Culture

On August 19, 2025, the Library of Foreign Literature hosted the Southern African Development Community Day. The SADC’s primary goal, besides regional socio-economic cooperation and integration, is to cooperate to showcase the culture among 16 countries in southern Africa. In Moscow, the heads and representatives of the diplomatic missions of Angola, Brazil, Venezuela, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, Tanzania, and South Africa took part in the gala cultural event. 

“It is a great honor to host this important event right here, within the walls of an institution with more than a century of history. Our library has always been and remains a place where different cultures meet, where dialogue on friendship between countries grows stronger. I am confident to take Russian-African cultural relations to a qualitatively new cultural and diplomatic level,” Marina Zakharenko, Director General of the Library of Foreign Literature, said at the opening ceremony.

The Chairman of SADC in Moscow, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Zimbabwe to the Russian Federation, Gray Mark Marongwe, noted the growing dynamics of relations between African countries and the Russian Federation. He also presented a certificate of gratitude to the library for its active participation and support in celebrating SADC Day in 2024 and 2025.

SADC emerged as a result of cooperation between countries at the forefront of the struggle against apartheid, such as Mozambique, Angola, Zambia, and Tanzania. These states provided comprehensive support to the independence movements in Zimbabwe, Namibia, and South Africa. That, however, Russia, China, Nigeria, and other countries with progressive views played an important role in this process. 

“We sincerely hope that our interaction here in Russia will also contribute to the development of economic and diplomatic ties and the strengthening of cooperation between the Russian Federation and the SADC member countries,” explained Gray Mark Marongwe.

Director of the Department of Partnership with Africa of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Tatyana Dovgalenko, said that Russia views Africa as an important and promising partner and intends to continue to strengthen and expand cooperation in all areas of mutual interest. Russia and the countries of Southern Africa are linked by long-standing ties of friendship and partnership. 

Russia and the countries of Southern Africa are linked by long-standing ties of friendship and partnership. During the period of decolonization, the Soviet Union provided comprehensive and selfless assistance to our African friends in the struggle for freedom and independence and consistently contributed to the formation of young states, strengthening their economies and defense capabilities, education, and healthcare systems. After the Soviet collapse, Russia has taken over the same role in Africa.

In the 21st century, after the breakthrough, as noted by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Russia-Africa summits, Russia’s relations are developing on the rise. An important component of this cooperation is the expansion and deepening of interaction with the continent’s integration associations. This is one of the key tasks of the new Department of Partnership with Africa, created by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2025. Tatyana Dovgalenko was appointed as the Director of the Department of Partnership with Africa of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.

At the exhibition, deployed in the Atrium of the Library, guests were able to get acquainted with the rich cultural heritage and tourist diversity of the southern African region. The exhibition presented a unique fusion of tradition and modernity, reflected in works of art, decorative and applied arts, and household items.

The culmination of SADC Day was a concert, which featured musical and dance groups representing various countries of the region. The audience was able to enjoy the fiery rhythms of African music, see bright national costumes, and feel the unique atmosphere of Southern Africa. The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Gaborone, Botswana.

Stability is a thing of the past at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, which this past week fired its director of dance programming, Jane Raleigh, as well as two other full-time dance programmers, Mallory Miller and Malik Burnett.

A few days later, the center announced its new dance director — a young Washington Ballet dancer named Stephen Nakagawa, who, according to the New York Times, sent a letter to the center’s president, Richard Grenell, lamenting “radical leftist ideologies in ballet.”

Nakagawa also wrote that he was “concerned about the direction the ballet world is taking in America,” that he was upset by the “rise of ‘woke’ culture,” at various dance companies and that he “would love to be part of a movement to end the dominance of leftist ideologies in the arts and return to classical ballet’s purity and timeless beauty.”

If “woke” is a MAGA dog whistle for diversity, equity and inclusion, then restoring “purity” to classical ballet could lead to a regressive whitewashing of the art form.

“With God, all things are possible,” Nakagawa wrote in a social media post announcing his appointment. “I am excited and honored to begin working with the incredible Kennedy Center and this amazing administration.”

The Kennedy Center did not respond to a request for comment about how its dance programming might change now that Nakagawa has taken over, but a person close to the situation, who declined to be identified said, “The [terminated] individuals were given multiple opportunities to come up with new ideas and failed to offer any.”

In interviews following their dismissal, Miller and Burnett said they had attended a meeting with Grenell in which he told them that they needed to prioritize “broadly appealing” programming in order to attract corporate sponsorship. Grenell reportedly used the reality TV competition “So You Think You Can Dance” as an example of what he had in mind.

What Grenell seems to be missing is that, under Raleigh, dance programming at the Kennedy Center was among the best in the nation — with broad appeal. The current season, which had been programmed before Raleigh and the others were fired, included some of the country’s most vaunted and popular companies including Martha Graham Dance Company, American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet.

The Kennedy Center also commissioned great work, including Mark Morris’ “Moon,” which staged its world premiere at the center in April. Times classical music critic Mark Swed caught the show at an “unusually quiet” venue shortly after President Trump staged his February takeover of the center.

“‘Moon,’” Swed told me, “served as a marvelous example of how [the] dance series already provides what both its audiences and new administration want. It celebrates American greatness, representing the historic Moonshot and Voyager space missions through wondrous dance, sanguine 1930s swing music and cavorting spacemen. There is even bit of cheerful conspiracy theory with the help of a cuddly alien or two.”

It doesn’t take a MAGA apparatchik to know that’s a winning formula.

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, dancing my way to a better tomorrow. Here’s your arts news for the week.

Best bets: On our radar this week

Prince on his 1987 Sign O’ The Times tour at the Palais Omnisports in Paris.

(FG/Bauer-Griffin/Getty Images)

Prince – Sign O’ The Times
The purple one’s 1987 film featuring live performances of songs from his ninth studio album gets the Imax treatment this weekend. Neither a commercial nor critical success upon its original release, interest in the project has only increased as the artist’s stature continued to rise, even after his death from an accidental overdose in 2016. Ranking Prince’s singles in 2021, Times pop music critic Mikael Wood wrote, “Inspired in part by the bad news he saw splashed across the front page of the Los Angeles Times one summer day in 1986, the title track of Prince’s magnum opus addresses AIDS and the crack epidemic in language as haunted and unsparing as the song’s rigorously pared-down groove.” The movie opens Thursday in limited theatrical release; check theaters for showtimes. www.imax.com/prince

“Villagers on Their Way to Church from Book of Hours,” c 1550, by Simon Bening (Flemish, about 1483 – 1561) Tempera colors and gold paint Getty Museum Ms. 50 (93.MS.19), recto

(J. Paul Getty Museum)

Going Places: Travel in the Middle Ages
As we wrap up our own summer excursions, what better time to vicariously explore how it was done in medieval times through this exhibition of Getty Museum manuscripts illustrating the subject, augmented by an interactive component inspired by early 8-bit arcade video games. Times art critic Christopher Knight has described Northern European manuscripts as “one unmistakable strength of the Getty’s collection.” The show opens Tuesday. 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m. Tuesday–Friday and Sunday; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday; closed Monday, through Nov. 30. J. Paul Getty Museum, 1200 Getty Center Drive. getty.edu

Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers performs Arturo Márquez’s concerto “Fandango” with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl in 2021.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Márquez’s Fandango & Shostakovich’s Fifth
Violinist Anne Akiko Meyers performs Arturo Márquez’s Latin Grammy-winning composition with the L.A. Phil, conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero, Tuesday night at the Hollywood Bowl. The orchestra will also perform the Mexican composer’s “Danzon No. 2” and Shostakovich’s popular “Symphony No. 5.” When “Fandango,” commissioned by the L.A. Phil and written for Meyers, had its world premiere in 2021, Times classical music critic Mark Swed called it “substantial. It is based on the Mexican fandango Márquez grew up with in Sonora. His instrument is the violin, and his father was a mariachi violinist. But Márquez’s goal in the concerto was to use his folk and dance roots in a formal classical way, taking as his example such European composers as Manuel de Falla and Isaac Albéniz. In Márquez’s concerto, he allows Meyers to revel in her virtuosity. He writes melodies that sound old and worth keeping. Dance rhythms do what they’re supposed to, making feet tap and nerves tingle.” The gates open at 6 p.m. with the music scheduled to start at 8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY
🎭 Masala Dabba
Food, cooking and the titular spice box are central to playwright Wendy Graf’s world-premiere drama about an Indian/African American family directed by Marya Mazor.
7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Sept. 14. International City Theatre, 330 E. Seaside Way, Long Beach. InternationalCityTheatre.org.

🎭 NOIR!
A Hollywood thriller is the milieu for a new immersive theatrical experience from the creators of “It’s Alive” and “The Assassination of Edgar Allan Poe.”
7:50 p.m. Friday-Sunday, Sept. 6, 13 and 20. Heritage Square Museum, 3800 Homer St. downtownrep.com

SATURDAY
🎥 Barry Lyndon
The American Cinematheque marks the 50th anniversary of Stanley Kubrick’s visually sublime adaptation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel about an 18th century English rogue, starring Ryan O’Neal and Marisa Berenson, with the L.A. premiere of a new 4K restoration.
7 p.m. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. americancinematheque.com

🎥 Drop Dead Gorgeous
Actor Denise Richards will be in person for a 35 mm screening of the 1999 small-town beauty pageant mockumentary, a darkly comedic cult favorite written by Lona Williams, directed by the State’s Michael Patrick Jann and co-starring Kirstie Alley, Ellen Barkin and Kirsten Dunst.
7:30 p.m. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. academymuseum.org

🎭 Just Another Day
“Wonder Years” dad Dan Lauria wrote this romantic comedy on the enduring nature of love and stars with Academy Award nominee Patty McCormack (“The Bad Seed”) as a septuagenarian couple who meet every day on a park bench to verbally spar and reminisce.
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, through Sept. 28, with 8 p.m. Wednesday shows on Sept. 17 and 24. Odyssey Theatre Ensemble, 2055 S. Sepulveda Blvd. odysseytheatre.com

🎨 Rising Sun, Falling Rain: Japanese Woodblock Prints
An exhibition exploring the growth of Edo-period ukiyo-e printmaking and the later shin-hanga movement through more than 80 works from the Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts features work by Katsukawa Shunshō, Utagawa Toyokuni, Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Hiroshige, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi and Kawase Hasui.
11 a.m.-8 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday–Sunday and Tuesday–Thursday, closed Monday, through Nov. 30. UCLA Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood. hammer.ucla.edu

🎨 Martin Wittfooth: Deus ex Terra
The Canadian artist examines the repeating patterns of nature and the ways it serves as both muse and a mirror of the human soul in this solo exhibition.
Opening reception, 7 p.m. Saturday; noon-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Corey Helford Gallery, 571 S. Anderson St., Los Angeles. coreyhelfordgallery.com/

SUNDAY

The cast of “One Man, Two Guvnors” at a Noise Within: Trisha Miller, from left, Kasey Mahaffy, Ty Aldridge and Cassandra Marie Murphy.

(Daniel Reichert)

🎭 One Man, Two Guvnors
Richard Bean’s swinging ’60s British farce won James Corden a Tony Award and largely introduced him to American audiences. The show, based on “The Servant of Two Masters” by Carlo Goldoni, is directed by A Noise Within producing Artistic Directors Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott, with songs by Grant Olding.
Previews: 2 p.m. Sunday; 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Sept. 5; opening night: 7:30 p.m. Sept. 6; 2 p.m. Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, through Sept. 28. A Noise Within, 3352 E. Foothill Blvd., Pasadena. anoisewithin.org

TUESDAY
🎥 Who Killed Teddy Bear?
The Los Angeles premiere of a newly struck 35 mm print presents Joseph Cates’ uncensored director’s cut of his 1965 neo-noir thriller starring Sal Mineo, Juliet Prowse, Jan Murray and Elaine Stritch with footage seen for the first time in six decades.
7 p.m. Los Feliz Theatre, 1822 N. Vermont Ave. americancinematheque.com

WEDNESDAY
🎭 Am I Roxie?
Written-actor Roxana Ortega’s one-woman comedy is a wild ride through her mother’s mental decline. Directed by Bernardo Cubría.
7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday; 8 p.m. Friday; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday, through Oct. 5. Geffen Playhouse, 10886 Le Conte Ave., Westwood. geffenplayhouse.org

THURSDAY
🎭 Oedipus the King, Mama!
Troubadour Theater, a.k.a. the Troubies, applies its brand of commedia dell’arte-inflected slapstick to Sophocles’ classic Greek tragedy, infused with the music of Elvis Presley.
8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, through Sept. 27. The Getty Villa, 17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades. getty.edu

🎼 Mozart’s Requiem
Conductor James Gaffigan leads the L.A. Phil in the composer’s final, uncompleted Mass, with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, preceded by Ellen Reid’s “Body Cosmic” and Brahms’ “Song of Destiny.”
8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

Culture news and the SoCal scene

Danielle Wade as Maizy, left, and Miki Abraham as Lulu in the North American Tour of “Shucked” at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre.

(Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)

If you’re a sucker for puns, you’ll love “Shucked,” the musical comedy running through Sept. 7 at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre. The show, writes Times theater critic Charles McNulty, “never met a pun it didn’t like.” But there’s more to the folksy tale of mixed-up love in a place called Cob County — “Shucked” is a “folksy farcical riot, wholesome enough for widespread appeal but with just enough flamboyant oddity to tickle the funny bone of urban sophisticates.” The actors are also top-notch, including Danielle Wade, who plays the female lead Maizy. Wade, writes McNulty, “sounds like an ingenue Dolly Parton, exquisite to listen to, especially when her heart is in play.”

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s annual Art+Film Gala returns for its 14th year. This year’s honorees are filmmaker Ryan Coogler and Light and Space artist Mary Corse. The elaborate dinner — which always attracts a high-powered Hollywood crowd — is co-chaired by LACMA trustee Eva Chow and Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s scheduled to take place on Nov. 1 and will be the last such event to occur before the museum opens its new Peter Zumthor-designed building next spring.

Tyrone Huntley, an usher at the Hollywood Bowl.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Remember the fabulous actor who played Simon in the Hollywood Bowl’s unforgettable “Jesus Christ Superstar”? The one who also served as an understudy for Cynthia Erivo’s Jesus? His name is Tyrone Huntley, and his story is similar to those of countless working actors in L.A. Namely that he also has a day job. Only in Huntley’s case, his day job is working as an usher at the Hollywood Bowl. One day he was onstage in one of the season’s hottest shows, and the next he was showing people to their seats at the very same venue. Read all about it here.

A scene from the 2022 documentary “¡Viva Maestro!”: Gustavo Dudamel smiles as he wraps up Encuentros performance in Palacio de Bellas Artes.

(Gerardo Nava / The Gustavo Dudamel Foundation)

Gustavo Dudamel is still the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, but he’s already got one foot in New York City, where he is scheduled to become the music director of the New York Philharmonic in September 2026. This week the N.Y. Phil issued a news release highlighting Dudamel’s presence in its 2025-26 season. As the orchestra’s music and artistic director designate, Dudamel will lead six weeks of subscription programs, as well as the season-opening concerts. Next month he will conduct the world premiere of Leilehua Lanzilotti’s “of light and stone.”

Almost two years ago, Holocaust Museum LA broke ground on a $65-million expansion. It is now a less than a year out from opening at its new Jona Goldrich campus, which includes a 200-seat multipurpose theater, a 3,000-square-foot gallery, two classrooms, an interactive theater featuring a virtual Holocaust survivor, a pavilion with an authentic boxcar, a gift shop and a coffee shop, as well as a variety of outdoor community spaces. Designed by architect Hagy Belzberg, it will double the museum’s footprint in Pan Pacific Park.

The Consortium of Asian American Theaters & Artists issued a news release voicing concern “over the recent and evolving casting decisions in the Broadway production of ‘Maybe Happy Ending’,” created and written by Hue Park, with music by Will Aronson. The Michael Arden-directed Broadway adaptation won six Tony Awards this year, including for best musical, direction of a musical and lead actor in a musical (Darren Criss). However, after the award wins, Criss, who is of Filipino descent, took a leave of absence from the show and was replaced by a white actor, Andrew Barth Feldman. “This is not just about one casting decision, even if only momentary. It reflects a longstanding pattern of exclusion, whitewashing, and inequity that AAPINH and global majority artists have confronted for decades in U.S. theater,” the news release said.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

Ojai’s Hotel El Roblar, which first welcomed guests in 1919, has officially reopened. The newest hotel in Ojai is now also its oldest, writes Times Travel writer Christopher Reynolds. See you there!

Asia’s popular culture wave that for two decades has been dominated by two giants. South Korea with its K-Pop wave and dramas, and Japan with its manga and anime, which is now undergoing a fundamental shift. A new force that is tough and colorful has risen from China, not through idol groups or ninjas, but through a small figure with pointed ears and a mysterious smile named Labubu. This figurine by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung is not just a toy but the spearhead of a huge wave of Chinese popular culture that is ready to challenge and even dictate global tastes. Labubu and his predecessors and companions raise provocative questions about whether we will soon say goodbye to the dominance of K-Pop and manga.

Labubu, as a character from The Monsters line by the Pop Mart brand, is a real example of how China combines the power of storytelling, design, and a brilliant business model. Pop Mart, which was founded in 2010, has transformed into a multi-billion-dollar blind box empire. In 2022, the company reported operating income of 4.62 billion RMB yuan, or around 679 million US dollars, with a net profit of 539 million RMB yuan, equivalent to 79.3 million US dollars. Its global growth is even more astonishing, with revenue in overseas markets soaring 147.1 percent in the same year. As of June 2023, Pop Mart has opened more than 500 stores in 23 countries and regions, including fashion centers such as Paris, London, and New York. Global market research institute Frost & Sullivan explained that Pop Mart successfully leverages consumer psychology through a blind box model that creates a sense of anticipation, collection, and community. This model is more than just a toy; it is a social and cultural experience that changes the way people interact with cultural products.

When compared to Korean and Japanese popular cultural commodities, there are fundamental differences in business models and accessibility. The Japanese industry is based on long and complex narrative stories such as manga and anime, where consumers invest time and emotions to follow a series. The merchandise is often expensive and aimed at serious collectors. While South Korea focuses on idolization through K-Pop, where fans not only buy music but also merchandise, concert tickets, and albums in various versions to support their idols. These ecosystems are built around human stars. On the other hand, Chinese products such as Pop Mart and Labubu are more abstract and decorative. Consumers don’t need knowledge of complicated stories to have them. The price is relatively affordable, around 15 to 30 US dollars per box, so it is impulsive and easily accessible to Generation Z and millennials. This is a lighter and more visual form of cultural consumption.

In terms of global impact and cultural adaptation, K-Pop and Korean dramas have managed to export Korean values, fashion, and language to the rest of the world through the Hallyu wave with cultural ambassadors such as BTS and Squid Game. Japanese manga and anime became the foundation of global subcultures such as cosplay and conventions that influenced artists and filmmakers in the West for decades. Chinese pop culture for now exports less specific Chinese lifestyles and focuses more on aesthetics and business models. People buy Labubu because its designs are unique and funny, not because it represents a specific Chinese mythology, even though some characters are inspired by it. It is a subtle globalization of products with universally accepted Chinese design DNA. The role of the government is also a crucial differentiator. China’s National Bureau for Cultural Exports and Imports actively encourages the export of cultural products as part of the national soft power strategy. Meanwhile, Korean and Japanese industries are driven by private companies with government support that is more facilitative.

Labubu is just a symptom of a larger creative ecosystem that is exploding in China. Donghua, or Chinese animations, such as The King’s Avatar and Mo Dao Zu Shi, have a huge fan base and compete directly with Japanese anime on streaming platforms, with the number of views reaching billions. Novel web platforms such as China Literature have become repositories of intellectual property, with millions of titles adapted into dramas and successful games, creating vertical synergies resembling the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The mobile gaming industry in the hands of Tencent and NetEase is becoming a global giant. Games like Genshin Impact from miHoYo or HoYoverse are not only financially successful, with annual revenues reaching billions of dollars, but also win the hearts of global players through the quality of animation and awesome stories with a distinctively Chinese twist.

Ultimately, the rise of Chinese pop culture is not a sign to say goodbye to K-Pop and manga. This wave is precisely a powerful new challenger that is diversifying and democratizing global tastes. The market now has more options where a fan can love Korean dramas, collect Labbubu figurines, and play Genshin Impact and still look forward to the latest manga chapters at the same time. The dominance of popular culture is no longer held by just one or two countries. Labubu and its ecosystem are symbols of a new era where China is no longer a follower of pop culture trends but rather a trendsetter. They have learned the recipe for success from Japan and Korea in terms of content quality, merchandising, and fan community and added manufacturing strength, innovative business models, and strong state support. This is not a war to be won, but rather an evolution in which the global pop culture stage is expanded with new players full of confidence. The right greeting is not goodbye, but welcome to competition. For fans around the world, this is good news because there will always be more interesting things to love.

The White House on Thursday issued a press release titled, “President Trump Is Right About the Smithsonian.” The missive arrived in inboxes the day after Trump took to Truth Social to lash out at museums across the country — and the Smithsonian Institute in particular — for being too “woke.”

The president vowed to have his attorneys deal with the Smithsonian in the same punitive and litigious way it has handled colleges and universities that don’t hew to MAGA ideals, and a rep for the White House said that Trump would start with the Smithsonian, “and then go from there.”

The idea that Trump might find some surprising legal loophole to pressure or punish museums that don’t share his appetite for revisionist history, is chilling to many critics, including the the American Alliance of Museums, which recently issued a statement warning of “growing threats of censorship against U.S. museums.”

Trump’s beef with the Smithsonian and affiliated museums is centered on his assertion that its exhibits focus on “how horrible our Country is, how bad Slavery was, and how unaccomplished the downtrodden have been — Nothing about Success, nothing about Brightness, nothing about the Future.”

The follow-up press release cataloged 22 examples of how the Smithsonian allegedly “prioritizes exhibits that undermine our values and rewrite the American story through a lens of grievance and exclusion.”

But the examples given are all about inclusion — the inclusion of voices that have often been left out of a mainstream dialogue about our nation’s history. Rather than seeming radical, the list appears straightforward and kind.

“The National Museum of the American Latino features programming highlighting ‘animated Latinos and Latinas with disabilities’ — with content from ‘a disabled, plus-sized actress’ and an ‘ambulatory wheelchair user’ who ‘educates on their identity being Latinx, LGBTQ+, and disabled,’ reads one entry.

Then there are the entries that simply rankle Trump based on his own politics of grievance.

“The National Portrait Gallery commissioned a ‘stop-motion drawing animation’ that ‘examines the career’ of Anthony Fauci,” reads another.

There are also bald attempts to censor free artistic expression based on its subject matter: “An American History Museum exhibit features a depiction of the Statue of Liberty ‘holding a tomato in her right hand instead of a torch, and a basket of tomatoes in her left hand instead of a tablet’”; and “The National Portrait Gallery was set to feature a ‘painting depicting a transgender Statue of Liberty’ before the artist withdrew it.”

A desire to exclude is apparent, as in this entry: “The American History Museum prominently displays the ‘Intersex-Inclusive Progress Pride flag’ at its entrance, which was also flown alongside the American flag at multiple Smithsonian campuses.”

You can take a look at the full list here. Trump must find something inherently threatening in each example, which can and should be filed under the absurd.

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, holding a drawing of Fauci in my right hand and a Pride flag in the other. Here’s your weekly arts news roundup.

The week ahead: A curated calendar

FRIDAY

Tom Wilkinson, left, and George Clooney in the Oscar-winning 2007 drama “Michael Clayton,” screening Monday at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.

(Myles Aronowitz / Warner Bros. Pictures)

Friends of the Fest
The American Cinematheque’s third Podcast Film Festival pairs local podcasters with memorable movies, including “Michael Clayton,” “Mississippi Masala,” “Mahogany,” “Carnival of Souls,” “Bottoms” and more.
Through Wednesday. Los Feliz Theatre, 1822 N. Vermont Ave.; Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Ave. Santa Monica. americancinematheque.com

The Hollywood Bowl’s annual tribute to John Williams returns this weekend.

(Timothy Norris / Los Angeles Philharmonic)

Maestro of the Movies: Celebrating the Music of John Williams
David Newman conducts the L.A. Phil in blockbuster scores from “Jaws,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “Superman” and “Star Wars,” as well as dramatic epics including “Far and Away,” “Memoirs of a Geisha” and more.
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

‘Protest’
Fountain Theatre hosts Bricolage Production Company’s revival of Václav Havel’s 1978 two-person, one-act drama set in Communist Czechoslovakia. Jeffrey Carpenter directs actors Steven Schub and Robert Anthony Peters in this limited three-performance run.
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 7 p.m. Sunday. Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave. fountaintheatre.com

SATURDAY
Our Lady’s Dowry: Marian Music from Tudor England
Director Bryan Roach and Musica Transalpina demonstrate the evolution of sacred music in England following the Reformation with “Missa O bone Jhesu” by Robert Fayrfax, as well as works by Christopher Tye and William Byrd.
7:30 p.m. Saturday. Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. sierramadreplayhouse.org

Carlo Maghirang’s art installation “ANITO” is on display Aug. 23–Sept. 7 at Los Angeles State Historic Park.

(Carlo Maghirang)

Carlo Maghirang: ANITO
The artist explores ancestral veneration through queer self-portraiture and the repetitive making of “taotao” figurines, reimagined as a collection of modular forms in a triptych installation at the River Station Roundhouse turntable. There will also be performances by dancer and choreographer Jobel Medina, Saturday at 1 p.m., and artist, musician and healer Anna Luisa Petrisko, Aug. 30, 1 p.m.
8 a.m. to sunset. Saturday through Sept. 7. Los Angeles State Historic Park, 245 N. Spring St. welcometolace.org

Lula Washington Dance Theatre: 45th Anniversary Celebration
The distinctly L.A. contemporary dance troupe presents two North American premieres: “The Master Plan,” a tribute to the late saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, and Tamica Washington-Miller’s “And We Can Fly,” inspired by an the African American folktale. The evening also includes a revival of Donald McKayle’s “Songs of the Disinherited,” two Martha Graham solos — “Deep Song” and “Satyric Festival Song” —and Talley Beatty’s “Mourner’s Bench.”
8 p.m. Saturday. The Ford, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd. East. theford.com

Youssef Nabil’s ‘I Saved My Belly Dancer’
The artist’s surreal 2015 video short, inspired by his movie-fueled childhood in Cairo, stars Tahar Rahim and Salma Hayek. The exhibition also features related photographs and contemporaneous Egyptian movie posters.
Through Jan. 11. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Resnick Pavilion, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. lacma.org

SUNDAY

Elizabeth Taylor on the set of the film “Boom,” which screens Sunday as part of a triple bill.

(Express Newspapers / Getty Images)

Summer camp with Elizabeth Taylor
A trio of films starring one of Hollywood’s greatest stars leans into the sometimes garish glamour and kitschy melodrama of “Secret Ceremony,” co-starring Mia Farrow and Robert Mitchum, “Boom!,” with Taylor’s on-again, off-again husband Richard Burton — both 1968 releases directed by Joseph Losey — and Brian G. Hutton’s 1972 marital skirmish, “X, Y & Zee,” featuring Michael Caine and Susannah York.
2:30 Sunday. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

TUESDAY
Beethoven Under the Stars
The L.A. Phil, conducted by Giedrė Šlekytė, is joined by Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii, “Nobu” to his fans, for an evening entirely devoted to the great German composer’s work.
8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

WEDNESDAY

Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs, from left, Glynn Turman and Corin Rogers in the 1975 movie “Cooley High,” screening Wednesday at the Academy Museum.

(American International Pictures)

Cooley High
The Academy Museum presents a 35 mm screening of the influential 1975 coming-of-age drama about two best friends in 1964 Chicago with in-person guests director Michael Schultz, actors Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs and Glynn Turman, and filmmaker Ava DuVernay.
7:30 p.m. Wednesday. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

THURSDAY

Yo-Yo Ma and Angélique Kidjo perform Thursday at the Hollywood Bowl.

(L.A. Phil)

Sarabande Africaine
Singer-songwriter Angélique Kidjo and cellist Yo-Yo Ma continue their collaborative creative musical conversation exploring the many centuries of interaction between African musical idioms and Western classical music. They’ll be joined by multi-instrumentalist Thierry Vaton, Grammy-winning producer David Donatien and genre-blending musician Sinkane.
8 p.m. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

Culture news

A cast of immigrants and the children of immigrants are set to stage a live reading of the cult comedy “Superbad” on Sunday. Participating actors include comedian Hasan Minhaj, Cobie Smulders, Melissa Fumero and Harvey Guillén. The event is free, and it will be livestreamed on the website for Immigrant Defenders Law Center, a social justice law firm that has been working with Southern California’s Latino residents threatened by ongoing ICE raids. De Los’ Andrea Flores has the full story.

Giovanni Guida and his grattage on canvas, “Apotheosis.”

(Daniela Matarazzo)

The uncle of an Italian artist named Giovanni Guida recently wrote me an email to alert me to the inclusion of his nephew in the Getty Vocabularies’ union list of visual artists. What is notable about Guida, his uncle told me, is that he is one of the youngest painters recognized in the resource for his use of the grattage painting technique pioneered by surrealist artist Max Ernst. Grattage is made by placing a painted canvas over a textured object and rubbing the paint off with often unexpected results. Since grattage has now been in use for about 100 years, today seemed like a nice day to highlight it, and to say congratulations to Guida.

The SoCal scene

The North American tour of “& Juliet” at the Ahmanson.

(Matthew Murphy)

Swedish hitmaker Max Martin showed up at the Ahmanson Theatre Friday for the opening of the jukebox musical “& Juliet,” which features dozens of Martin’s chart-topping collaborations with the likes of Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears. A few days earlier, I interviewed Martin and the show’s writer, David West Read, who won an Emmy for his work on the comedy “Schitt’s Creek.” The pair happily broke down the genesis of the musical, which was more than a decade in the making. The most important part of development, said Martin, was that the songs not be shoehorned into a subpar plot.

That didn’t happen, writes Times theater critic Charles McNulty in his review. As an example, McNulty cited a song by the Backstreet Boys called “I Want it That Way,” which was “redeployed in a way that has little bearing on the lyrics but somehow feels coherent with the original emotion.” Overall, McNulty concludes that the show, which reimagines what would happen if Juliet decided not to kill herself after she finds Romeo dead, “establishes just the right party atmosphere.”

Gustavo Dudamel is an extremely difficult act to follow, writes Times classical music critic Mark Swed. The beloved Los Angeles Philharmonic conductor was scheduled to perform two weeks at the Hollywood Bowl this summer but had to cancel his second week with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra due to the Trump administration’s new travel restrictions. The orchestra filled the second week with “two talented conductors who were Dudamel fellows and are now enjoying prospering careers, Elim Chan and Gemma New,” writes Swed in a review that examines the high and low points of the substitutions. “These concerts give hope and reaffirm that life goes on. All acts, no matter the challenge, must be followed,” Swed writes.

Tami Outterbridge, daughter of artist John Outterbridge, takes a break from sifting through the ashes of her father’s home in Altadena.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Writer Lynell George pens a thoughtful first-person piece about her experiences with the circle of artists in the orbit of famed artist John Outterbridge in Southern California’s Black Arts Movement. Outterbridge died in 2020, and his home and studio in Altadena were both destroyed in January’s devastating Eaton fire. His daughter Tami soon developed a plan to gather friends to sift through the ashes in search of art — metal, shards of ceramics and glass, the same kinds of materials Outterbridge used in his own potent assemblages.

Exterior of the Eames House, Case Study House #8, in a eucalyptus grove.

(Buyenlarge / Getty Images)

The Eames House reopened late last month after a five-month closure necessitated by smoke damage from January’s Palisades fire. Now that the property has been cleaned and restored, the Eames family has unveiled its adjacent creative studio to the public — making it a space for exhibitions, lectures, podcasts and more. It also launched a new and expanded Charles & Ray Eames Foundation with the goal of building on the Eames design legacy globally. In addition, admission will now be free to first responders as well as residents of the Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

The X account for Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office has gone full Trump parody with often hilarious results.

Graffiti mars the crumbling walls of the main thermal baths in one of Europe’s oldest spa towns, Baile Herculane.

Yet after decades of neglect, a dedicated team of young architects is working to revive the picturesque Romanian resort that once drew emperors to its healing waters.

“Someone once said that if you drink water from the spring from Herculane, you never leave,” said 31-year-old architect Oana Chirila.

“I was struck by the beauty of the place,” she explained about the town in Romania’s southwest, nestled among mountains and bisected by a river. “And at the same time [I was] shocked by its condition,” she added, referring to the dilapidated state of the historic thermal baths.

Chirila first visited Baile Herculane eight years ago entirely by chance, she said.

Her group’s restoration project represents one of several recent civil society initiatives launched to safeguard Romania’s historic monuments.

Approximately 800 such monuments have deteriorated to an advanced state of decay or risk complete collapse. Some already pose significant public safety hazards.

Constructed in 1886, the Neptune Imperial Baths once welcomed distinguished guests seeking its warm sulphur treatments.

Among these illustrious visitors were Austria’s Emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Elisabeth, commonly known as Sisi. Franz Joseph himself described the town as Europe’s “most beautiful spa resort”.

Today, the baths stand closed, their interior walls defaced with graffiti, floors littered with debris, and rain seeping through the ceiling.

Despite the deterioration, tourists regularly pause to admire and photograph the long, rusted facade, with some attempting to glimpse the interior through broken windows.

Currently, Chirila and her volunteer team can only perform conservation work on the baths’ exterior structure. Full restoration remains impossible until legal conflicts between authorities and private owners are resolved, she explained, adding, “There’s always this fear that it might collapse.”

“Most of the historical monuments are in their current state – meaning constant decay – because they are legally blocked,” preventing utilisation of public or European funds for restoration.

For now, along one side of the riverbank, visitors can enjoy three sulphur water basins – what Chirila calls “little bathtubs”.

Her team refurbished these basins and constructed changing booths and wooden pavilions, one of several projects they have undertaken throughout the town.

In recent years, Baile Herculane, home to 3,800 residents, has experienced a steady increase in tourism, according to local officials. Some 160,000 tourists visited in 2024 – up from 90,000 in 2020 – many seeking spa treatments, but also hiking and climbing opportunities.

“The resort has changed,” Aura Zidarita, 50, a doctor, told the AFP news agency. She remained optimistic that it could reclaim its status as a “pearl of Europe”.

The lead singer of the regional Mexican band Enigma Norteño, Ernesto Barajas, was shot and killed on Tuesday in the municipality of Zapopan in the state of Jalisco, Mexico, according to ABC 7.

The singer was killed by two individuals riding a motorcycle, according to authorities. The prosecutor’s office of the state of Jalisco has already opened an investigation into the murder, according to ABC 7.

The band from Sinaloa is known for its “viral drug ballads,” a musical style known to glorify organized crime. Enigma Norteño has dedicated its songs to members of the Jalisco Nueva Generacion and Sinaloa cartels. The genre has been banned by a third of the states in Mexico.

The killing of Barajas comes three months after the dead bodies of five members of the Mexican regional band Fugitivo were found in the northern city of Reynosa.

In July, the Council of the Judiciary of the State of Jalisco agreed to drop the criminal case against the Mexican regional band Los Alegres Del Barranco. The band came under investigation after it displayed a photograph of a leader of the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación during a show.

In April, the Mexican government announced a music contest to encourage Mexican artists to create music that does not glorify a violent lifestyle. The competition was created to encourage musicians to write songs about love, heartbreak and peace, according to Billboard.

“While the contest won’t solve this issue overnight, and we’re not neglecting the underlying causes — for that, there’s a whole national security program — we felt it was important to create creative spaces through culture for Mexican and Mexican-American youth who are passionate about music,” Claudia Curiel de Icaza, secretary of culture for Mexico, told Billboard Español.

Authorities from the state of Jalisco did not respond to a request for a comment in time for publication.

A Balkan woman opened up about her experience in America while visiting supermarkets – she could not get over the portion sizes or difference in products sold. Her honest opinions have divided people

A tourist visiting America has divided opinion after being left gobsmacked by a number of culture shocks while shopping in a US supermarket. You may not realise just how used to your native country you are until you go on a long holiday or move abroad and start missing things from back home. It’s no secret that American stores are renowned for having significantly larger portions, but one woman, named Lucija, who is from the Balkans, was shocked by a number of things she has never seen while shopping before.

Sharing a video online, Lucija created quite a stir with her post, which has raked in over 6.9million views on TikTok. She listed “things in American supermarkets that would put Europeans into coma”.

Bread

Lucija was shocked to learn was ‘normal’ bread looks like in US supermarkets as she found endless rows of burger buns.

Typically, American families buy bread which lasts a longer time, rather than a fresh loaf like in many European stores. The bread sold in the US tends to have higher levels of added sugar, preservatives, and dough conditioners, particularly when compared to bread sold in the UK. These ingredients are used to extend shelf life and enhance sweetness.

Our sister site, Daily Express, previously reported that in an investigation is was discovered that a standard-sized loaf of Warburtons contains 17g of sugar, whereas the same-sized loaf of Wonder bread packs a staggering 50g of sugar.

“USA, the land of sugar and additives,” commented one individual on the post. “American bread is anything but normal,” wrote another.

READ MORE: B&M shoppers left divided after discovery on shelves that’s ‘ruining Christmas’

Size of portions

Lucija could not get over how big a bag of popcorn is in supermarkets – or the unique flavours like cheddar cheese flavoured popcorn. “Cheddar cheese popcorn… I feel sick,” commented one individual.

She was also gobsmacked by a “lifetime supply” of Vaseline in a giant tub that is bigger than her hand.

One American pointed out: “US is a big country everything is far each other unless you live in the city. They don’t like to go out every time to go to the store. They like to store food that last. Weeks or months that’s why they sell it big portion.”

Another agreed and shared: “The root cultural difference is that America is too damn big. for most people, grocery store is too far away. European countries smaller, grocery stores are closer. Europeans more likely (or more capable of) going grocery multiple times/week. Americans want to go once a week or less.”

“When people buy food to last a week, not a singular meal,” said another. One other insisted: “Oh come on Balkan families would be excited to use products with that size.”

Cookie-flavoured bath products

Lucija was shocked after she spotted the Dove Crumbl cookie flavoured bath and shower products she spotted in supermarkets. “I have no words for this one,” she said.

Earlier this year the Crumbl company, which has become one of the fastest selling dessert chains in the US, collaborated with Dove to roll out dessert-scented body washes, hand washes, and body scrubs. The three scents are Confetti Cake, Lemon Glaze, and Strawberry Crumb Cake.

“What/s wrong with the Dove one? It’s just a selection of scents,” added another. “The Dove is the greatest of all time, I want that in Europe,” insisted another.

Bright orange Fanta

“ORANGE Fanta,” wrote Lucija in her baffled post.

There’s nothing like tucking into a cold Fanta on a warm day, but in many European countries, the colour of the treat looks a lot different to other continents. While in the UK and other European countries, it looks light a deep yellow or light orange, in the US it is a bright and bold orange colour. The colour varies because of the ingredients used and regulations.

One US-based Redditor shared their experience drinking the fizzy beverage in Europe, explaining the colour difference was due to different ingredients and varying levels of sugar content. “Fanta in Italy has no dyes or artificial flavours,” they wrote, alongside a photo of the pale yellow drink

They added: “Slightly less sugary and a bit more tangy. It’s the same soda only by name.”

One other commented: “You’re so right about everything but I will not accept Fanta slander. Fanta in Europe is just sparkling orange juice.”

Another shared: “I’m from the Maldives and the Fanta here has the same neon orange colon, isn’t it supposed to be like that?”

“I am from an African country and orange Fanta is so nice but once you move to a European country their Fanta is just disgusting,” another insisted.

Skittles drinks

Lucija was shocked to see what she has dubbed “radioactive soda” after she found Skittles drinks on the shelves of US supermarkets. She found a purple, red and green version of the beverage.

Pre-made hard boiled eggs

Lucija could not believe her eyes as she saw 12 hard boiled eggs in a sealed plastic, grab-and-go bag. “Just ew,” she wrote.

“Hard boiled eggs? Can’t you just boil them by yourself?” commented one confused individual.

Another shocked person said: “HARD BOILED EGGS IN A BAG!? I wonder how it smells when you open that hard boiled bag.”

There was much ado Wednesday about President Trump’s picks to receive the coveted Kennedy Center Honors in December. Journalists and culture watchers combed through the histories of the president’s nominees — including actor and filmmaker Sylvester Stallone, glam-rock band KISS, disco singer Gloria Gaynor, country music star George Strait and English actor Michael Crawford — in order to better understand his choices.

Gaynor left some scratching their heads, especially because the disco queen’s most iconic song, “I Will Survive,” is an established anthem on dance floors at LGBTQ+ clubs. But Stallone — fondly known as Sly Stallone — seemed an obvious option. He was part of a cohort of tough-guy performers, including Jon Voight and Mel Gibson, named by Trump as “special ambassadors” to Hollywood, and he once called Trump the “second George Washington” while introducing at a gala in Palm Beach, Fla.

But the heart of an artist apparently beats beneath the “Rocky” star’s hardened pectorals. His Instagram is littered with abstract paintings featuring thick, brash strokes with obvious nods to the work of Jackson Pollock and Jean-Michel Basquiat. He is exclusively represented by Provident Fine Art in Palm Beach, and regularly posts his canvases to social media with captions like, “No hesitation. No overthinking. Just color, motion, guts. Sometimes you don’t wait for the perfect moment—you throw the punch and make it count.”

Another, of a twisted yellow and red face, reads, “A portrait I did of Rambo’s state of mind before he enters a BATTLE, called ‘…SEEING RED’.”

Not all of Sly’s fans are happy about his affiliation with Trump. A comment on his most recent painting read, “Sorry to hear you are taking part in the Kennedy honors. Linking your self to trump is not a good look. I hope you reconsider.”

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, wondering if the “Tulsa King’s” oil paintings might now make it into the Smithsonian. Here’s your arts news for the week.

Best bets: On our radar this week

Antigone
Frederique Michel directs Neil Labute’s adaptation of the Jean Anouilh play exploring the effects of authoritarianism (inspired by Sophocles, it was first produced in 1944 Paris during the Nazi occupation).
Friday through Sept. 21. City Garage Theatre, Bergamot Station Arts Center, 2525 Michigan Ave. T1, Santa Monica. citygarage.org

Pirates Wanted
Last Call Theatre presents an immersive adventure experience featuring swashbuckling, knot tying, navigation, liar’s dice, sea shanties and more. Recommended for landlubbers 13 and over. Younger mateys must be accompanied by an adult.
Aug. 16-17, 22-24. Pine Ave. Pier, Long Beach. ticketleap.events/tickets/lastcalltheatre/lastcallpirateswanted

Russian pianist performs with the L.A. Phil Tuesday and Thursday at the Hollywood Bowl.

(L.A. Phil)

Rachmaninoff Under the Stars
Two nights, two different programs of the Russian romanticist’s work featuring Russian pianist Daniil Trifinov and the L.A. Phil conducted by Daniel Harding.
8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

The Broadway production of “Shucked” in 2023; the national tour arrives Tuesday at the Hollywood Pantages.

(Mathew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman)

Shucked
The corn and puns are higher than an elephant’s eye in this Tony-winning musical comedy with a book by Robert Horn, music and lyrics by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally and directed by Jack O’Brien.
Tuesday through Sept. 7. Hollywood Pantages Theatre, 6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood. broadwayinhollywood.com

Multi-instrumentalist Herbie Hancock performs Wednesday at the Hollywood Bowl.

(Amy Harris / Invision / AP)

Herbie Hancock
The versatile performed is joined by trumpeter Terence Blanchard, bassist James Genus, guitarist-singer Lionel Loueke and drummer Jaylen Petinaud for a freewheeling night of jazz.
8 p.m. Wednesday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

Culture news

Perry Picasshoe and his father walk through downtown Riverside while looking for a good spot to place another ice block on July 3, 2025.

(Daniel Hernandez)

Riverside artist Perry Picasshoe found a way to address the pain and upheaval of seeing people in his community pursued and deported by ICE. In a symbolic effort, Picasshoe melted 36 ice blocks on sidewalks of the Inland Empire where enforcement raids took place. “I took it as a metaphor of what’s happening,” Picasshoe said in an interview with De Los. “I was also thinking a lot about having these blocks of ice as almost a stand-in for people.”

Times Theater Critic Charles McNulty attended a Black Out matinee performance of the two-character play “Berta, Berta,” by Angelica Chéri. The show is receiving its West Coast premiere in an Echo Theater Company production at Atwater Village Theatre directed by Andi Chapman. The action, which takes place in 1923 Mississippi, unfolds as the titular character wakes in the middle of the night to find the love of her life covered in the blood of a man he killed. The play’s themes were enhanced by the unique community environment of the performance, McNulty writes. “I was more alert to the through line of history. Although set in the Deep South during the Jim Crow era, there appeared to be little distance between the characters and the audience,” he notes.

A new museum is set to open in a historic building in Miami, honoring, “the history of Cuban exiles with immersive, state-of-the-art exhibits that explore the meaning of migration, freedom and homeland,” writes Joshua Goodman. The building that houses the new enterprise was once the city’s tallest structure and was known as the “Ellis Island” of Miami.

The SoCal scene

Dancer Michael Tomlin III, with the Lula Washington Dance Company, rehearses in Los Angeles in January 2020.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Lula Washington Dance Theatre is celebrating its 45th anniversary on Aug. 23 at the Ford. Washington has been a seminal figure in the arts world, including in her home base of South L.A. — guiding and shaping hundreds of young community members and dancers at her studio over the years. The company has toured extensively around America and the world, and in 2021 received a nearly $1 million Mellon Grant. “Where there’s a will there’s a way. We are still here! After all of the trials and tribulations, riots, earthquakes, COVID and Project 2025, we are still dancing! Dance has saved us and it will save us all,” Washington told The Times in advance of the anniversary. The tribute at the Ford will include performances of historic Washington pieces alongside new works by Martha Graham, Donald McKayle and more. For tickets and additional information, click here.

The Old Globe announced that actor Katie Holmes will kick off the theater’s 2026 season in a new production of Henrik Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler,” directed by the Globe’s Artistic Director Barry Edelstein. The classic stage play is being given fresh life in a Globe-commissioned new version by playwright and screenwriter Erin Cressida Wilson. The show marks Holmes’ return to the Globe after Edelstein directed her in a 2023 production of “The Wanderers.” Performances are scheduled to run from Feb. 7 to March 8, 2026, and tickets are currently available by subscription only at TheOldGlobe.org.

The Broad is back with its summer concert series. On Aug. 16, guests can attend a show called “PAST + FUTURE = PRESENT, Pt. 1.” The after-hours event (8 p.m. to 11 p.m.) includes access to the special exhibition, “Jeffrey Gibson: the space in which to place me,” as well as two performance stages on several museum floors. Haisla hip-hop duo Snotty Nose Rez Kids will rock out upstairs while indie rockers Black Belt Eagle Scout will take to the lobby stage.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

Wondering what Trump’s Kennedy Center Honors announcement felt like to watch? Here are the first 13 minutes, although it went on for much (much) longer.

Tudor Lakatos challenges Roma discrimination through Elvis Presley’s musical legacy.

Sporting a rhinestone shirt, oversized sunglasses and a classic 1950s quiff, Lakatos captivates audiences across Romania with his distinctive renditions of songs like Blue Suede Shoes.

Rather than being an impersonator, Lakatos harnesses Elvis’s universal appeal to dismantle stereotypes about Roma people and inspire Roma youth.

“I never wanted to get on stage, I did not think about it,” Lakatos, 58, said after a recent gig at a restaurant in the capital, Bucharest. “I only wanted one thing – to make friends with Romanians, to stop being called a Gypsy,” he added, using an often derided term for people belonging to the Roma ethnic group.

The Roma, with South Asian origins, have endured centuries of persecution throughout Eastern Europe and continue to face poverty, unemployment and prejudice. In Romania, they represent approximately seven percent of the population, with one-fifth reporting discrimination experiences in the past year, according to European Union data.

Lakatos began his mission in the early 1980s as an art student during Nicolae Ceausescu’s communist regime. When anti-Roma sentiment was widespread, he discovered that Elvis’s music created connections with ethnic Romanian students while simultaneously symbolising resistance against government oppression.

Now, 40 years later, his audience has expanded. As a teacher for 25 years, Lakatos uses music to show his students they can aspire beyond the limited opportunities of their northwestern Romanian village.

“The adjective Gypsy is used everywhere as a substitute for insult,” Lakatos said. “We older people have gotten used to it, we can swallow it, we grew up with it. I have said many times, ‘Call us what you want, dinosaur and brontosaurus, but at least join hands with us to educate the next generation.’”

Despite his teaching career, Lakatos continues performing throughout Romania at various venues.

The eclectic mix of languages can sometimes lead to surprises because there is not always a literal translation for Elvis’s 1950s American English.

For example, “Don’t step on my blue suede shoes” does not make sense to many of the children he teaches because they are so poor, Lakatos said.

In his version, the lyric Elvis made famous becomes simply “Don’t step on my bare feet.”

It is a message that Elvis – born in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, during the Great Depression – probably would have understood.

Shakira Austin didn’t realize how important fashion would become when she entered the WNBA in 2022.

Her introduction to game-day tunnel fashion began at the University of Mississippi in 2020.

“My school started doing their own tunnel fits,” she said. “It was cute, but I definitely didn’t know [the WNBA tunnel walk was] as popping and as big as it is now.”

During the last few years, college and WNBA social media teams have photographed players walking into arenas and to their locker rooms on game day. Tunnel walk fashion now quickly spreads on social media on game days.

The Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese poses on the orange carpet during WNBA All Star Game week in Indianapolis.

(Darron Cummings / Associated Press)

What started as a social media trend that fans enjoyed has become a high-profile chance for WNBA players to show off their personal style and potentially land endorsement deals. A Vogue article published last season declared that “The WNBA Tunnel Is Officially a Fashion Destination.”

Austin has adapted to the spotlight and says she enjoys expressing herself through clothing.

“It gives a little bit of a model essence,” Austin said. “You go through, you pick out your fit for the day, and all cameras are on you, so it’s definitely a nice little highlight off the court before you start to lock in for the game.”

Now in her fourth year with the Washington Mystics, Austin’s sense of style is fully her own.

Without much styling advice from teammates as a rookie, she leaned on her passion for creativity and beauty to guide her looks.

“I’ve just always liked to express myself through beauty — from either masculine or feminine looks,” she said.

At 6 foot 5, Austin has had to work with limited clothing options.

“Being that I am a tall girl, it’s kind of hard to find clothes, so repeating stuff is a big deal for me,” she said. “Also, just making [the outfit] a different vibe each time.”

The Dallas Wings’ Paige Bueckers poses on the orange carpet during a WNBA All-Star Game event in Indianapolis.

(Darron Cummings / Associated Press)

Connecticut Sun center Olivia Nelson-Ododa didn’t get comfortable until she partnered with stylist Kristine Anigwe, a former WNBA player and owner of KA Creative Consulting.

“Figuring out, ‘OK, this is my style, this is what I actually like and enjoy wearing. How can I put it together in something that is comfortable and makes me feel confident?’” Nelson-Ododa said.

She describes being a “serial pieces repeater,” choosing to mix and match rather than follow trends.

“Honestly, it’s fashion, there’s like no rules to it.”

Off the court, fashion is now a way for her to show different sides of herself beyond her basketball identity.

“We already have an amazing job like this, and being able to add on by showing ourselves in a different light is super fun,” she said.

Although she doesn’t have the biggest interest in fashion, Sparks center Azura Stevens has seen tunnel fashion evolve into something much bigger.

The Sparks’ Rickea Jackson poses on the orange carpet during a WNBA All-Star Game event in Indianapolis.

(Darron Cummings / Associated Press)

“It’s cool to put together different fits, kind of show your personality through style,” she said. “I am kind of used to it now — it’s just a part of the game-day routine.”

During her time in the league, fashion has become a natural part of the culture.

“It has become a really big thing for it to be like runways almost before the game. It’s a part of the culture now of the [league],” she said.

Stevens’ teammate, veteran forward Dearica Hamby, has had a career full of fashion transitions since she entered the league in 2015 when fashion wasn’t a major part of the WNBA culture.

“Mine has changed over the course of the years,” she said. “For me, I’m sometimes business-like, but overall just really well put together.”

Hamby credits her time with the Las Vegas Aces as the moment she saw the shift.

“I kind of feel like my time in Vegas is when it really took off. We had a really talented photographer who was able to capture our fits,” she said.

Hamby is still learning what works best for her style. One thing she’s noticed: how an outfit looks in a photo matters.

“Sometimes things don’t photograph well, and that’s what I am starting to learn,” she said. “It could look good in person, but it doesn’t necessarily photograph well, so you wanna wear things that are cut and crisp.”

As tunnel walk content grows on social media, so can critiques of players and their outfit choices.

“I’ve definitely gotten flamed before for certain outfits,” Nelson-Ododa said. “Some people are not fans and some people are fans. I really don’t care, as long as it feels good on me, I’m fine.”

“You definitely know that eyes are going to see, and you’re going to be talked about — whether it’s a positive view or negative view,” Hamby said.

What matters most to Hamby is the feeling behind the fit: “Just remind yourself that if you feel good and you feel like you look good in it, that’s all that matters.”

Hundreds of residents gathered at a beach in Yokosuka city’s Kurihama area, south of Tokyo, over the weekend to pray for marine safety in a summer festival that fuses sacred ritual and seaside spectacle.

As a portable shrine called mikoshi, decorated with Shinto ornaments, was lifted onto bearers’ shoulders, the audience cheered.

The mikoshi had started from Sumiyoshi Shrine and was paraded through neighbourhood alleyways. Shrine priests paused to bless offerings and pray for good fortune for people gathered outside their homes.

When the procession reached the beach, the priests danced and chanted. The festival reached its climax when the bearers entered the water up to their necks, their sweaty faces splashed with seawater.

The procession made a final stop at the nearby ferry terminal, where the mikoshi was carried onto a vessel for prayers for its safe travels.

“Everyone has been looking forward to this day all year,” said Shuji Shimizu, head of the Kurihama Neighbourhood Association. “It’s a celebration of our own strength and unity. Please stay safe out there … and enjoy every moment.”

As evening fell, the mikoshi was carried back to storage at the shrine, until next summer.

Assam, India – Makon Kumar’s wrinkled fingers are covered in dried-up clay. She squats on the damp dirt outside her one-room, bamboo-stilted home and spins a pottery wheel – a palm-sized grey bowl – with her left toe.

Inside the bowl is a lump of newly-bought wet clay, which Kumar slaps, flattens and curves into the pot’s base.

“My grandma and her grandma passed this practice down to us. We are not farmers, we have no land, and this is our work,” 60-year-old Makon said as she pressed her fist into the clay and carved out the pot’s mouth.

Makon belongs to the Kumar community of about 540 people, whose women have been known for their unique pottery work since the 16th century. These women avoid machinery or a potter’s wheel but rely on their toes to spin a plate or bowl with clay.

The Kumars live on Majuli, an island district between the Subansiri and the mighty Brahmaputra rivers in India’s northeastern state of Assam. Home to nearly 200,000 people, which includes people from other ethnic groups, Majuli has shrunk from 1,300sq km (502sq miles) to 483sq km (186.5sq miles) in a century due to erosion caused by annual monsoon rains and floods.

During the monsoon season, which can stretch from May to September, the floodwaters can get more than 1.5 metres (5 feet) high, forcing Makon and the other Kumars to either seek shelter at the highway bordering the village or stay trapped inside their homes.

Last week, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said there were more than 72,000 people taking shelter in 355 relief camps across the state due to the floods, which have also killed at least 24 people this year.

Access to riverside clay denied

During the floods, the Kumars’ pottery business comes to a halt, interrupting their main source of income. Moreover, the lack of flood prevention efforts by the authorities has worsened their condition.

“[Our family] used to get clay from the banks of the Brahmaputra River,” Makon told Al Jazeera.

Kumar men traditionally dug 18 to 21 metres (60 to 70 feet) deep on the riverbank to extract a glutinous, dark grey clay that locals call Kumar “maati” (soil).

The state-run Brahmaputra Board, which supervises the government’s response to the floods and soil erosion, began building river embankments in 2018, preventing the Kumars from digging the riverbank for clay.

“While the Brahmaputra Board deeply respects this traditional craft [of making pottery], extracting clay directly from the exposed riverbanks causes severe soil erosion, hindering the board’s efforts to protect Majuli island,” a spokesperson for the board told Al Jazeera.

The spokesperson said the board provided an alternative to the Kumar potters by making clay available through designated pits or boreholes that could be accessed after filling an application form. The board, however, did not say how many Kumars applied.

Makon said the embankment on the Brahmaputra forced her to buy clay from mainland Assam, increasing her expenses for a business already lacking commercial value or organised marketing.

November is their best month when floodwaters recede and foreign and Indian tourists take a 90-minute ferry from Jorhat, a city in mainland Assam, to Majuli’s Salmora village, where the Kumar women sculpt pots with their hands and feet. The tour brings extra cash for Makon’s two daughters studying in a secondary school.

On other days, the Kumars sculpt and sell pots of various sizes to local vendors. Tekelis, the most popular and smallest pot used for storing milk, is sold for just 10 rupees ($0.12) to vendors, who resell them for 20 to 100 rupees ($0.23-$1.15) at shops across Majuli and mainland Assam.

Salmora has long, narrow dirt roads, with rows of bamboo and concrete houses built on stilts. When the island is not flooded, hundreds of dried tekelis lie stacked on top of each other on a road bordering the village. The men bake those pots and sell them in the market.

‘No money in it’

However, it is not just a dying form of pottery that is under threat in flood-prone Majuli.

Almost 18km (11 miles) from Salmora lies Upper Katoni village, where the silence of the nights is often interrupted by young men and boys singing and thumping hollow drums. They perform a four-hour theatrical production known as Bhaona, mostly performed past midnight. Locals come for the performance after finishing their dinner, sit on the floor, and watch their neighbours, siblings, or friends perform.

The entirely male troupe of actors play characters from the Hindu epic, Ramayana.

“We’ve been rehearsing for the last three weeks,” said actor Jyoti Bhuyan, who plays a king in the dance drama. “Even in the hotter months, we’re able to perform.”

The Bhaona dates back to the 16th century and is performed at Namghars, open prayer houses unique to Assam. The island has more than 384 Namghars, according to a spokesperson from the Majuli District Office.

“I’ve been doing this since I was a young boy,” said Karunav Bhuyan, a Bhaona actor and political science professor at a college on the island. “What doesn’t change is that anyone from any background can come and watch us perform.”

Bhaona actors wear special masks, made from bamboo and a mix of clay and cow dung. The masks typically have wide, almond-shaped eyes; thick, furrowed brows; and a mouth flaunting a full set of teeth or bright red lips. The mask’s sharp, angular facial features, paired with contrasting eye and hair colours, are often displayed inside the houses of Majuli residents.

“At first, no one wanted to make masks because there was no money in it,” 67-year-old mask maker Hem Chandra Goswami told Al Jazeera.

Goswami, who lives in Majuli’s Samaguri village, started making smaller, easy-to-hang masks and has been teaching the art to high school students since 2012. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, in 2023 for promoting the art form.

Traditionally, only men made masks and used them for Bhaona performances. But that is changing.

Brishti Hazarika, a 25-year-old theatre student, is learning mask-making at Majuli University of Culture, an institution dedicated to preserving the local art forms. “Whether we get financial help from the government or not, it doesn’t stop us from putting on shows or enjoying our festivals,” Hazarika said.

The island’s more well-known tourist attractions are the Satras – the cultural and religious centres where celibate male monks, draped in white cotton cloth, reside.

Known as Bhakats, these monks join the Satras during preadolescence and spend their lives worshipping Lord Krishna, unlike the polytheistic pantheon of numerous gods in mainstream Hinduism.

But annual floods and land erosion have reduced Satras from more than 65 to just 35 in the past decades, according to the Majuli District Office spokesperson. Worse, not every Satra is properly maintained.

Unlike Makon, the Samaguri Satra is located away from the Brahmaputra River and has, therefore, been spared the devastation caused by annual floods. That explains why Pradip Goswami, another local mask artist and a cousin of Hem Chandra, wishes there were more opportunities to produce the masks commercially.

“The way for mask making to continue spreading is by having a bridge over the river to connect us to the mainland,” he said.

‘This is all we know’

In 2022, the Assam government announced the construction of an 8km (5-mile) bridge connecting Majuli to Jorhat. But the $70m project was halted in September last year after Uttar Pradesh State Bridge Corporation Limited (UPSBCL), a state-run entity tasked with building the bridge, withdrew from the project over payment disputes, according to local media reports.

Al Jazeera reached out to the UPSBCL for its response to such speculations, but did not receive any reply.

In May this year, the Assam government said it was looking for a new contractor to construct the bridge. But Majuli residents say the government has been apathetic towards their lives and livelihoods affected by the floods.

The Majuli Cultural Landscape Management Authority (MCLMA), created in 2006 to oversee the island’s development and protect its cultural heritage, has not held a meeting in more than a decade, alleges MCLMA executive member Sanjib Borkakoti. Even the office where he used to attend meetings twice a year does not exist any more, he says.

“There is no [government] supervision,” Borkakoti told Al Jazeera. He said the Indian government tried at least twice – unsuccessfully – for a UNESCO World Heritage Site status for Majuli, a tag that would have brought “international attention and pushed the local government to protect what’s remaining”.

Al Jazeera reached out to a government spokesperson and Majuli’s local officials for their response to Borkakoti’s allegations, but did not get any reply.

Meanwhile, for Majuli residents like Makon, art goes beyond just preserving a cultural identity. It is rooted in survival.

“We just don’t know if we will have a home tomorrow,” Makon says as she gives shape to a clay pot, using a wooden bat. She spins the pot one last time to check for any bumps and says, “This is all we know.”

This story was funded by a Reporting Fellowship grant from the South Asian Journalists Association.

The Smithsonian Institution has faced pressure from President Trump since March when he issued his “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” executive order, which demanded an end to federal funding for exhibitions and programs based on racial themes that “divide Americans.”

Amid Trump’s headline-grabbing gambits to remake the landscape of American arts and culture into a more MAGA-friendly image, another challenge to the Smithsonian flew largely under the radar. In early April, Texas Senators John Cornyn and Ted Cruz introduced the Bring the Space Shuttle Home Act, which proposed to move the space shuttle Discovery from the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia to a spot near NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The act was folded into President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which Trump signed into law on July 4.

NASA gifted the Discovery to the Smithsonian in 2012 and it has been in Virginia ever since. Discovery launched on its maiden voyage in 1984 and flew 39 Earth-orbital missions — more than any other orbiter. The Smithsonian considers it a key part of its collection and issued a statement to Congress objecting to the proposed move. According to the Hill, the statement noted that “the case against relocating the orbiter Discovery is both philosophical and practical … It would be unprecedented for Congress to remove an object from a Smithsonian collection and send it somewhere else.”

In late June, the Houston Business Journal reported that the Smithsonian estimated the cost of moving Discovery to Texas would be between $300 and $400 million, far more than the $85 million cited by Cornyn and Cruz in Trump’s massive reconciliation and spending package.

Since the passage of of the bill, the fight over Discovery has heated up. Earlier this week, Rep. Joe Morelle, a Democrat from New York, introduced an amendment to keep Discovery at the Smithsonian. The Appropriations Committee agreed to the amendment, which now moves to the Rules Committee before going to the House floor for a vote.

“The forced removal and relocation of the Space Shuttle Discovery from the Smithsonian Institution’s Air and Space Museum is inappropriate, wasteful, and wrong. Neither the Smithsonian nor American taxpayers should be forced to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on this misguided effort. I am grateful for the bipartisan support of my colleagues on this amendment and hope we can continue working together throughout the remainder of the Appropriations process to keep a treasured Smithsonian artifact where it belongs,” Morelle said in a statement sent to The Times.

The Smithsonian did not respond to a request for comment on the evolving situation, or its quest to keep the Discovery in its collection.

I’m arts and culture writer Jessica Gelt, hoping to orbit a positive news cycle someday soon. Here’s your arts and culture roundup for this week.

The corpse flower is ready to bloom again at Huntington Garden.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

The Corpse Flower
The infamously stinky plant, formally Titan Arum (Amorphophallus titanum), “produces the largest unbranched inflorescence in the plant kingdom” and is known for its pungent aroma. “Green Boy,” one of 43 corpse flowers in the Huntington’s collection may have already blossomed by the time you read this, so be sure to check it out as the bloom lasts only 24-48 hours. “It smells pretty bad,” Brandon Tam, the Huntington’s associate curator of orchids,” told Times summer intern Aspen Anderson in her story on the event. But for those who prefer to avoid the full olfactory experience, there’s a livestream.
10 a.m.–5 p.m., closed Tuesday. The Huntington, 1151 Oxford Road, San Marino. huntington.org

Father John Misty performing in Atlanta in 2023.

(Paul R. Giunta / Invision / AP)

Father John Misty
Josh Tillman, whose Misty persona was described in a 2017 profile by Times pop music critic Mikael Wood as “a convivial (if polarizing) chronicler of society’s growing absurdity,” is joined by Lucinda Williams and Hamilton Leithauser for an eclectic evening of indie rock and folk.
7 p.m. Friday. Greek Theatre, 2700 N. Vermont Ave. lagreektheatre.com

Phasmagorica: The Room Between Worlds
Limited to nine audiences members at a time, this “experiential paranormal encounter” proudly boasts that it is not a performance and does not use actors. Instead, sacred geometry, occult methodology, immersive light phenomena and 13 speakers of Dolby Atmos sound produce “a fully-contained, tactile installation designed to provoke contact.” Guests are guided through a séance featuring spirit communication via arcane instruments and trigger objects, fortune-telling and psychological thresholds.
7:30 and 9:15 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Heritage Square Museum, 3800 Homer St. twilightdisturbances.com

Heather Graham, left, and Mike Myers star in the 1999 movie “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.”

(New Line Cinema)

Austin Powers triple feature
Yeah, baby! The academy’s “Summer of Camp” series continues with the shagadelic trilogy of “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery” (1997), “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” (1999) and “Austin Powers in Goldmember” (2002). Director Jay Roach will be in attendance.
2 p.m. Saturday. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org

Billy Woodberry
The MOCA Artist Film Series presents the L.A. Rebellion filmmaker’s 2016 feature, “And when I die, I won’t stay dead,” a documentary on the life of Beat poet Bob Kaufman. Best known for “Bless Their Little Hearts” (1983), Woodberry assembled archival footage and photos, interviews with Kaufman’s contemporaries, and readings from Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis and others, plus a jazz soundtrack featuring Billie Holiday and Ornette Coleman.
3 p.m. Saturday. Museum of Contemporary Art, 250 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. moca.org

Queens of Soul
The peacocks and peahens will not be the only ones strutting and preening at the L.A. County Arboretum when the Pasadena Pops performs this salute to such divas as Aretha Franklin, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Alicia Keys, Adele and others, featuring hit songs such as “Respect,” “Proud Mary, “I’m Every Woman” and “Rolling in the Deep.”
7:30 p.m. Saturday. L.A. County Arboretum, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia. pasadenasymphony-pops.org

Black Pasifika: Deep Sea Protocols
Writer, relational architect and guerrilla theorist Neema Githere hosts this program exploring the links between climate crisis and technology across Melanesia. Githere will provide context and discuss deep-sea protocols and the consequences of technological accelerationism on sea-stewarding peoples from the Swahili coast to Melanesia with their grandfather, Dr. Gilbert Githere, founder of the Mombasa-Honolulu Sister City society. The filmic essay “AI: African Intelligence” by Manthia Diawara searches for a more humane and spiritual control of algorithms. Ahead of the program, from 10 a.m.–6 p.m., the time-based somatic works “Oceanic Refractions” and “Cries From the Moana” will be shown on monitors in LACMA’s Smidt Welcome Plaza.
6 p.m. Sunday. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. lacma.org

L.A. Phil at the Hollywood Bowl
In a week of debuts, Italian conductor Daniele Rustioni, recently appointed principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Opera, makes his Los Angeles Philharmonic bow leading the orchestra through Mendelssohn’s “Violin Concerto” (with soloist Veronika Eberle), selections from Berlioz and Liszt, and Respighi’s “Pines of Rome.” Two nights later, former Dudamel Fellow and current Boston Symphony Orchestra assistant conductor Anna Handler makes her first Bowl appearance, leading the Phil in the world premiere of Eunike Tanzil’s “Ode to the City of Dreams,” Mozart’s “Concerto for Flute and Harp” and Richard Strauss’ “Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30.” Mendelssohn, 8 p.m. Tuesday; Tanzil, Mozart and Strauss, 8 p.m. Thursday. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. hollywoodbowl.com

— Kevin Crust

The SoCal scene

“Buddha Shakyamuni,” Burma (Myanmar), circa 13th century; lacquered wood

(Christopher Knight / Los Angeles Times)

Times art critic Christopher Knight was thrilled to see the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s exhibit “Realms of the Dharma: Buddhist Art Across Asia.” Currently installed in the temporary exhibition spaces of the Resnick Pavilion, the show consists of roughly 180 objects that have been in storage for years after being boxed up in preparation for the demolition of the museum’s original campus and the debut of the new David Geffen Galleries. Catch the exhibit now, before it gets stowed away again, writes Knight, adding that it “includes some of the most splendid sculptures and paintings” in the museum’s permanent collection.

Times classical music critic Mark Swed hopped a plane to Austria and headed for the small town of Bregenz, where a major arts festival that attracts more than 250,000 visitors in July and August and boasts a $31-million budget is hosted. The biggest draw at the bustling festival is opera, and the biggest show is a production staged each year on the Seebühne — a massive stage built directly on Lake Constance with bleachers to accommodate an audience of 7,000. “This year’s ‘Die Freischütz,’ Carl Maria von Weber’s early 19th century opera about a huntsman who makes a very bad deal with the devil for a magic bullet, opened last week and runs through Aug. 17,” writes Swed. “All 27 performances are expected to sell out as usual for the kind of spectacle that exists nowhere else.” Read all about the world-famous technical and artistic extravaganza, here.

Culture news

Johanna Burton was named the new Executive Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art.

(Photo: Erin Leland)

Johanna Burton is leaving the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, to become the new director of the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, ICA Philadelphia announced Thursday. Burton became MOCA’s first female director in 2021 after its recently named Artistic Director Klaus Biesenbach unceremoniously left his position for a job in Berlin. Burton’s departure makes her the fifth director to leave MOCA since 2008. Burton will fill the role at ICA Philadelphia left vacant by Zoë Ryan who exited the museum to take over leadership at the UCLA Hammer Museum in Westwood after its longtime director Ann Philbin retired. MOCA did not respond to a request for comment about Burton’s departure.

Architect Paul R. Williams’ L.A. building, Founders Church of Religious Science, is among five structures across the country picked to receive funding through the Getty Foundation’s Conserving Black Modernism Initiative. Announced earlier this week by the foundation and the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, the money will support preservation plans for the buildings and further train caretakers in maintenance best practices. Another overarching goal is to increase public awareness of the architects’ legacies and the buildings they created. The other four buildings receiving Getty funds are the ITC Administration Building in Atlanta, designed by Edward C. Miller; First Church of Deliverance in Chicago, an adaptive reuse project redesigned by Walter T. Bailey; McKenzie Hall in Eugene, Ore., designed by DeNorval Unthank Jr.; and Vassar College’s 2500 New Hackensack building in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., by Jeh Vincent Johnson.

Contemporary artist Amy Sherald with her painting “As American as apple pie” in 2021.

(Brian van der Brug/Los Angeles Times)

Artist Amy Sherald has canceled her upcoming solo show, “American Sublime,” at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, citing censorship after she was told the museum wanted to exclude a painting featuring a transgender woman holding a torch in a pose meant to evoke the Statue of Liberty. Sherald was told that the museum did not want to provoke a reaction from President Trump, who has brought anti-trans ideals into the federal government. In a statement to the New York Times, Sherald wrote, “It’s clear that institutional fear shaped by a broader climate of political hostility toward trans lives played a role.”

The Ebell of Los Angeles has named Camille Schenkkan its chief operating officer. The nonprofit organization, which dedicates itself to “inspiring women and fostering community through arts, culture and education,” was founded in 1894 and occupies one of the city’s most storied historic buildings — a campus and theater designed in 1927 by architect Sumner Hunt. Schenkkan arrives at the Ebell from Center Theatre Group, where she served as deputy managing director.

Republican members of the House Appropriations Committee introduced a proposal earlier this week to rename the Opera House at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington after the first lady, Melania Trump.

— Jessica Gelt

And last but not least

Marlee Matlin shared her favorite Sunday activities with The Times — including a stop for pizza in Eagle Rock (hint: it’s a classic). See you there!

When Terry Bollea, more commonly known as Hulk Hogan, showed up in an evening slot at the 2024 Republican National Convention, reactions were mixed.

Then-candidate President Trump and his supporters, both in and outside the hall, were clearly delighted, especially when Hogan, in a signature move, ripped off his T-shirt to display a Trump/Vance tank. Others reacted with disgust, decrying the “cheap” theatrics of a stunt in which Trump courted fans of professional wrestling and Hogan tried to regain national relevance.

In either case, it was mutual benediction. Trump won by leveraging a popular culture that Hogan, who died Thursday at 71, played a significant role in shaping. From the popularity of scripted reality television to the celebration of “real Americans,” Hogan’s career catalyzed and mirrored the shifting zeitgeist.

Forty years ago, he began leveraging an in-your-face patriotism (complete with “Real American” as his theme song) and a naked demand for dominance to become a self-spun celebrity who helped turn pro wrestling from a niche form of entertainment into an international billion-dollar industry.

He created the template for reality-star brand management when Kim Kardashian was still in diapers; he amassed millions of devoted followers by speaking to them directly, and in all caps long before social media was invented. He was canceled (for racist language), only to be uncanceled after a successful apology tour.

He not only survived the release of a sex tape, he sued (with the help of billionaire Peter Thiel) the media site Gawker for publishing it and won, putting Gawker out of business and striking fear into the heart of the free press. He thwarted unions, starred in movies, had a restaurant chain and co-owned his own brand of beer.

Tap any portion of modern celebrity culture — good, bad and ugly — and there’s Hulk Hogan, all handle-bar mustache and “Let me tell you something, brother.” The take-no-prisoners combative style that made him stand out in the 1980s has become just as mainstream as professional wrestling.

Even those who would rather eat glass than watch pro wrestling know who he was; he was a pioneer of personality as profession.

Six foot eight and built like a tank, Terry Bollea became a professional wrestler in 1977 and cultivated the kind of self-aggrandizing personality that had made Gorgeous George (George Raymond Wagner) a star decades earlier. But Hulk Hogan cast himself as a hero, unleashed to lay the bad guys flat. He spoke directly to his audience, including children, and soon gained national, and then international, fame, for himself and the World Wrestling Federation.

Hulk Hogan cast himself as a hero, helping to popularize pro wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation, which would later become World Wrestling Entertainment.

(Universal History Archive/ Universal Archive / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

So much so that, in 1993, the World Wildlife Fund sued the organization over its initials, forcing it to change its name to World Wrestling Entertainment — WWE. The name change made perfect sense — pro wrestling has always been more about entertainment than sport. Yes, the participants are super-fit and strong and their bodies endure all manner of injury, but their brawls are not true competitions.

The matches are carefully choreographed, with winners chosen beforehand (though the outcomes are kept from the audience). With its reliance on over-the-top personas categorized as “faces” (good guys) and “heels” (villains), pro wrestling, like many modern reality programs, was all about audience preference.

In many ways, Hulk Hogan was the first reality TV star, a champion not because he was a better wrestler (or at least not in the nonprofessional sense) but because he was a better performer, pushing back against the rise of the new, gentler, feminist man of the 1980s with his physicality and bravado.

Not that he was above modifying his persona for increased popularity — in his early years, he was a “face” before becoming a “heel,” a growling villain renamed Hollywood Hogan. “I did it to upset the fans,” he told The Times in 2019. “But it didn’t really work. They still loved me.”

By the late 1980s, “Hulkamania” was everywhere, feeding off Hogan’s signature colors (yellow and red), moves (the leg-drop) and catchphrases (“Whatcha gonna do when the Hulkamania runs wild on you, brother?”). Not even an admission that he used steroids, after years of claiming otherwise, derailed his popularity.

Everyone wanted a piece of him, and Hogan began showing up in film and television. In 1982, he played Thunderlips, a version of himself, in “Rocky III,” taking on Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky Balboa in an exhibition match.

Hogan would also show up on the small screen in “The Love Boat,” “The A-Team,” “The All New Mickey Mouse Club” and, more recently, “The Goldbergs”; he made some terrible movies, including “Suburban Commando” and “Mr. Nanny,” did voice-work for video games and appeared, of course, in countless WWE productions. He set the stage for other pro wrestlers to become actors, including the Rock, John Cena and Dave Bautista.

In 2005, he went full-bore reality, starring in “Hogan Knows Best” which focused on his family life with wife Linda, son Nick and daughter Brooke. (Hogan agreed in part to support Brooke’s burgeoning singing career.) As with many celebrity family-based series, it ended after four seasons, when actual reality, including the couple’s divorce and Nick’s involvement in a car crash for which he was charged with reckless driving (and later sentenced to prison), made it impossible to continue.

Despite his many wrestling titles and iconic matches, Hogan’s most famous battle occurred in a courtroom. In 2012, Gawker published portions of a sex tape in which he appeared. Hogan sued. Or rather Terry Bollea sued (with the financial support of Thiel, who had his own ax to grind with Gawker for outing him years earlier). He claimed that while Hulk Hogan was a public figure who often spoke of his sexual prowess, Bollea was not, and therefore publishing the tape, which had been made without his consent, violated his privacy.

In 2016, the jury found for Bollea and awarded him $115 million; Gawker folded a few months later and Hogan found himself in the middle of a debate about the 1st Amendment and the decreasing popularity, and profitability, of the press.

More damaging, however, were leaked portions of that tape in which Hogan used racist slurs, including the N-word, when discussing his daughter’s boyfriend. In 2015, the WWE terminated Hogan’s contract and removed all mention of him from his website. Hogan’s subsequent apology tour led to him being reinstated in 2018.

These were not the only scandals in which Hogan was involved — in the late 1980s, he was instrumental in preventing an attempt by other wrestlers to unionize; his divorce from Linda was messy, and he and his daughter were estranged for years. His appearance at the RNC convention last year divided his fans. In January, he was booed by members of the crowd gathered for the Los Angeles premiere of Netflix’s “WWE Raw,” which many, including Hogan, saw as a condemnation of his support for Trump.

Not that he seemed too concerned. In a culture where hate-watching is courted and toxic conversation applauded, the only real enemy is silence. As Hulk Hogan taught us, for better and worse, a face is as good as a heel and a boo is as good as a cheer, just as long as the crowd continues to make some noise.

Stéphane Jouin, who moved to the UK nine years ago, shared the revelation in a video for his YouTube channel, ‘A French guy in England’, which showcases the two nations’ “cultural quirks”

A French expat living in the UK has named a particular aspect of British culture that’s left him “amazed”. Stéphane Jouin, who swapped France for the UK nine years ago, divulged his findings on his YouTube channel ‘A French guy in England‘, which delves into the “cultural quirks” of both countries.

In his video, ‘6 Things I Really Appreciate as a French Guy in England’, Stéphane shared his observations from nearly a decade in Britain, touching on aspects such as our politeness and tendency to be “merciful”.

Among these UK insights, he highlighted his admiration for the British propensity for kindness, a trait he finds “amazing” and notes is even promoted by companies and organisations here. Stéphane expressed: “Number two is that people tend to be kind.”

He elaborated: “I’m actually amazed that people are generally ready to help. For example, if you’re stranded with your car on the road, and your bonnet is open – they call it ‘hood’ in the USA – they will come to ask you if you are okay, if you need any help. I find this amazing.”

Stéphane added that acts of kindness are “part of everyday life here.” He also pointed out that the UK is home to many charities that support people suffering from health issues.

He pointed out that British firms and groups are known for rallying people to join events they organise to raise money for charitable causes.

On the flip side, in May, a Brit living in France took to TikTok to share five reasons why life across the Channel is “better.” The expat, known as Alex or “It’s moi” on the platform, presented her “household edition” of insights.

First up was the revelation that people in France tend not to have their washing machines in the kitchen, instead opting for the bathroom or elsewhere, meaning you “don’t have the eyesore or the noise” in the kitchen.

But there’s more; Alex also highlighted the convenience of having plug sockets in the bathroom, “square-shaped” pillows for extra headroom, and shutters on every window.

Alex said: “You don’t have to worry about blackout blinds or blackout curtains if you want to make the room dark. You just close the shutters, which is absolutely fantastic when you have children.”

Finally, Alex claimed that a “lot of the houses around here” tended to be detached rather than semi-detached. She said they didn’t have to worry about any “potential noise problems” from neighbours.

However, not everyone saw things the same way, with one commenting: “I’d hate to have a washing machine in my bathroom.”

Another said: “How is square pillows better? Isn’t plugs in the bathroom dangerous?”

Some did agree with the TikToker, with one claiming that once you try using a square pillow, there’s “no going back”.

It’s a summery, late-afternoon Saturday on the backyard lawn of LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, with the kind of warmth and variety of sounds, sights and smells that have defined weekends in many Los Angeles neighborhoods for generations. This one happens to be for a KCRW Summer Nights event headlined by East L.A. soul revivalists the Altons, but the blend of demographics, cultures and backgrounds on display gives it an authentically local feel that could be mistaken for an informal block party in any decade — except perhaps for the screen printer creating band merch and a design of Snoopy humping an ice cube with an expletive about Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

That same blend of history and cultures that has brought Los Angeles together across generations is also what’s given the Altons their signature sound and made them one of the city’s latest breakout stars. When they go on tour and bring their unique blend of soulful “oldies,” modern rock and bilingual R&B around the world, they aren’t just sharing their music but also their culture.

“On any given weekend, you can have some party down the street playing cumbia or music that your parents grew up on, their next door neighbor might have a punk rock show, and another guy down the street that’s just listening to oldies and Art Laboe,” vocalist and guitarist Bryan Ponce explains about the roots of the Altons’ diverse sound stemming from their collective Los Angeles childhoods. “We all grew up on all of this music that we’d hear in our neighborhoods, so all of our influences just came together and came out in our music.”

The Altons members Adriana Flores, Caitlin Moss, Bryan Ponce and Joseph Quinones perform at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes on June 28.

(Brian Feinzimer / For The Times)

For a band that started with modest expectations nearly a decade ago, the Altons now find themselves heading out on international tours and playing to thousands of people at a time — as they will Saturday when they rock the Oldies 2 Souldies show with Los Lonely Boys at the Greek Theatre. And while their rise has been more of a gradual incline than anything particularly stratospheric, they’ve carved their own path without compromise. They’re willing to fuse genres, languages, tempos and sounds as they see fit and based on what they feel will work best for the songs and messages they’re wanting to deliver instead of catering to what may be popular in the moment, a choice that’s made them the face of the “oldies revival” now that millennials and Gen Z are falling back in love with tunes from their grandparents’ day.

“It’s incredible to play a show where a grandmother’s there with her daughter and grandkids, and just have multiple generations of people come together,” vocalist Adriana Flores says. “There’s not a lot of shows that I would even take my dad to, so I think it makes the music even more special and I’d like to be one of the bands shedding the light on what’s been happening in L.A. We’ve been doing it for years and just sharing the types of music we like — which is the retro sound of soul mixed with other elements. We like to show people what’s been happening in L.A. that’s not just Hollywood.”

The Altons’ Adriana Flores and Bryan Ponce perform at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes in late June.

(Brian Feinzimer / For The Times)

That desire to show the “real” L.A. that they know and love is a driving force for the Altons, particularly as they go further and further from home. All of them — Flores and Ponce along with Joseph Quinones on guitar/backup vocals, Chris Manjarrez on bass, Christian “Elyzr” Meraz on keyboards and drummer Caitlin Moss — are proud to represent their East L.A. roots for those who only see the California that gets presented on television. The group eagerly reminisces about a fan they met at a show in France who had never set foot in California but loved the culture so much that he dressed the part of a classic cholo. “He looked like he could have been related to me or went to school with me,” Ponce says with a laugh. “He was bald, he had the Locs on, the Pendleton on and he was screaming our neighborhoods.” They recall the times they’ve felt like cultural ambassadors bringing their hometown heritage to cities like Boston.

But the self-placed weight of representing and sharing their lifelong culture isn’t always all fun and games. Just a matter of weeks before they were walking through the halls of LA Plaza’s museum to see their brand-new exhibition on the importance of East L.A. musicians, they were on tour in the U.K. feeling helpless as they watched the ICE raids and protests flood the city.

Bryan Ponce and Adriana Flores onstage at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes.

(Brian Feinzimer / For The Times)

“You couldn’t really grasp what was going on,” Ponce says. “I would watch videos and see stuff online, but I didn’t really see it until we came home for a couple of days before we left again. [Manjarrez] and I live close to each other, and we started seeing videos of all these places and stores and people in our community. It was just devastating to have to leave again and see that they’re getting even closer to your house and seeing it happening on your street. You’re trying to go and play music to entertain people, but you’re also trying to find a balance. It’s like ‘Are we going to speak on what’s going on?’ Because some people thought that L.A. was burning down, and that’s not really the case.”

“Watching the community go through something so heartbreaking while being away was really difficult,” Flores adds. “It was really tough seeing our community being targeted, but I’d like to believe that music and being creative and spreading joy is a form of resistance. I hope that people can come to our shows and escape. Even though this is way bigger than us, we have to use our platform to be vocal about what’s going on. It’s scary times, but another scary time was the ‘60s when the whole civil rights movement was happening, and some of the best music came out of that because people were finding that outlet and creating.”

“Welcome to Kihnu. We are not a matriarchy,” says Mare Mätas as she meets me off the ferry. I’ve stepped on to the wild and windswept Kihnu island, which floats in the Gulf of Riga off Estonia’s western coast like a castaway from another time. Just four miles (7km) long and two miles wide, this Baltic outpost is a world unto itself that has long been shielded from the full impact of modernity, a place where motorbikes share the road with horse-drawn carts, and women in bright striped skirts still sing ancient sea songs. But Kihnu is no museum – it’s a living, breathing culture all of its own, proudly cared for by its 700 or so residents.

Mare, a traditional culture specialist and local guide, promptly ushers me into the open back of her truck and takes me on a whistlestop tour of the island, giving me a history quiz as we stop at the museum, the lighthouse, the cemetery and the school.

The men of Kihnu would once have spent many months away at sea, sailing or hunting seals. Out of necessity, the women of the island became the heads of the family as well as the keepers of the island’s cultural heritage. This led to Kihnu being nicknamed “the island of women”, and the BBC even proclaimed it “Europe’s last surviving matriarchy”. But Mare is very clear: “If you must use a word, you could say that our culture is matrifocal. But I prefer to say that on Kihnu we are simply equal. Women have status in the community, and older women have a higher status – they are seen as wise elders. Women work as the guardians of our culture, and we look after the circle of life on the island – we have the children, we tend the land, we care for the dead.”

The women of Kihnu have been lighthouse keepers, tractor drivers and even stand-in priests. Today, they play ancient melodies on violin and accordion, teach their daughters traditional dances and sing Kihnu’s eerily beautiful runic songs, believed to be of pre-Christian origin. Most eyecatchingly, they wear traditional dress – bright red woollen skirts, embroidered blouses and patterned headscarves. These aren’t just garments donned for weddings or festivals – this is the only place in Estonia where folk dress is still donned daily.

Mare is wearing a red striped kört skirt and woollen jacket. Her daughters, in their teens and 20s, pair their traditional skirts with slogan T-shirts. The skirts are woven every winter and each tells the story of the wearer. Young women usually wear red – they are supposedly in the “fairytale” era of their lives. If a woman is in mourning, she will don a black skirt. Over the months, her skirts will include more red and purple stripes until she’s dressed in joyful red again. A married woman wears an apron over her skirt, and new fashions and patterns still influence designs today. “When paisley was brought to the island from India, we began using it for our headscarves,” explains Mare. “And in the 1960s, when miniskirts were the rage, we wore mini körts!”

I spot women of all ages dressed in bright flashes of red as I cycle about the island’s dirt roads on a sit-up-and-beg-bike. Kihnu is a patchwork of wildflower meadows and pine groves, edged by rocky coastline and dotted with wooden homes painted in primary yellows and reds. Outside one homestead I meet Jaak Visnap. An artist from Tallinn, he has run naive art camps here every summer for 20 years. Historically, many of the island’s sailors were also naive painters (artists who typically have no formal training and exhibit a simplicity in their work), and when I meet Jaak, he and a group of painting students from Kihnu and the mainland are busy working on richly coloured paintings for an exhibition in the island’s museum.

Estonians often label themselves as cold and standoffish, but the painters welcome me warmly and offer me wine. The sun comes out and transforms the island – moody grey skies swept away by golden light – so I join them for a swim in the warm, shallow sea. As we bob on our backs in the evening glow, Viola from Tallinn tells me a joke: “It’s raining, and a foreigner asks an Estonian man: ‘Don’t you have summer in this country?’ ‘Of course,’ he replies. ‘But sadly I was at work that day.’”

Before I leave the painters, I ask Jaak how the island has changed since his first summer here. “This used to be the fishing island,” he says. “Now, it’s the tourist island.” But visitors don’t seem to have transformed Kihnu just yet. Locals may drive modern cars and trucks, but I also pass Soviet-era motorbikes with side cars. There are a few shops and cafes, but they sell smoked dried fish and seal meat as well as coffee and cakes.

Outside her craft shop, I meet Elly Karjam, who knits the traditional troi sweaters worn by Kihnu’s men, beautifully patterned in blue and white wool woven into protective symbols. “I can knit hundreds of jumpers every winter, and each takes me 200 hours,” she says, her fingers clicking in a blur as she works on a new masterpiece for the local priest.

Mare tells me that the island only wants to attract tourists interested in culture and craftsmanship, and that the islanders are musing over whether campervans should be banned. But tourism also allows the next generation to remain on the island, rather than leave for the mainland in search of work. And for now, most visitors seem to embrace slow travel, staying with local people in guest houses and B&Bs, and visiting to join midsummer dances and violin festivals, to learn to paint or knit, or just to find pastoral peace.

The “island of women” is a misnomer. Instead, Kihnu feels like an old-fashioned yet balanced place that moves to the beat of its own drum (or perhaps, the hum of its own accordion). In winter, cloaked in snow, it must be a tough place to live. But in summer, this slow-paced island is a joy to explore. As I leave, the rain that makes it so lush and green returns. The ferry has barely left the harbour before Kihnu is swallowed in the grey sea, a place of legend once again.

Kihnu is reached by a one-hour ferry crossing (foot passengers €4 one way, cars €16 one way) from Munalaid harbour, which is an hour’s bus journey from the coastal town of Pärnu. See visitkihnu.ee. Mare Mätas offers guided tours of Kihnu as well as guesthouse accommodation on her farm, about £40 a person a night, kihnumare.ee. Elly Karjam offers comfy bedrooms and a traditional sauna on her homestead, where she also sells her knitting and homemade crafts, visitestonia.com/en/elly-bed-breakfast-in-kihnu. Pitch a tent at Kihnu Vald campsite, kihnurand.ee

There’s a lot of schadenfreude on the right, and even more lamentation on the left, about the cancellation of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”

Donald Trump leads the schadenfreude caucus. “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings,” Trump crowed on social media. “I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert!” (It is remarkable that a president who campaigned with a vow to end “cancel culture” is so uninhibited in his celebration of cancel culture when it’s on his terms.)

The lamentations from the left are just as exuberant, from the other direction. They hail Colbert as a heroic martyr for free expression and speaking truth to power. “Not really an overstatement to say that the test of a free society is whether or not comedians can make fun of the country’s leader on TV without repercussions,” MSNBC’s Chris Hayes declared.

In a sense, both sides essentially agree that Colbert was canceled because of his politics. The argument from the left is that this was unfair and even illegitimate. The illegitimate claim rests on the fact that CBS’s parent company Paramount has been trying to curry favor with the administration to gain approval for the sale of the network to Skydance Media. Shari Redstone, Paramount’s owner, approved a settlement of Trump’s dubious lawsuit against “60 Minutes” (which Colbert had criticized days earlier as a “big fat bribe”). Colbert’s scalp was a sweetener, critics claim.

I think that theory is plausible, given the timing of the decision and the way it was announced. If this was the plan all along, why not announce the decision at the 2025 upfronts and sell ads in tandem with the wind-down? That’s the way this sort of thing has been done in the past.

But Colbert’s critics on the right have an equally plausible point. Colbert made the show very political and partisan, indulging his Trump “resistance” schtick to the point where he basically cut the potential national audience in half. He leaned heavily on conventionally liberal politicians (tellingly, on the night he announced the news of his cancellation, his first guest was California Sen. Adam Schiff — a man who couldn’t get a laugh if you hit him in the face with a pie).

But both the left-wing and right-wing interpretations have some holes. The theory that this was purely a political move overlooks the fact that CBS didn’t merely fire Colbert, it’s terminating the iconic “Late Show” entirely and giving the airtime back to local affiliates. If they solely wanted to curry favor with Trump, they could have given the show to more Trump-friendly (funnier and popular with the young’ns) comedians such as Shane Gillis or Andrew Schulz. The show was reportedly losing some $40 million a year. Even if they hired someone for a quarter of Colbert’s $15- million salary, it would still be losing money.

On the right, many — Trump included — have pointed to the fact that Greg Gutfeld’s not-quite-late-night Fox show has better ratings than his competitors on the three legacy networks. That’s true, but it’s hardly as if Gutfeld is any less partisan than Colbert, Kimmel or Jimmy Fallon.

It’s also true that the titans of previous eras — Steve Allen, Jack Paar, Johnny Carson, Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien — tended to avoid strident partisanship. But the nostalgia-fueled idea that a more mainstream, apolitical host would garner similar audiences again gets the causality backward.

Those hosts were products of a different era, when huge numbers of Americans from across the political spectrum consumed the same cultural products. The hosts, much like news networks and newspapers, had a powerful business incentive to play it down the middle and avoid alienating large swaths of their audiences and advertisers. That era is over, forever.

Now media platforms look to garner small “sticky” audiences they can monetize by giving them exactly what they want. There’s an audience for Colbert, and for Gutfeld, but what makes the roughly 2 million to 3 million nightly viewers who love that stuff tune in makes the other 330 million potential viewers tune in to something else. The “Late Show” model — and budget — simply doesn’t work with those numbers.

Cable news, led by Fox, ushered in political polarization in news consumption, but cable itself fueled the balkanization of popular culture. Streaming and podcast platforms, led by YouTube, are turbocharging that trend to the point where media consumption is now a la carte (artificial intelligence may soon make it nigh upon bespoke).

The late-night model was built around a culture in which there was little else to watch. That culture is never coming back.

X:@JonahDispatch

From its bargain beaches to its variety of experiences and relaxed charm, the country is an affordable gem for those looking to holiday in Europe

When planning a European getaway, Bulgaria may not be the first destination to come to mind, but that’s exactly why it’s becoming a top pick for savvy travellers, according to travel specialists. Tucked along the Black Sea coast, this “Eastern European gem” offers far more than its modest profile suggests.

According to Daniel Howick, Travel Manager at Your Co-op Travel branches, Bulgaria continues to excel in terms of value, natural beauty, beaches and family-friendly experiences. Located in southeastern Europe, Bulgaria is generally considered a good place to visit for people interested in history, nature, and affordability.

It offers a blend of beautiful landscapes, ancient ruins, vibrant cities, and a rich cultural heritage. Below, Daniel has shared five reasons why British holidaymakers are setting their sights on Bulgaria this year – from unbeatable prices to a surprisingly rich cultural offering.

Bargain beaches without sacrificing quality

Daniel says Bulgaria’s headline attraction is its prices, which he says are hard to beat. He adds: “Whether it’s a getaway with friends or a sunshine-soaked family escape, the country routinely comes out as one of the most affordable beach destinations in Europe.

“We’ve found holidaymakers love that they can book an entire beach holiday – flights, hotel, food, and drink – for a fraction of the cost they’d pay in Spain, Portugal or Greece. Sunny Beach is a standout resort in Bulgaria that boasts a Blue Flag-awarded beach, golden sands, and a vibrant nightlife scene, as well as family-friendly amenities.”

All-inclusive comfort at self-catering prices

The travel manager says one of Bulgaria’s major appeals is how far your money goes. Holidaymakers can enjoy all-inclusive hotels for the prices typically associated with self-catering stays elsewhere in Europe.

Even those who opt to dine out will find the costs “refreshingly low”. He explains: “Because Bulgaria isn’t in the Eurozone, the cost of living is significantly lower, which means meals, drinks, and taxis are incredibly affordable.”

Experiences to suit everyone

Beyond its golden coastlines, Bulgaria often surprises visitors with its cultural and historical depth, according to Daniel. A “must-see” is Nessebar, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, he says. This ancient town features cobbled streets, Byzantine churches, and Roman ruins. He adds: “Whether you’re a history buff or just looking to explore Bulgaria beyond your sun lounger, Nessebar adds an unforgettable layer of magic to your stay.”

Charm that’ll have you coming back for more

Bulgaria draws a diverse crowd, including families looking for hassle-free fun in the sun, younger groups seeking nightlife on a budget, and couples enjoying a quiet escape. But what’s especially notable, according to Daniel, is the high number of repeat visitors.

“Many travellers who take a chance on Bulgaria return again and again,” he says. “It is proof of its lasting appeal. With a variety of things to see and do, each trip to the country reveals something new.”

A hidden gem that’s easy to reach

Daniel claims that one of Bulgaria’s greatest strengths is its accessibility. Direct flights from the UK to coastal cities like Burgas are “frequent and inexpensive,” even during peak summer months.

The relatively short flight time (around three hours) adds to its “convenience”, making it ideal for long weekends or quick getaways. He said: “Add to that the low cost of airport transfers and hotel shuttles, and it’s no wonder many travellers find the overall travel experience refreshingly simple and affordable.”