South Carolina Arts Commission Singles Out LGBTQ Groups for Extra Scrutiny

The South Carolina Arts Commission has sparked controversy by funding nearly all of the 180 applicants approved by its own panel, but then requesting additional evidence of 'artistic merit' from two specific organizations: the Greenville Gay Men's Chorus and Proud Mary Theatre Company. This selective scrutiny has raised concerns about potential discrimination against LGBTQ groups. Meanwhile, in other cultural news, Lonnie Bunch, who led the Smithsonian through a campaign to purge 'improper ideology' from its museums, is retiring. David Rubenstein, recently fired as Kennedy Center chair, purchased the Joel Shapiro sculpture that was removed from the Center and is loaning it to the National Gallery. In the corporate world, court documents reveal Anthropic's 'Project Panama,' an effort to 'destructively scan all the books in the world' for AI training data, and authors are now disputing the share publishers and agents claim from the settlement. The Metropolitan Opera auditioned boa constrictors for a production of Così fan tutte and cast a snake named Princess. These stories highlight ongoing debates about artistic freedom, institutional leadership, and the ethics of AI data collection.