Last week I absolutely inhaled Lonely Crowds. How is your summer reading going?
Just after the Smithsonian replaced the placard referring to President Trump’s two impeachments, the White House announce that it would enact a review of the Smithsonian museums’ current and forthcoming exhibitions, websites, and social media “to assess tone, historical framing and alignment with American ideals,” the New York Times reported. In a letter sent to Smithsonian secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III, White House officials said that, within 120 days, museums “should begin implementing content corrections where necessary, replacing divisive or ideologically driven language with unifying, historically accurate, and constructive descriptions across placards, wall didactics, digital displays, and other public-facing materials.”
The letter additionally demands museums submit their plans for events and exhibits related to America 250—the forthcoming celebration of the U.S.’s Semiquincentennial—educational materials, internal guidelines, and more.
This is, of course, deeply concerning. Sarah Weicksel, executive director of the American Historical Association, told the Wall Street Journal that the move was not only an affront to historian and curators, but also that “the public stands to lose a great deal in having reliable and engaging content that tells a whole and complex story of the American past.” The non-profit PEN America, which advocates for freedom of expression, also put out a statement decrying the administration’s move.
The Trump administration also announced the next class of Kennedy Center honorees: George Strait, Gloria Gaynor, Kiss, Michael Crawford, and Sylvester Stallone. Trump said he himself would host the honors, the NYT reported. He also said that he had always wanted a Kennedy Center honor himself, but never received one: “I waited and waited and waited, and I said to hell with it, I’ll become chairman, and I’ll give myself an honor. Next year we’ll honor Trump, okay?”
Kennedy Center also just ended its relationship with the family-owned business who has assembled more than 255 Kennedy Center Honors medallions since the awards began in 1978. The Washington Post reported that the Center has commissioned Tiffany & Company to redesign the medallion, which was originally designed by artist Ivan Chermayeff.
The Royal Opera and Ballet’s production of Tosca is still facing controversy, even after it canceled its planned 2026 production in Tel Aviv. Now, more than 50 Ukrainian artists and U.K. MPs have signed a letter urging the company to drop Russian soprano Anna Netrebko from the London show, which opens September 11, The Guardian reported. In July, we spoke about how opera companies in western Europe were slowly welcoming the Putin-supporting soprano back on their stages.
The Dance Data Project has released its annual report on the 150 largest ballet and classically inspired companies in the U.S. One key finding: of the 122 companies with data for fiscal year 2024, more than half (52.46%) finished the year in a deficit. That’s slightly better than FY 2023’s 54% but way worse than FY 2022’s 20%. It is worth nothing that in FY 2023, aggregate expenditures increased about 15% from the prior year. The company with the biggest budget isn’t a surprise: New York City Ballet tops the list, followed by San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Alvin Ailey, and Boston Ballet. New Jersey Ballet—where I trained as a child—entered the top 50 by expenditures for the first time (artistic director Maria Kowroski is indeed making moves at the company—notably infusing what was once a deeply Vaganova-focused company with ample Balanchine).
You may have seen that the Scottish Ballet just debuted a new story ballet focused on Mary, Queen of Scots at Edinburgh Festival. The company will tour the piece through Scotland from September through October. Choreographer-in-residence Sophie Laplan developed the piece with theater director James Bonas, who also worked on Helen Pickett’s Crime & Punishment ballet (which, if you don’t know my feelings about…welcome). The reviews for the piece are generally fine, and I’ll admit some skepticism that could very well be unfounded. Still, I’ll say: It’s great to see a company commissioning female choreographers for ambitious projects.
I did think that New York Times dance critic Gia Kourlas’s multimedia-heavy piece on the importance of hands in dance was very lovely.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is at least one head of state who believes in the importance of music education. The former flutist told Classic FM in an exclusive interview that he wants to make sure that music education is fully considered a part of U.K. schools’s curricula. Earlier this month, he also announced a £88 million package aimed at helping young people to connect with their communities, including through music programs. Music education, he says, teaches children teamwork, among other skills: “I don’t know how many businesses say to me: ‘Keir, we can do the technical skills they need for our business, but what we lack with young people is the eye contact, the confidence, the working in a team.’”
The all-time-low number of A-level music entries reflects a broader problem: that schools across the U.K. increasingly don’t even offer this highest level of music education. For the third year in a row, fewer than 5,000 students in the country last year enrolled in A-level music, according to an analysis from the Independent Society of Musicians (ISM).
But where do opera singers go to learn German? That would be Vermont’s Middlebury Language School at Middlebury College, where for $12,000 singers can master tricky German pronunciations, learn about German history and culture, and get practical information about auditioning and working in Germany. The German government, Nina Keck reports for All Things Considered, provides grants that go toward student financial aid.
Amid the bombardments in Gaza, music lessons are continuing through the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, Reuters reported. The school’s building and many instruments have been destroyed in the war, and several students and their families killed. Students say they must overcome their hunger and weakness to attend lessons. But music, explains oud instructor Ismail Daoud, is an important tool that helps Gazans reconnect with humanity and mentally escape the war: “Music is a glimmer of hope that all our children and people hold onto in darkness.”
Author Sally Rooney says that she will continue to support Palestine Action, a protest group that, since 2020, has organized direct-action protests against weapons manufacturers, including vandalism and occupation of factories, she wrote in the Irish Times. The U.K. government labeled this group. as a “terrorist organization” this summer after it spray-painted and damaged two aircrafts in an RAF airbase, causing about £7 million of damage, according to police. While Palestine Action is fighting this designation in the courts, expressions of support for this group in the U.K. are considered a “serious terror offense under U.K. law.”
Rooney, who has long been a vocal supporter of Palestine, urged the Irish government to take action beyond its submission against Israel for war crimes in the International Court of Justice. She also maintains that she will continue to do what she can in protest of the genocide against Palestinians (it was back in November that the UN Special Committee found Israel’s methods in Gaza, including starvation, was consistent with genocide). Rooney writes:
My books, at least for now, are still published in Britain, and are widely available in bookshops and even supermarkets. In recent years the UK’s state broadcaster has also televised two fine adaptations of my novels, and therefore regularly pays me residual fees. I want to be clear that I intend to use these proceeds of my work, as well as my public platform generally, to go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can. If the British state considers this “terrorism”, then perhaps it should investigate the shady organisations that continue to promote my work and fund my activities, such as WH Smith and the BBC.
To ensure that the British public is made aware of my position, I would happily publish this statement in a U.K. newspaper – but that would now be illegal. The present U.K. Government has willingly stripped its own citizens of basic rights and freedoms, including the right to express and read dissenting opinions, in order to protect its relationship with Israel. The ramifications for cultural and intellectual life in the U.K.—where the eminent poet Alice Oswald has already been arrested, and an increasing number of artists and writers can no longer safely travel to Britain to speak in public—are and will be profound.
A Downing Street spokesperson released a statement against Rooney’s remarks, reiterating its position against Palestine Action.
New York art critic Jerry Saltz defended the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima, for some reason. The prolific poster established his viewpoint on August 6, writing, in part, “History doesn’t offer clean choices. Just unbearable ones.” Art critic Sharon Mizota responded in an op-ed for Hyperallergic, writing about the perspective of a friend’s father, Howard Kakita, a survivor of the bomb and a member of the American Society of Hiroshima-Nagasaki A-Bomb Survivors:
If nothing else, it’s the lack of empathy that rankles most when I read Saltz’s post. As a fellow art critic, I understand what we do as an endeavor to stay in touch with what makes us human — all of us. Of course, not everyone sees it that way. Criticism has advanced imperialist and white supremacist viewpoints as much as it has reminded us of our common humanity, and our public discourse is only becoming more divisive and reactive. Although Kakita is buoyed by the fact that the world has not seen another atomic attack, he expressed disappointment that nuclear weapons and brinkmanship have only proliferated, despite his and others’ efforts. “Unfortunately, the world, I don’t believe, has gotten any safer,” he said.
At Yale Law School, a new course taught by Potter Stewart Professor of Constitutional Law Paul Gewirtz asks that students go beyond their textbooks in pursuit of artistic endeavors. “Arts can enhance a person’s empathy and understanding of human life—capacities typically needed by the best lawyers,” Gewirtz says of the course, Arts and the Lawyer. “And artworks can challenge, incite, or inspire people in diverse ways, even affecting legal career choices. Beyond that, for many law students and lawyers, their finite life is more fulfilling if it includes the arts and the beauties of art.”
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