Can This Movie Make An AI Robot Into A Star?

A “synthetic actor” called Erica “has been cast in b, a $70 million science-fiction movie … about scientists who create an AI robot named Erica who quickly realize the danger of this top-secret program that is trying to perfect a human through a non-human form. Variety caught up with the filmmakers [Tarek] Zohdy and [Sam] Khoze to discuss b.” – Variety

Smithsonian Chief Lonnie Bunch: ‘I Want Museums To Be A Place That Gives The Public Not Just What It Wants, But What It Needs’

“I believe very strongly that museums have a social justice role to play. … I’m not expecting museums to engage in partisan politics. What I’m expecting museums to be is driven by scholarship and the community. … And if that means that museums have to take a little more risk, … then so be it. I would rather the museum be a place that takes a little risk to make the country better than a place where history and science go to die.” – The New York Times

Here Are The Ten Artists Sharing What Would Have Been The Turner Prize

“Tate, the British museum network that facilitates it, reconstituted the prize in light of the coronavirus pandemic. In lieu of the main £25,000 ($32,200) award, 10 artists and collectives are taking home what are being called Turner Bursaries awards of £10,000 ($12,500). … Half of the winners this time are nonwhite, and as usual for the Turner Prize, which often skews toward conceptual art, most do not work in traditional mediums such as painting and sculpture.” – ARTnews

Hugh Downs, Anchorman Whose Career Spanned TV History, Dead At 99

“In a broadcast career that spanned more than a half-century” — he began in radio in 1939 and was on television within a decade, ultimately hosting or co-hosting The Tonight Show opposite Jack Paar, the NBC News morning flagship Today, the game show Concentration, and the ABC primetime newsmagazine 20/20 — “Hugh Downs was one of the most versatile and durable personalities on television. A mainstay of American TV-watching rituals for generations, he held for years the world record for most time on air — more than 10,000 hours — before Regis Philbin officially surpassed him in 2004.” – The Washington Post

Britain’s Arts Organizations Are Begging For Help. In The Rest Europe, They’re Getting It

In France, Germany, Italy or Belgium, where the arts are heavily subsidized by the state, performing companies and museums can survive with reduced ticket sales. But in Britain, where government funding is much lower and organizations rely on commercial income, most are unprepared for a future in which they can only admit a fraction of their usual audience. – The New York Times

Geoffrey Rush: Trial By Media (A Drama In Ten Parts)

“This story is about reckless journalism. About one desperate Murdoch newspaper that sacrificed tried and true practice to grab a scoop. About the damage inflicted on two people, their families and friends by that scoop, the subsequent defamation trial and the newspaper’s failed appeal. About how this reckless act set back the Me Too movement in Australia and tarnished an industry dedicated to telling the truth.” – Crikey (Australia)