The AHLA said hotels spent years preparing and have made “significant investments” based upon official projections.
A study commissioned by Fifa,, external released last year, predicted that in the US the World Cup could create 185,000 jobs, adding $17.2bn (£12.7bn) in gross domestic product.
The hotels were planning for an influx of international travellers, who book longer stays with a higher spend.
But the AHLA said fewer overseas fans “threatens the broader economic impact” with just over three weeks until the opening game on 11 June.
The AHLA said the large-scale bookings made by Fifa in all cities “shaped revenue forecasts, staffing plans and preparations”.
It said this booking policy “manufactured artificial demand” and masked the fact that tourist flow is going to be lower than predicted.
Up to 70% of rooms reserved by Fifa in Boston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Seattle have been cancelled, the AHLA said.
In a statement Fifa rejected the AHLA’s claims and said it had followed agreements made with hotel chains.
“All room releases were conducted in line with contractually agreed timelines with hotel partners – a standard practice for an event of this scale,” a Fifa spokesperson said.
“In many cases, room releases were made ahead of established deadlines to further accommodate requests from hotels.
“Throughout the planning process, Fifa’s accommodations team maintained consistent discussions with hotel stakeholders, including room block adjustments, agreeing to rates, confirming room types and regular reporting, supported by townhall and ongoing communication.”
Prices spiked after the draw was made, as soon as fans knew which cities their teams would be in.
There has been a gradual fall since then, reportedly by a further 20% in recent weeks.
But this could be too late to entice fans back.
Hotel prices in cities like Boston are still more than $300 (£224) a night, and most fans are working to a lower budget.
Chris Hancock, an England fan who has been to four World Cups, told BBC Sport that his group of five are travelling on an accommodation budget of $75 (£56) per person per night.
They will hire a car in each city and book a mix of hotels and Airbnb accommodation between 45 minutes to an hour away.
“We always tend to stay out of town a little bit and cut the cost that way, so we’re not in the middle of Dallas, Boston or New York,” Hancock said.
“If you’re out of the city centres where everything’s happening, you can get some cheaper deals.
“We’re working within that budget. And at the minute we should be well under that.”
The AHLA told BBC Sport it “expects occupancy to strengthen in June and July”.
“We know that many fans are still waiting on tickets and schedules to become clearer before finalising plans,” a spokesperson said.
“We believe bookings will pick up in the weeks ahead. Hotels are ready to welcome guests and ensure that they have the best possible experience.”
Airbnb says the World Cup is on course to be the “biggest hosting event in Airbnb’s history”, overtaking the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris.
Hotels might need to rely on making gains in the knockout rounds, when fans have to make bookings at short notice.
But the World Cup seems unlikely to bring in the revenue that was being predicted.
“I am afraid of dying.” From Bukavu to Kinshasa, concern is spreading among residents and street vendors as Ebola cases rise. In cities hundreds of miles apart, people are wearing face masks and calling for stronger protections from the latest outbreak in DR Congo.
The Hollywood sign is ablaze as Spencer Pratt, the reality TV star now running for mayor of Los Angeles, suits up as Batman, enters City Hall and leads the people to overthrow a cabal of corrupt, out-of-touch progressives intent on destroying the city.
Then he is Luke Skywalker. Dressed in a Jedi robe, he swoops through the city on an Imperial speeder bike, as California Gov. Gavin Newsom (Emperor Palpatine) rebukes incumbent Mayor Karen Bass (Darth Vader) for not burning the city down to the ground in her first term.
“Make sure you finish the job in your second,” Newsom tells Bass with a tilt of the head and a smirk.
“The only thing that can stop us is someone telling the truth,” Bass replies. “As long as they don’t have any hope, the city’s ours.”
Pratt’s fan-generated AI election campaign videos have been praised and mocked, but heavily shared. And some see them as a harbinger of how artificial intelligence could reshape political messaging across the country.
His supporters are far from the first to create AI-generated ads. But political experts say it’s remarkable the degree to which they have used new technology to churn out a stream of outlandish, hyper-cinematic memes, creating buzz around his campaign and his message.
Some warn, however, that as the technology becomes more sophisticated, it will become harder for many people to distinguish between AI and real videos.
“When you’re creating content that is not based in reality, and then platforms are amplifying it in order to attract more eyeballs, you are putting a burden on the public for figuring out what is real and what is factual, and what is fake and misleading,” said Mark Jablonowski, the chief executive of DSPolitical, a progressive advertising firm.
Pratt’s campaign did not create the viral AI videos depicting him as a superhero taking on a cast of California Democratic villains. But he has shared the ads crafted by AI filmmaker Charlie Curran, founder of L.A.’s Menace Studio.
Supercharged and Hollywood inspired, the videos represent a brazen new era of fan-generated AI in political campaign advertising. Deploying generative AI tools to clone human voices and images, they bolster a hyperbolic and ultra-conspiratorial political narrative that depicts L.A. under Democratic rule as a hellscape in which Newsom and Bass deliberately conspire to harm the people.
Bass has condemned the ads, describing them as “very scary” and “absolutely 150% fiction.”
“His social media is now taking on a violent turn,” Bass told CNN, citing the Batman ad that depicts Angelenos pelting her with tomatoes.
Some political experts dismiss such fears of AI campaign ads as overblown. Most AI videos shared by political campaigns and their fans, they note, are more comedic than deliberately misleading.
“Spencer Pratt is using AI the way it should be used, which is to sharpen reality,” said Matt Klink, an L.A.-based Republican political consultant. “His whole shtick is that Los Angeles is broken, the insiders have failed, and the political class wants to explain away what voters are seeing with their own eyes.”
“Obviously, you don’t run an AI ad where you have someone saying something that they didn’t say, and you should disclose that they’re generated by AI,” Klink noted. But when it comes to ads that depict Pratt as Batman or Luke Skywalker, he said, “if you don’t know that they’re AI generated, you’re pretty clueless to begin with.”
For as long as political candidates and their supporters have experimented with new technology — from the pamphlets of the 1600s to the memes of the 21st century — they have faced complaints that they mislead the public.
As large language models ushered in a new era of AI, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) warned in 2024 that “a deluge of deception, disinformation and deepfakes are about to descend on the American public.”
The term “deepfake” was first coined in 2017 by a Reddit user who used open-source face-swapping technology to splice celebrity faces onto porn performers’ bodies. Within months, it entered the mainstream lexicon as a way to describe any AI-generated synthetic media that realistically clones a person’s image or voice.
Blumenthal cited a “chilling example.” In January 2024, Republicans placed robo calls using an AI “deepfake” voice mimicking President Biden to New Hampshire residents to discourage Democrats from voting in the presidential primaries.
New Hampshire authorities said the message violated the state’s voter suppression laws. A month later, the Federal Communications Commission outlawed robocalls that use voices generated by AI. The company that sent the messages agreed to pay a $1-million fine.
But others kept pushing the boundaries of AI — mostly as overt parody or satire, an arena that offers greater 1st Amendment protection.
In July 2024, an AI content creator created a mock campaign ad of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris with a computer-generated voiceover to make it seem she was describing herself as the ultimate “diversity hire” and “deep state puppet.” The post was titled ‘Kamala Harris Campaign Ad PARODY.’
Newsom slammed the post, saying on X, “Manipulating a voice in an ‘ad’ like this one should be illegal.” Two months later, he signed into law a series of bills that clamped down on AI in politics.
But a federal judge blocked one of the new laws that regulated election-related content that is “materially deceptive,” saying it probably violated the 1st Amendment.
No comprehensive federal rules govern the use of AI content in political ads or messaging. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 29 states have passed laws restricting the use of deepfakes in political campaigns: Some states, such as Texas and Minnesota, prohibit the use of deepfakes a certain number of days before an election; the other 27 states require a media disclosure if content contains a deepfake.
Some political advertising experts call for more federal regulation. The state-by-state patchwork of regulations, they argue, makes it very difficult for social media platforms to be compliant.
“At the end of the day, we really need to see platforms being more responsible with the content that they’re sharing,” Jablonowski said. “We need to have clear guidelines and a level playing field across the country, so we’re not in a position where what’s OK in one state is not OK in another.”
Pratt’s embrace of AI is part of a larger 2026 political trend.
In January, Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton released an ad depicting two of his opponents for a Senate seat — Republican Sen. John Cornyn and Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett — waltzing and swinging. A few months later, the National Republican Senatorial Committee shared a video that used a manipulated image of James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for the Texas Senate seat, mouthing his own tweets.
But Pratt has been particularly successful in using fan-based AI to help garner attention, pulling in a number of content creators to craft AI videos for his campaign.
One posted a video parody of the 2004 Downfall film, portraying Bass as Hitler. Another created an animated video,geared to a Latino audience, showing Angelenos lining the streets to cheer as Pratt wheels a garbage can piled with trash and the incumbent mayor. The slogan “SPENCER, SACA LA BASSURA” [Spencer, take out the trash] flashes atop the screen.
A recent survey from the American Assn. of Political Consultants shows that AI adoption is growing rapidly among political consultants — and Republicans are more likely to use it than Democrats.
But political observers in L.A. note that leading Democrats in the mayoral race are unlikely to follow Pratt in using AI. Bass, they note, is a more cautious political figure than Pratt, a brash online influencer who relished playing the role of villain on MTV’s “The Hills.”
While Pratt’s user-generated AI ads have inspired giddy delight from out-of-state Republicans — conservative radio host Buck Sexton praised the Batman video for ushering in “a new era of online persuasion” — it’s still not clear if they will convince Angelenos to vote for him.
Certainly, the ads have helped Pratt gain recognition. They have also given voice to a groundswell of frustration with L.A.’s Democratic establishment and created space for more pressing debate on the future direction of the city.
But there is little evidence that the AI ads, in themselves, are persuading new voters.
So far, none of the AI ads that Pratt has shared have received as many views on his X account as a non-AI ad his campaign produced that has racked up more than 14 million views.
In it, Pratt stands outside Bass’ city-owned Hancock Park mansion and Nithya Raman’s home in leafy Silver Lake, then pans to an Airstream on the charred ruins of his own home, which burnt down during the Palisades fire.
“They don’t have to live in the mess they’ve created,” Pratt says as he walks down an L.A. street littered with homeless tents.
Meghan Daum, a former Los Angeles Times columnist who has endorsed Pratt and dubs herself a self-appointed “liberal elite whisperer for Pratt,” said she thought Pratt’s Airstream ad was more effective than the AI superhero ads. She voiced concern his sharing of AI videos could actively undermine his campaign.
“They will be repellent to the undecided voters Pratt needs to catch, most of whom will think they’re coming directly from the campaign,” she said on X. “Get smarter, guys.”
Using AI, she told The Times, could turn off voters in a town where so many film workers have lost jobs to AI. She also worried about the legality of ads — such as one video purporting to be a Bass campaign ad — that put words in the mouth of computer-generated politicians.
But Daum noted that others told her this was the aesthetic of the new world and a way of getting people who have not voted in the past excited about something.
“That may be true,” she said.
So far, there is little evidence that AI in U.S. political campaigns has affected elections.
“There’s a lot more fear about the effects of AI in politics than evidence of the effects of AI in politics,” said Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at Dartmouth College who co-authored a recent report on AI and persuasion.
During the 2024 election, Nyhan noted, AI was frequently used to create “obviously false” images of attention-grabbing, funny or raging content. “It seems to be more of a mechanism for reaching your base,” he said, “rather than persuading voters who haven’t made up their mind or might stay home.”
Some L.A. political observers admit they were surprised by Pratt’s performance in a May 6 televised debate with Bass and Raman.
”Spencer Pratt was kind of a laughingstock when he first announced that he was going to run, and he has dramatically exceeded expectations,” said Klink, the GOP strategist. “I think that he surprised people in his ability to come up with solutions. … That’s what’s going to convince people to vote, not the Batman or Star Wars ad.”
As millions of people click on Pratt videos — in some cases more than the 3.8 million people living in L.A. — Klick said there was one question Pratt needs to be asking: “Do views of his ads translate into votes?”
Nearly three out of five UK holidaymakers travelling to Europe this year expect delays thanks to a new rule.
There is widespread concern over the EU’s entry-exit system (EES), a new survey suggests. Almost half of respondents to the poll commissioned by travel company Booking.com said they fear missing flights because of the border checks.
EES involves people from third-party countries such as the UK having their fingerprints registered and photograph taken to enter the Schengen Area, which consists of 29 European countries, mainly in the EU. For most UK travellers, the process is done at foreign airports.
Representative body Airports Council International recently reported that EES was causing delays of up to three hours, with airports in Spain, Portugal, France and Italy among the worst affected. More than 100 easyJet passengers missed a flight from Milan Linate to Manchester last month because of delays at passport desks caused by the ramp up of EES.
The survey indicated that 56% of UK travellers plan to arrive at airports earlier than usual in an attempt to avoid disruption, with 12% intending to arrive at least four hours before departure. More than half of respondents who have travelled to the EU since the introduction of EES said they experienced delays during their journey, while 43% said they were not delayed.
Booking.com advised families travelling to Europe during the May half-term break to ensure their passports are eligible for their dates, and keep items such as a portable phone charger and any medication in hand luggage. Ryan Pearson, regional manager for the UK and Ireland at Booking.com, said: “May half-term is a key moment in the travel calendar, and we know many people are feeling anxious about how the new entry-exit system could impact their trip.
“We want to help travellers feel informed and prepared before they leave, whether that’s checking travel documents in advance or packing the right essentials in hand luggage in case of longer queues. Changes to the way we travel can understandably feel daunting, but we’re already seeing that many journeys are running smoothly. The key is preparation.”
Advantage Travel Partnership, a network of independent travel agents, reported earlier this month that demand for holidays in Greece has surged since the country revealed on April 17 it will not impose EES requirements on UK travellers this summer. The south-eastern European country’s market share of UK holiday bookings rose from 7.7% in mid-April to 9.98% by the end of the month, Advantage Travel Partnership said.
EES was first introduced in October last year, with its roll out ramped up on April 10. EU rules currently allow the checks to be temporarily halted to avoid queues at peak periods.
The Booking.com survey of 2,000 UK adults was conducted by research company Opinium between May 8-12.
Professional visual artists hate generative AI. This should come as no surprise, but a new survey released last month by a trio of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University breaks down just how much: 99% of respondents out of a pool of 378 verified professional visual artists noted their dislike for the technology, with 92% categorizing it as “strong dislike.”
Even more jarring, the survey found that 80% of respondents believe that they’re in competition with the technology. The artists expressed deep concerns about the impact AI is having on their careers, with 54% saying it has diminished their income, 75% their job and clientele security, and 90% their income opportunities. Another 77% said it had negatively impacted their career growth, 61% the future of their career, and 74% their career sustainability.
The jobs most heavily affected include commercial artists, graphic designers and concept artists in entertainment whose work is sometimes entirely replaced — or largely commandeered — by images generated using tools like Midjourney, Adobe Fireplay or DALL-E; but fine artists working in traditional media are also experiencing a devaluation of their work and a shrinking pool of employers.
“I’m working on getting out of the field and planning to get my PhD in something non-art related because I can’t see my current work as being sustainable when I see them actively replacing me [with] chatGPT,” a costume designer and illustrator said in the survey, which notes, “Demoralization, disempowerment, disrespect, stress, and fear are also commonly expressed, not only regarding individual careers but also extending towards the field at large.”
“It’s been pretty demoralizing at times seeing a lot of younger artists giving up because they don’t see a future in art. That they’re abandoning their creative passions because of AI,” another illustrator said. A comic artist, writer and painter noted that AI underscores that art is not important to the general public. “It has been demoralizing largely because generated AI images look like crap but there is a segment of the population who seem to not care,” the artist said.
Then there is the unnervingly meta task of artists trying to prove they are human, or that they did not generate their work using AI.
“I find users online to be more critical, looking at art less to enjoy it and more so to figure out if it’s AI generated or not. There’s a lot of pressure and anxiety in proving you are a real person now,” one illustrator and designer said. Another artist and sculptor said, “I have seen false accusations for use of AI in work from other artists who do not use AI and I am fearful of being accused of this as well, I now record the creation process of most things so that I have proof AI was not utilized.”
In that column, Merchant discusses the “good enough” principle of AI-generated art, noting, “Creative workers aren’t typically worried that AI systems are so good they’ll be rendered obsolete as artists, or that AI-generated work will be better than theirs. Their fear is that clients, managers, and even consumers will deem AI art ‘good enough’ as the companies that produce it push down their wages and corrode their ability to earn a living.”
An idea highlighted in the following letter published by Merchant from an anonymous source:
“I’ve been out of work for a while now. I made children’s book illustrations, stock art, and took various art commissions.
Now I have several maxed out credit cards and use a donation bin for food. I haven’t had a steady contract in over a year. two weeks ago, when a client who has switched to AI found out about this he gave me $50 out of ‘a sense of guilt.’ Basically pity for the fact that Illustrator, as a job, does not exist anymore.”
One thing Merchant is exceedingly good at is reminding readers that there is a surge of dissent swelling from the proletariat — and that after you’re done feeling the necessary despair, you can join the anti-AI resistance. For visual artists that can be as simple as utilizing a growing number of defensive tools when it comes to protecting art, most notably Glaze and Nightshade. The former adds the smallest pixel-sized changes to your artwork, which serves to confuse AI so it can’t train on your style; the latter — as the name implies — acts more like a poison that corrupts AI training data so it can’t scrape from a protected image.
I’m Arts editor — and proud Luddite — Jessica Gelt. This is your arts and culture news for the week.
You’re reading Essential Arts
Our critics and reporters guide you through events and happenings of L.A.
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads.
The week ahead: A curated calendar
FRIDAY
Celeste Butler-Clayton as Coretta Scott King in “Experiencing the Dream: The MLK Musical.”
(Triple T Photography)
Experiencing the Dream: MLK the Musical The show’s 26 songs will be recorded live with an orchestra of 27 musicians under the direction of Leon Lacy, with orchestrations by Felipe Paccagnella, vocal arrangements by Tony Jones and musical direction by arranger/producer William Taylor. The cast includes Eric Dawkins, Bishop Jonathan Mason, Yolanda Gibbons, Patricia Jackson, James Singleton, Melvin Crispell, Pam Blackmon Kendle and Celeste Butler-Clayton. Written by Kesha L. Ealy and Marcus S. Mason. Mason also composed the music. 7 p.m. Greater Emmanuel Temple, 3740 E. Imperial Hwy., Lynwood. MLKthemusical.com
Riverdance 30 — The New Generation The Irish music and dance phenomenon marks its three decades with a special anniversary tour. 7:30 p.m. Friday; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday; 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday. Segerstrom Center for the Arts, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa. scfta.org
SATURDAY
Ryuichi Sakamoto, left; Bang on a Can All-Stars.
(The Wallis)
Ryuichi Sakamoto Contemporary music sextet Bang on a Can All-Stars pay tribute to the Japanese composer with works from his album “1996,” which included pieces from his film scores, including “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” (1983), “The Last Emperor” (1987), for which he won an Academy Award, “The Sheltering Sky” (1990) and “Little Buddha” (1993). 7:30 p.m. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. thewallis.org
Vijay Iyer and Wadada Leo Smith The longtime collaborators perform music from their 2025 album “Defiant Life” which Iyer noted “was shaped by our ongoing sorrow and outrage over the past year’s cruelties, but also by our faith in human possibility.” 8 p.m. UCLA Nimoy Theater, 1262 Westwood Blvd. cap.ucla.edu
Radiance + Reverie Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra music director Jaime Martín leads the group in Mozart’s “Haffner” Symphony, “Selah,” a world premiere of a new Double Concerto by Christopher Cerrone performed by violinist Anthony Marwood and cellist Coleman Itzkoff, and Tchaikovsky’s “Mozartiana.” 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Zipper Hall, 200 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A.; 4 p.m. Sunday. The Wallis, 9390 N. Santa Monica Blvd., Beverly Hills. laco.org
Mads Mikkelsen and Zlatko Burić in ‘Pusher II: With Blood on My Hands.”
(Jens Juncker-Jensen / NWR / Magnolia Pictures )
Pusher trilogy Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn’s gritty triptych takes us through the violent criminal underworld of Copenhagen in three interconnected films, each with a different protagonist: “Pusher” (1996), starring Kim Bodnia; “Pusher II: With Blood On My Hands” (2004), starring Mads Mikkelsen; “Pusher III: I’m The Angel Of Death,” starring Zlatko Burić. 5 p.m. Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd. americancinematheque.com
Jodi Siegel The singer-songwriter and guitarist is joined by guitarist Greg Porée and percussionist Justin Porée for an evening of blues, R&B, soul and jazz. 8 p.m. Sierra Madre Playhouse, Sierra Madre Playhouse, 87 W. Sierra Madre Blvd. sierramadreplayhouse.org
SUNDAY Celebrating Photography The Getty has a series of events inspired by the exhibition “Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985” (which continues through June 14). It begins Sunday with a free, daylong Family Festival featuring live music, dance, storytelling and interactive workshops. On Wednesday evening, moderator Karen Grigsby Bates and authors Dr. Karin L. Stanford and Mark Speltz discuss the new book “Marching West: The Los Angeles Civil Rights Movement in Photographs.” Thursday morning, the panel “Backstage: An Unfurling of the JPC: Black Photography & Visual Culture” examines how the Johnson Publishing Company and its photographers impacted Black visual culture and the larger field of photography. Finally, on June 7, authors Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe (“Viewfinders: Black Women Photographers”) and Deborah Willis (“Black Photographers, 1840 to 1940: An Illustrated Bio-Bibliography”) discuss their work as artists and historians. Family Festival, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sunday; “Backstage: An Unfurling of the JPC,” 10 a.m. Thursday (also online); “Marching West,” 7 p.m. Wednesday (also online); “Viewfinders,” 4 p.m. June 7 (also online). Getty Center, 1200 Getty Center Drive, L.A. getty.edu
F For Fake A 35 mm screening of Orson Welles’ 1973 enigmatic docudrama profiles professional art forger Elmyr de Hory as a starting point for examining authenticity and authorship. 6 p.m. Brain-Dead Studios, 611 N. Fairfax Ave. studios.wearebraindead.com
Philip Glass and the Poets The first major Philip Glass 90th birthday celebration (he was born Jan. 31, 1927) features Timo Andres on piano and spoken word performance by Taylor Mac, with special guest appearances by Lucinda Childs and the San Francisco Girls Chorus and their artistic director Valérie Sainte-Agathe. 7 p.m. UC Santa Barbara, Campbell Hall. artsandlectures.ucsb.edu
TUESDAY
Gustavo Dudamel will lead the L.A. Phil in Wagner’s “Die Walküre” in three parts, Tuessday-Sunday at Disney Concert Hall.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
Die Walküre Conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the L.A. Phil, along with director Alberto Arvelo, tackle the second installment in Wagner’s epic Ring Cycle in three stand-alone parts with opera stars Jamez McCorkle, Jessica Faselt, Christine Goerke and Ryan Speedo Green, and scenic designs by Frank Gehry. Act I, 8 p.m. Tuesday and Friday; Act II, 8 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday; Act II, 8 p.m. Thursday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Walt Disney Concert Hall, 111 S. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. laphil.com
WEDNESDAY Being There Peter Sellers received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of a simple gardener catapulted into the media spotlight and presidential politics in Hal Ashby’s prescient 1979 satire. Shirley MacLaine, Jack Warden and Melvyn Douglas co-star. Screening in 35 mm with an appearance by cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. 7:30 p.m. Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd. academymuseum.org
Life of Mozart The Pasadena Choral Society presents the composer’s unfinished “Requiem” within a dramatic framework using Mozart’s own words. Milo Brody plays Mozart, accompanied by pianist Tali Tadmor, with solos by soprano Erika Boychenko, alto Ali Frazzini, tenor Eric Wernerand bass Chris Tickner. 7:30 p.m. San Marino Community Church, 1750 Virginia Rd #0412. givebutter.com/lifeofmozart
Primary Trust Times theater critic Charles McNulty described Eboni Booth’s 2024 Pulitzer Prize-winning play as “a quirky, small-scale, quietly reflective work that’s as tenderhearted as it is spryly comic and as poignant as it is ultimately uplifting,” when it had its West Coast premiere at La Jolla Playhouse. Once again directed by Knud Adams, it arrives in Los Angeles with a cast that includes Ugo Chukwu, Rebecca S’manga Frank, Petey McGee and James Urbaniak, with music by Luke Wygodny. Through June 28 Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown L.A. centertheatregroup.org
Studio installation view from “A Palace in Time” at the Skirball beginning May 20.
(Courtesy of Robert Russell and Lisa Edelstein.)
Skirball Spring Exhibitions The Skirball Cultural Center launches three new exhibitions next week: “Inventing America: The Comic Book Revolution”; “Outsiders, Outcasts, Rebels + Weirdos: Punk Culture 1976–1986”; and “Robert Russell and Lisa Edelstein: A Palace in Time.” All three open May 20, Skirball Cultural Center, 2701 N. Sepulveda Blvd., Los Angeles. skirball.org
THURSDAY
Ain’t Misbehavin’ Grammy Award-winning artist Ledisi headlines this Ebony Repertory Theatre production, in association with Fig Street Films, of the Tony Award-winning revue, a tribute to the music of Fats Waller. Directed by Wren T. Brown, with choreography by Dominique Kelley and music direction by William Foster McDaniel. Chester Gregory, Connie Jackson, Marty Austin Lamar and Natalie Wachen co-star. May 21 through June 8. Nate Holden Performing Arts Center, 4718 W. Washington Blvd. L.A. ebony rep.org.
Arts anywhere
New and recent releases of arts-related media.
Shaina Taub, Jenna Bainbridge and the cast of “Suffs” during the 77th Annual Tony Awards in 2024.
(Theo Wargo / Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)
Suffs When the national tour of Shaina Taub’s musical about the suffragette movement marched through the Hollywood Pantages last fall, Times theater critic Charles McNulty wrote that it “is as informative as it is uplifting. It is above all a moving testament to the power of sisterhood. The struggle for equality continues to face crushing setbacks today, but Taub wants us to remember what can happen when people stand united for a just cause.” Captured on Broadway in December 2024, “Suffs,” starring Taub, who also wrote the book, music and lyrics for the show, debuted on PBS’ “Great Performances” earlier this month and is streaming online until the end of July. pbs.org
— Kevin Crust
Culture news and the SoCal scene
Johnie’s Coffee Shop in Los Angeles May 8.
(Ariana Drehsler / For The Times)
Artist Gary Baseman staged his first hometown show in more than a decade at the long-shuttered, but still iconic Johnie’s Coffee Shop along Miracle Mile on Wilshire Blvd. The Googie-style structure opened its doors for the exhibit, which featured a variety of Baseman’s drawings on menus from L.A.-area restaurants.
McNulty also weighed in with a review of a revival of Eugène Ionesco’s “Exit the King,” directed by Michael Michetti at A Noise Within. Ionesco, a Romanian-born French playwright, is one of the pillars of the Theatre of the Absurd, McNulty writes, adding, “The existential philosophy of Camus and Sartre, self-evident truths for these absurdist writers, is conveyed less through the content than through the style of their plays. Language is no longer a means of communication but a mark of the unbridgeable distance between human beings.”
People play a satirical video game installation titled “Operation Epic Furious Strait to Hell,” created by guerrilla art group Secret Handshake.
(Heather Diehl / Getty Images)
You can order a Diet Coke, or bomb Iran in a new video game about the Iran war called “Operation Epic Furious: Strait to Hell,” which was installed near the National Mall in Washington, D.C. by the anonymous arts activist group Secret Handshake. For the past year and a half the group has secured permits to erect an ongoing series of satirical public sculptures — mostly about President Trump’s alleged ties to convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein — on and around the National Mall. This is the group’s first foray into video games.
Times classical music critic Mark Swed devoted a recent column to the genius of the American theater director, playwright and performer Robert Wilson, who died last year at the age of 83. “So far this year, there have been, or will be through the end of June, major Wilson opera and theater productions in Moscow; Paris; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Düsseldorf, Germany; Adelaide, Australia; Kaunas, Lithuania; Vienna; Rome; Tokyo; Luxembourg City, Luxembourg; Berlin; Riga, Latvia; and Sophia, Bulgaria. That is to say, pretty much Wilson business as usual,” Swed writes, before examining two new performances of Wilson’s work in Brooklyn and Houston.
Artist Todd Gray stands in front of his work inside the Wilshire/La Cienega Metro Station on May 1 in Los Angeles.
(Carlin Stiehl / For The Times)
Iris Kwok marked the opening of L.A. Metro’s new D Line extension by profiling four of the artists behind the public artwork in three new stations. Nine artists in total worked on site-specific installations: Mariana Castillo Deball, Eamon Ore-Giron, Ken Gonzales-Day, Todd Gray, Karl Haendel, Soo Kim, Fran Siegel, Susan Silton and Mark Dean Veca.
Culver City’s Wende Museum of the Cold War announced it will build a $16-million expansion in Hawthorne. It plans to transform a newly purchased Midcentury Modern building into a research institute and interactive storage facility for its collections — “a ‘living archive,’ as it’s calling the facility,” writes Deborah Vankin. The opening is currently set for 2028.
Enjoying this newsletter? Consider subscribing to the Los Angeles Times
Alvin Ailey’s American Dance Theatre’s Chalvar Montei leaps for the stars. The troupe will perform as part of the Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center.
(Dario Calmese / Courtesy La Jolla Music Society )
The Music Center announced its lineup this week for the 2026–27 season of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center. Highlights include the Joffrey Ballet’s West Coast premiere of “The Sleeping Beauty,” Compañía Nacional de Danza’s North American premiere of “Don Quixote,” and the Los Angeles premiere of a Jerome Robbins ballet festival curated by Tiler Peck. Alvin Ailey Dance Theater is also part of the lineup, and choreographer Sonya Tayeh will unveil an L.A. premiere set to the music of Sinéad O’Connor.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic has announced the 2026 summer season at the Ford. The open-air venue across from the Hollywood Bowl is now in its seventh season under LA Phil leadership, and shows are set to run through Oct. 31. Grab your picnic basket and select a date from a wide variety of shows including dance, music and film. Stand-out acts include Bilal and DJ Rashida, Matteo Bocelli, Jacob Collier, Judy Collins and Bruce Cockburn, Ani DiFranco and Valerie June, Helado Negro and Reyna Tropical, Joe Hisaishi, Iron & Wine, the L.A. Phil, and Punch Brothers.
The Institute of Latino Art has opened in Pomona, with a grand opening reception scheduled for June 13. Occupying the former Latino Art Museum space, the new gallery was founded by artist Oscar Magallanes. A news release notes, “ILA represents a new artist-led institution in the Inland Empire, working to connect regional communities with contemporary Latin American and Chicano art. The inaugural exhibition, ‘Reclamation: Art in Contested Spaces,’ features NSRGNTS, Lapiztola, and Rubén Ortiz-Torres.”
THE spring weather has been very up and down so far – but sadly for the week of half-term it looks like rain is on the way.
If you’re considering a family-friendly break this May half-term, there are still plenty of holiday deals in Spain, Turkey and Cyprus.
Sign up for the Travel newsletter
Thank you!
There are still lots of affordable holiday deals in the likes of TurkeyCredit: Love HolidaysLots have all-inclusive deals like the Arabella World Hotel in TurkeyCredit: Love Holidays
Follow The Sun’s award-winning travel team on Instagram and Tiktok for top holiday tips and inspiration @thesuntravel.
On the Beach has found that bookings for May half-term are up by as much as 40 per cent in recent weeks as it looks like weather in the UK will be yet another washout – so we’ve Sun Travel has found some of the best deals abroad on offer.
BLUESEA Los Fiscos, Lanzarote
You can go to BLUESEA Los Fiscos in Lanzarote from £293pp in May half-termCredit: On the Beach
First up is the BLUESEA Los Fiscosin Lanzarote which has a pretty swimming pool and white-washed apartments.
Stays include free Wi-Fi and access to the pool bar – there’s also a children’s playground.
With the all-inclusive package, guests can enjoy the buffet that serves up all three meals and plenty of drinks.
A five-night stay at theBLUESEA Los Fiscosin Lanzarote, Spain, including flights leaving from Manchester on May 27 cost £293pp (based on 2 adults and 2 children).
To make it all-inclusive is an extra £28pp.
Guitart Central Park Aqua Resort, Spain
Guitart Central Park Aqua Resort has its own swimming pool and aquaparkCredit: Love Holidays
Guitart Central Park Aqua Resort in the Costa Brava will be a hit with the kids thanks to its aquapark with two waterslides and splash zone.
To keep them further entertained, the hotel has more activities like football, rugby and tennis.
It has three buffet restaurants, is an 11-minute walk to nearby Cala Banys Beach and has spacious bedrooms.
A five-night half-board stay at the Guitart Central Park Aqua Resort including flights leaving from London Luton on May 26 cost £330pp (based on 2 adults and 2 children).
Miarosa Konakli Garden, Turkey
The Miarosa Konakli Garden in Turkey has a pool with slides and a kids clubCredit: On the Beach
Miarosa Konakli Garden has it all, comfortable rooms, a pool with waterslides and a plenty of entertainment.
The hotel has its own kids club as well as a playground – and for the whole family to get involved there’s activities like darts, table tennis, card games and watersports.
There’s a main restaurant as well as three bars – including one by the pool.
A four-night all-inclusive stay at the Miarosa Konakli Garden in Antalya, Turkey, including flights leaving from London Gatwick on May 25 cost £368pp (based on 2 adults and 2 children).
Best Los Angeles Hotel, Spain
Bes Los Angeles Hotel is 10-minutes from popular beachesCredit: On The Beach
Best Los Angeles Hotel has fewer frills than some of the other offers, but it has everything needed for a relaxing half-term break in the sun.
It’s 10-minutes from popular beaches and the nearby town of Salou is known for its shops, bars and restaurants.
The PortAventura Theme Park is around two miles away too for those who fancy a go on thrilling rides.
A seven-night half-board stay at theBest Los Angeles Hotelincluding flights leaving from Dublin on May 25 cost £320pp (based on 2 adults and 2 children).
MedPlaya Flamingo Oasis, Spain
MedPlaya Flamingo Oasis has a lake-style swimming poolCredit: On The Beach
When the Spanish sun comes out, MedPlaya Flamingo Oasis in Costa Blanca is where you want to be.
During the evenings, there’s performances at the Piano Bar – or head up to the rooftop bar to watch the sunset.
A seven-night half-board stay at theMedPlaya Flamingo Oasisincluding flights leaving from Edinburgh on May 25 cost £260pp (based on 2 adults and 2 children).
Grand Muthu Golf Plaza Hotel & Spa, Tenerife
Grand Muthu Golf Plaza Hotel & Spa is next two two popular golf coursesCredit: On The Beach
It has a swimming pool and lots of entertainment – for any adults who want to golf, there are two of the island’s most popular courses nearby.
Accommodation is in studios, apartments and junior suites with a balcony or terrace.
A four-night all-inclusive stay at theGrand Muthu Golf Plaza Hotel & Spaincluding flights leaving from Glasgow on May 25 cost £310pp (based on 2 adults and 2 children).
Arsi Blue Beach, Turkey
There’s lots of swimming to be done at the Arsi Blue Beach in TurkeyCredit: Love Holidays
The Arsi Blue Beach is a great choice for families as it’s steps away from Antalya’s Alanya Beach and has a children’s pool on-site.
Not forgetting the adults, there are also spa treatments and a sauna is available too.
Guests can enjoy meals at the restaurant and make sure to pop into the lounge bar and beach bar too.
A five-night all-inclusive stay at the Arsi Blue Beach in Turkey including flights leaving from Belfast on May 26 starts from £259pp (based on 2 adults and 2 children).
Arabella World Hotel, Turkey
Arabella World Hotel has a swimming pool, flumes and access to a private beachCredit: Love Holidays
The 4-star Arabella World Hotel sits on Turkey’s sun-drenched southern coast and even has its own private beach.
With swimming pools and slides, dining, wellness and children’s activities too – no one in the family will ever be bored here.
But if that isn’t quite enough, Water Planet Aquapark is around a 10-minute drive away.
A seven-night all-inclusive stay at the Arabella World Hotel including flights leaving from Belfast on May 24 starts from £319pp (based on 2 adults and 2 children).
Cosmelenia Hotel Apartments, Cyprus
This hotel in Ayia Napa is close to a waterpark and is a great family-friendly pickCredit: Love Holidays
Small but mighty, it has everything for a family break from its swimming pool to parasol- covered sunbeds, air-conditioned rooms, a restaurant and bar.
Waterworld Waterpark just a short walk away too.
A six-night all-inclusive stay at the Cosmelenia Hotel Apartments including flights leaving from Belfast on May 25 starts from £319pp (based on 2 adults and 2 children).
Deloix Aqua Center, Spain
The Deloix Aqua Center is on the outskirts of BenidormCredit: Love Holidays
The Deloix Aqua Center is found in a quiet part of Benidorm and has it all from an aqua centre, children’s water playground and rooftop paddle courts with city views.
It has three outdoor swimming pools, including a lagoon-style pool and one indoor pool for year-round paddling.
There’s a spa, gym and wellness centre as well as an on-site restaurant, café and bar.
A five-night full-board stay at the Deloix Aqua Center Spain including flights leaving from Belfast on May 25 starts from £309pp (based on 2 adults and 2 children).
Former state Controller Betty Yee dropped out of the 2026 governor’s race on Monday, citing low levels of support from voters and donors.
Yee, a Democrat, was part of a sprawling field of politicians vying to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom. But despite the bevy of prominent candidates running to lead the nation’s most populous state and the world’s fourth-largest economy, this year’s governor’s race has long lacked a clear front-runner well known by the electorate.
“The whole notion that voters are looking for experience and competence is not a top priority, and that’s been really my wheelhouse in terms of how we grounded this campaign was based on my experience,” she said in a virtual press conference Monday morning. “The donors have felt the chill of the polling … and it really just came down to where I’m not going to have sufficient resources to get us to the finish line.”
The former two-term state controller did not immediately endorse another candidate and said she would take a few days to assess the field before making an announcement.
“California — had enough chaos, fear and horrendous political scandals? Ready for calm, cool, collected change? Some may consider that boring. But that’s the point. We need Boring Betty,” Yee posted on the social media site X. “No crisis. No circus. Just competent, drama-free leadership you can trust. #BoringisBetter”
But she never had the financial resources to aggressively compete in a state with many of the most expensive media markets in the nation.
Yee reported raising nearly $583,000 for her gubernatorial bid in 2025, according to campaign fundraising reports filed with the California secretary of state’s office. Yee’s announcement that she is dropping out of the race came days before the latest financial disclosures will be publicly reported.
Despite being elected to the state Board of Equalization twice and as state controller twice, Yee was not widely known by most Californians. She never cracked double digits in gubernatorial polls.
Her name will still appear on the ballot. She was among the candidates who rebuffed state Democratic Party leaders’ request earlier this year to reconsider their viability amid fears that the party could be shut out of the November general election because of the state’s unique primary system. The top two vote-getters in the June primary will move on to to the November general election, regardless of party affiliation.
Though California’s electorate is overwhelmingly Democratic, the makeup of the gubernatorial field makes it statistically possible for Republicans to win the top two spots if Democratic voters splinter among their party’s candidates. Yee said fear of that scenario playing out “kind of took over” the gubernatorial race.
“Was it possible? Yes. Was it plausible? No, we’re in California. That was not going to happen,” she said, adding that the top-two primary system should be done away with.
Still, Yee was beloved by Democratic Party activists, and previously served as the party’s vice chair.
No Democratic candidate reached the necessary threshold to win the party’s official endorsement at its February convention, but Yee came in second with support from 17% of delegates despite calls for her to drop out of the race.
“Every poll shows that this race is wide open, and I know this party,” she said in an interview at the convention. “Frankly, I’ve been in positions where it’s been a crowded field, and we work hard and candidates emerge.”
The gubernatorial primary will take place June 2, though voters will start receiving mail ballots in about two weeks.
On the first Sunday night of Coachella, headliner Karol G told her American fans, and her global audience, to keep fighting.
“This is for my Latinos that have been struggling in this country lately,” the Colombian superstar told the tens of thousands watching her in person, and many more on the fest’s livestream. She’d recently criticized ICE in a Playboy interview, but this set was about her fans’ resolve. “We want everyone to feel welcome to our culture, so I want everyone to feel proud of where you come from. Don’t feel fear — feel pride!” she said.
Any artist would be proud to play that caliber of headline slot. But right now, many foreign acts also feel fear — or at least wariness — about booking substantial tours in the United States. A year of brutal ICE raids, tensions at border crossings and policed political speech, coupled with sky-high prices for expedited visas, fuel and other touring logistics, could push international acts away from the U.S.
“The fears that ICE would raid shows didn’t really materialize, but there is a chilling effect,” said Andy Gensler, editor of the touring-biz trade bible Pollstar. “Trump’s only been back in office a year, so we haven’t fully seen the effects, but it does send a message that if you’re a political artist you won’t get a visa. With the economic shock of gas prices and tourism way down, the signifiers are out there.”
The music economy is still thriving in SoCal. Coachella sold out with record spending from fans, and fears that ICE might show up for a prominent Latin headliner proved unfounded. (The agency did not respond to a request for comment on Coachella, and Lt. Deirdre Vickers of the Riverside County Sheriff’s office said that their office “does not participate in immigration enforcement operations.”)
But in smaller venues featuring emerging and mid-tier global acts, some see trouble ahead.
Pollstar’s Gensler estimates that the total number of concerts in the U.S. they tracked for the first quarter of 2026 was down about 17% from last year. That could be due to many economic factors — but slower international touring could be contributing.
“The U.S. is still incredibly lucrative market, the arena and stadium level buildings are vast and you can make more money here than any market in the world,” Gensler said. “But I’ve heard anecdotally that fewer people are going to South by Southwest, and tourism from Canada is way down, and that includes music tourism to California. As barriers go up, and the economic shock of gas prices impacts touring, it’s hard to know how that will all shake out.”
Talent firms who specialize in bringing young acts to the U.S. began noticing pullback before this year’s festival season. Adam Lewis is the head of Planetary Group, a marketing agency that produces and promoting musician showcases in the U.S., with a significant roster of artists from abroad. He said that performers who ordinarily would leap at the chance to play U.S. festivals are taking hard looks at the payoffs and risks.
“Artists are thinking twice, based on what the government is doing right now,” Lewis said. “You can look at the economics — the fees are cost prohibitive to get a visa. People are scared, at the bottom line. Artists and industry people are afraid to come to the U.S. for any music event. The money is going elsewhere.”
South by Southwest, the March Texas confab for music, film and tech, was among the first festivals to feel a pinch this year. Several sources said they saw fewer foreign showcases and acts amid a broader culling of music. In 2025, Canada canceled its popular annual showcase, after deciding that hostile policies made the risks not worth the rewards. Many still pulled off successful events, but acknowledged the mood has shifted.
“The perception of how hard it’s gotten has taken root, and that has meant that not as many acts will take the chance on the threat of being turned away or risking future entry,” said Angela Dorgan, the director of Music From Ireland, the Irish Music Export office (which is funded by Culture Ireland). That organization has helped break acts like CMAT (a hit at Coachella this year) and Fontaines DC in the U.S.
“Artists want to continue to come here in spite of the trouble and not stay away because of it. There’s a unique pull to America for all Irish people, so we don’t want to see you hurting,” Dorgan said. ”Irish artists feel that their U.S. fans need music more than ever now and want to continue to connect with and support their fans.”
Takafumi Sugahara, the organizer of “Tokyo Calling X Inspired By Tokyo,” a Japanese showcase at South by Southwest, agreed: “Bringing artists to the United States has always been challenging when it comes to obtaining visas, but it feels like the process has become even more difficult than before — perhaps due to the current political climate under the current administration.”
Fans watch Karol G perform at the Coachella stage last weekend. “We want everyone to feel welcome to our culture, so I want everyone to feel proud of where you come from. Don’t feel fear — feel pride!” the Colombian superstar said.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
After high-profile incidents of tourist detainments and fear of reprisals for political speech, those worries and long-dreaded expenses may shift their priorities. “From my point of view, the impact of global conflicts or wars does not seem to be affecting artists’ decisions very strongly for now,” they said. “However, if the current situation were to worsen, it’s possible that we could begin to see that change.”
Coachella usually hits a few visa snafus every year (this year, the English electronic artist Tourist had to cancel. Last year, it was FKA Twigs). Yet the Grammy-winning Malian Algerian group Tinariwen had to cancel a major tour this year, after the Trump administration placed severe new travel restrictions on 19 countries, including Mali. Folk legend Cat Stevens scotched a book tour after visa problems. Outspoken acts like the U.K.’s Bob Vylan have been denied U.S. visas for criticizing Israel, and the Irish rap group Kneecap faced hurdles after their visa sponsor, Independent Artist Group, dropped them for similar reasons last year.
The Times spoke to one European band (who asked not to be named, for fear of reprisals from the U.S. government) who had a substantial tour of U.S. theaters booked last year, before their visas were denied just days before the tour was due to begin. They were forced to cancel those dates and reschedule for spring 2026, losing tens of thousands of dollars in up-front costs and non-refundable fees. (A performance visa routinely costs $6,000 with now-necessary expedited processing.)
“Our manager said, ‘This has never happened before, but even though you paid lot of money and the check cleared, you won’t have visas,’” the band said. They wondered if their pro-Palestinian advocacy might have played a role, but now believe it was due to changes in their application forms.
That small discrepancy “meant we lost tens of thousands of [dollars], which for a mid-tier band with a loyal cult following, was quite ruinous,” they said. “We had to put on fundraising shows to get to zero, then re-apply for visas, and paid four grand extra to expedite them. We took out a loan to pay it. We felt relentlessly fleeced,” they said. “We love the U.S., but now there is a reality in which we have to cut our losses and stop coming. A lot of bands are giving up on the U.S., for sure.”
“It’s a different feeling now where the U.S. government can do anything to us, and we just have to take it,” they added. “They’re moving the goalposts the whole time. It’s scary.”
That fate can befall even major acts, particularly those from Latin America.
Last year, superstar Mexican singer Julión Álvarez canceled his concert for a planned 50,000 fans in Arlington, Texas, when his touring visa was revoked. Grupo Firme faced a similar fate at the La Onda festival in Napa Valley. Los Alegres del Barranco saw their visas canceled after they projected an image of drug kingpin “El Mencho” during a concert.
“That was a moment where people realize how serious or scary it can get for promoters with this administration when comes to the visa situation, how quickly things can change and you can lose millions,” said Oscar Aréliz, a Latin music expert at Pollstar.
An act the caliber of Karol G might not face quite the same risks, though she told Playboy that “If you say the thing, maybe the next day you’ll get a call: ‘Hey, we are taking your visa away.’ You become bait, because some people want to show their power.”
If it can happen to a stadium-filler like Álvarez, it can happen to anyone. That might make some Latin acts prioritize other regions.
Bad Bunny demurred on touring the continental U.S. for fear of ICE raids at his shows, opting for a lengthy residence in his home territory of Puerto Rico instead.
Local Latin music hubs like Santa Fe Springs and Pico Rivera have suffered greatly under recent ICE raids and have seen fans retreat in fear. Las Vegas is a major touring destination for acts during Mexican independence celebrations in September, but now “it feels different,” Aréliz said. He expects the city — typically boisterous with Latin acts then — to lose a big chunk of music tourism from the north and south.
“Vegas’ top tourist countries are Canada and Mexico, so we’re going to see other countries benefit from this. If acts struggle to tour here because of the visa situation, they’re going to tour Mexico and Latin America instead,” he added.
Tours typically book a year in advance, so the full effects of the visa issues and ICE fears may not be felt until later in 2026 or 2027. The results of the midterm elections may change global perception of America’s safety. The country is still an incredibly valuable touring market for acts that can make it work.
But the world’s music community now looks at the U.S. like an old friend going through a rough patch: They’ll be happy to see us once we pull it together.
“Certainly over the last number of years in the U.S., we have been thinking of where we could find these new audiences for Irish music,” Dorgan said. “The unofficial theme of our at home showcase Ireland Music Week was, ‘America. We are not breaking up with you, but we are seeing other people.’”
