open, and that’s why there’s a lot of frustration around what’s happening. It’s just not right.” – NPRSource: Music Mon, 05 Oct 2026 14:00 The Radio Wasn’t A Live Music Killer Instead, it brought classical music to much wider audiences, especially during and just after WWII. – Classical Music (BBC)Source: Issues Mon, 05 Oct 2026 13:45 Protesters In Culver City Demand That Media Companies Commit To Democracy “Spotlighting Sony Pictures Studios, Apple, Pinterest and Amazon MGM Studios, all with local offices, protesters demanded that the companies sign on to the ‘Business for Democracy Pledge’ ahead of the elections in November.” – Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)Source: People Mon, 05 Oct 2026 13:30 Peppino Mazzullo, The Voice And Soul Of Puppet Topo Gigio, Has Died At 100 Mazzullo was “an Italian actor who for more than 40 years provided the endearing voice of the floppy-eared mouse puppet Topo Gigio, a TV character beloved by children all over the world,” not to mention by Ed Sullivan. – The New York TimesSource: Music Mon, 05 Oct 2026 13:15 Sadly, It’s Rational For Musicians To Fear, And Worry About, The Music Biz For Liz Harris, “an elevated digital profile comes with a range of new concerns – like fake remixes and songs posted with the same titles as hers by bad actors trying to skim whatever royalties they can.” – The Guardian (UK)Source: Music Mon, 05 Oct 2026 13:00 Why The Back Of The House Shouldn’t Choose The Dining Music Screamo isn’t it. “Music can manipulate consumer moods. It’s why soothing, well-known songs for the local demo play in the grocery store (so you feel comfortable and familiar), why fancy restaurants play jazz, classical, or piano music (to create a sense of elevated place, influencing a higher spend).” – RavenousSource: