Theaster Gates Acquires Pickard China, America's Last High-End Porcelain Factory

Theaster Gates, an artist known for his high-value installations, has acquired Pickard China, the last American manufacturer of luxury porcelain. The factory, located in Antioch, Illinois, now operates at only 25% of its production levels from the 1970s. Meanwhile, a historian in Edinburgh found that the Scots-language film Till the Bells Ring, running 46 minutes, debuted in October 1926, predating The Jazz Singer, often seen as the first talkie, by a year. Two reels of this film are still archived at the BFI. Canadian poet Anne Carson was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for her innovative works that engage playfully with classical traditions. Despite the Kennedy Center's closure due to severe disrepair, around 100 musicians from the National Symphony continue to rehearse safely in its concert hall. Leon Botstein, who served as Bard College's president for five decades, stepped down from all roles after congressional investigators revealed an email he sent to Jeffrey Epstein. Furthermore, a union-commissioned study indicates that the U.S. share of major-studio television expenditures has fallen from 94% to 64% over the past 25 years.