Arts & Culture

CHICAGO — Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) has released its design for a new Welcome Hall at the Kenneth C. Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The plan reopens the North Portico, once an entrance to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition's Palace of Fine Arts, as a year-round public door. A curved glazed volume would link the portico to the exhibition spaces. It is designed to sit mostly below the historic plinth and keep views of the Ionic columns. The firm says it limits changes to the limestone and granite facade. A separate South Portico project would redesign the South Court, which includes the museum's Coal Mine exhibit, open since 1933. Both projects follow a 2024 master plan that reviewed more than 400,000 square feet of exhibition and public space. ArchDaily reported the plans on Oct. 27. No cost or schedule was given in the report.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — Springfield, Missouri's City Council on Monday approved a construction contract with Whiting-Turner Contracting Company. The contract lets the second and final phase of the Springfield Art Museum's renovation and expansion proceed. Total project funding is about $67.3 million, and museum manager Nick Nelson said the project is a little less than 1 percent off its target budget. A $500,000 gap remains to be closed. The museum's foundation says it has formalized a six-figure naming opportunity with a Springfield native who now lives out of state. Completion is expected no earlier than mid-2028, the museum's 100th anniversary. Nelson said the biggest scheduling risk is obtaining structural steel and other specialty materials. After construction, staff will reinstall exhibits and prepare classrooms and public program spaces.

LONDON — Faber announced on Oct. 14 that it would no longer supply Sally Rooney's books in the U.K. in any format. It said the ban on Palestine Action meant it could not legally pass her U.K. earnings on to her. Rooney had pledged to direct British proceeds to the group, which the government proscribed as a terrorist organization in July 2025. Financial support for a proscribed group can carry up to 14 years in prison. The latest development is an open letter from more than 150 writers and public figures, including Nobel laureates Annie Ernaux and Anne Carson, plus Zadie Smith, Colm Tóibín and Paul Mescal. They call the withdrawal an affront to free expression and ask the government to amend the legislation. Rooney has said she accepts the consequences. The High Court ruled against the ban in February, and the Court of Appeal reversed that ruling. The U.K. Supreme Court is due to hear an appeal brought by group cofounder Huda Ammori in November.

SEOUL — South Korean publishers are pressing for transparency and compensation over books used to train AI. They are reacting to reports that Anthropic bought about 165.69 metric tons of Korean-language titles, roughly 414,000 copies, from Woongjin Booksen, the country's largest book wholesaler. JoongAng Ilbo reported the purchase, according to the Publishing Perspectives weekly roundup. The Hankyoreh reports that the Korea Publishers Society (KOPUS) has launched a 'No Books, No AI' appeal. It demands disclosure, rights-holder consent and fair payment. The appeal has drawn 163 publishers and organizations and 333 authors, translators and publishing professionals. The roundup also notes that Hollywood studios are paying seven figures for unpublished short stories, and that a Rightscenter study found U.S. producers' inquiries about translated fiction rose 3.5-fold in a year. The Korean reporting is relayed secondhand here and has not been independently verified.

NEW YORK — The Gotham Film & Media Institute announced nominations for the 36th Gotham Awards. Five films lead with four each: 'All of a Sudden,' 'Clarissa,' 'La Gradiva,' 'The Invite' and Mike Leigh's 'Tender Loving Care.' The Best Feature field includes 'The Debut,' 'Dreams in Nightmares,' 'Primetime' and 'Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma.' The Best Director list is Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Sandra Wollner, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Jane Schoenbrun and Leigh. The Audience Award returns this year. Its nominees were picked using opening-weekend per-theater averages and Letterboxd data, and they include 'Michael,' 'The Drama' and 'Backrooms.' Big releases such as 'The Odyssey' and 'The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth' were not submitted. The ceremony is November 30 at Cipriani Wall Street. Danny Boyle will receive the Director Tribute.

SYDNEY — Jack Christian has stepped down as chair of the Australian Film Institute and its Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts, which runs the AACTA Awards. A letter to members said the board has made an offer to director George Miller to end what it calls his "constant disparagement" and litigation threats dating from April 2026. Details of the offer were not disclosed. Miller is seeking at the December 16 AGM to remove Christian and four other directors. The board says it has chosen a new general manager, who is not yet named, and will announce a broadcast deal backing the awards through 2030. The dispute began after Miller objected to the removal of CEO Damian Trewhella and the restructure. Claims about the finances and about Miller's camp come from the board and from journalist Michael Bodey's Substack. Miller's side has made its own claims, and neither side's account is independently confirmed.

LONDON — Gramophone's 2026 awards, announced Oct. 8, gave the piano prize to Bertrand Chamayou and Leif Ove Andsnes for their Schubert four-hands album. The magazine's reviewer called it an instant classic. The shortlist also included Yunchan Lim's Goldberg Variations on Decca, Yuja Wang's Shostakovich piano concertos with Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony, and Peter Donohoe's Bacewicz piano concerto with the BBC Symphony. Among the awards-issue editor's choices were Jean-Efflam Bavouzet's second Beethoven Connection volume, praised for its imaginative pairings, and Alexandre Tharaud's Mémoire, described as an unpretentious album. The October issue singled out András Schiff's Brahms Klavierstücke for the varied colours and transparency of its sound. Isabelle Faust was named Artist of the Year, and Simon Rattle's Mahler Second led the awards-issue picks.

NEW YORK — The Turkish-born Armenian pianist Şahan Arzruni has died in New York, where he settled in 1964, according to a report by Slipped Disc on Oct. 22. He was 83. Arzruni was known for two things. Early in his career he worked as a foil to the comedian-pianist Victor Borge. He later became a recognised authority on Armenia's musical heritage and made extensive recordings of it. Slipped Disc's report was brief and gave no cause of death or funeral details. Readers' comments on the site described him as an underrated pianist, and one recalled a stormy live performance of a late Schubert sonata. Those comments are anecdotal and reflect individual recollections only.

NEW YORK — The New York Philharmonic gives live-to-film performances of Michael Abels' score for Jordan Peele's horror film Get Out from Oct. 28 to 31, conducted by Anthony Parnther. The opening night will be followed by a discussion between Abels and Parnther, moderated by Phillippa Cole. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center also presents an 1880s-themed program on Oct. 28, with works by Debussy, Chaminade and Dvořák. Pianists Anna Geniushene and Wu Han are joined by violinists Chad Hoopes and Arnaud Sussman and cellists Edward Arron and David Finckel. Playbill's weekly roundup also notes that Missy Mazzoli's Lincoln in the Bardo continues at the Metropolitan Opera after its Oct. 19 premiere.