National Music Centre presenting Oscar Peterson exhibit ‘Timeless'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
10 minutes ago
- CTV News
Trump will visit the Kennedy Center on the day honorees are announced
WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump is set to make an announcement Wednesday at the Kennedy Center, where this year's honorees for its annual award are being revealed. Trump avoided the Kennedy Center Honors during his first term after artists said they would not attend out of protest. This year, the Republican president has taken over as the Kennedy Center's new chairman and fired the board of trustees, which he replaced with loyalists. In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump teased a name change for the centre, formally the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and said it would be restored to its past glory. 'GREAT Nominees for the TRUMP/KENNEDY CENTER, whoops, I mean, KENNEDY CENTER, AWARDS,' Trump wrote. He said work was being done on the site that would be 'bringing it back to the absolute TOP LEVEL of luxury, glamour, and entertainment.' 'It had fallen on hard times, physically, BUT WILL SOON BE MAKING A MAJOR COMEBACK!!!' he wrote. In a statement on its social media feed, the Kennedy Center said it is 'honored' to host Trump, who will be visiting for the third time since January, and hinted that he would announce a construction project. 'Thanks to his advocacy, our beautiful building will undergo renovations to restore its prestige and grandeur,' the venue said. 'We are also excited to be announcing this year's INCREDIBLE slate of Kennedy Center Honorees.' It is unclear how this year's honorees were chosen, though Trump had indicated he wanted a more active role. Historically, a bipartisan advisory committee selects the recipients, who over the years have ranged from George Balanchine and Tom Hanks to Aretha Franklin and Stephen Sondheim. A message sent to the Kennedy Center press office asking how this year's honorees were selected wasn't returned Tuesday. The Kennedy Center did post this on social media, however: 'Coming Soon ... A country music icon, an Englishman, a New York City Rock band, a dance Queen and a multi-billion dollar Actor walk into the Kennedy Center Opera House ...' In the past, Trump has floated the idea of granting Kennedy Center Honors status to singer-songwriter Paul Anka and Sylvester Stallone, one of three actors Trump named as Hollywood ambassadors earlier this year. Anka was supposed to perform 'My Way' at Trump's first inaugural and backed out at the last moment. The Kennedy Center Honors were established in 1978 and have been given to a broad range of artists. Until Trump's first term, presidents of both major political parties traditionally attended the annual ceremony, even when they disagreed politically with a given recipient. Prominent liberals such as Barbra Streisand and Warren Beatty were honoured during the administration of Republican George W. Bush, and a leading conservative, Charlton Heston, was feted during the administration of Democrat Bill Clinton. In 2017, after honoree Norman Lear declared that he would not attend a White House celebration in protest of Trump's proposed cuts to federal arts funding, Trump and first lady Melania Trump decided to skip the Kennedy Center event and remained away throughout his first term. Honorees during that time included such Trump critics as Cher, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Sally Field. Since taking office for a second time, Trump has taken a much more forceful stance on the Kennedy Center and inserted himself into its governance. Besides naming himself chairman and remaking the board, he also has indicated he would take over decisions regarding programming at the centre and vowed to end events featuring performers in drag. The steps have drawn further criticism from some artists. In March, the producers of 'Hamilton' pulled out of staging the Broadway hit musical in 2026, citing Trump's aggressive takeover of the institution's leadership. Other artists who cancelled events include actor Issa Rae, singer Rhiannon Giddens and author Louise Penny. House Republicans added an amendment to a spending bill that Trump signed into law in July to rename the Kennedy Center's Opera House after Melania Trump, but that venue has yet to be renamed. Maria Shriver, a niece of the late president Kennedy, a Democrat, has criticized as 'insane' a separate House proposal to rename the centre after Trump. Recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors are given a medallion on a rainbow ribbon, a nod to the range of skills that fall under the performing arts. In April, the centre changed the lights on the exterior from the long-standing rainbow to a permanent red, white and blue display. ___ Italie reported from New York. Annie Ma And Hillel Italie, The Associated Press
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Art exhibit showcases the natural world through the eyes of disability
An exhibit tells a story about celebrating disability, and being connected to nature through art. L'Arche Winnipeg members have their work on display at La Maison des artistes visuels francophones. They have also created a sensory garden with plenty of things for visitors to see, hear, touch, and even smell.
National Post
6 hours ago
- National Post
Author Daniel Kalla returns with The Deepest Fake
Article content 'I don't think there is such a thing as a typical day,' Daniel Kalla confesses. 'That's one of the things about being an ER doctor. No two days are the same for us.' Article content Article content But that's not the whole story in Kalla's case. He can scarcely be called your 'typical' emergency room doctor — not when he's also found the time to write 16 cunningly crafted thrillers that enjoy a growing international following. Article content So how does this Vancouver physician manage two contrasting careers? Kalla explains it this way: he's accustomed to the 'chaotic' circumstances under which an ER doctor must work — 'and to be honest, my writing reflects that,' he adds. Article content At 59, he's no longer working full time in the ER. But when he does, 'I work a lot of time off hours, so it's often early morning or early afternoon that are the only times I'm free to write. But it's never predictable. Sometimes I can go from a busy ER shift and start writing immediately if I feel I have the energy and have something to say.' Article content He cringes at the thought of ever having to choose between two such personally fulfilling professions. Article content 'My novels are all about suspense and driven by pace, and I've learned a lot about that from the emergency room. I can write fast if under a self-imposed deadline and am feeling the pressure.' Article content His latest novel, The Deepest Fake, certainly draws on his medical background, but it has a lot more on its mind as well. There's an elusive and deadly poison to be dealt with, the central character is coping with a terrifying terminal illness and his wife's infidelity while struggling to safeguard his pioneering AI company from sabotage — and the issue of medical assistance in dying will rear its head as well. Article content Article content But ultimately, Kalla is delivering a cautionary tale about the dangers of unfettered technology. The book's beleaguered hero, Liam Hirsch, is not only in near collapse because of his own crises, he's also being forced to question the integrity of the profession that means so much to him. Are the very technologies that he has helped enable — digital deception, deepfake imagery — turning into enemies? And do they signal a wider, even more ominous conspiracy? Article content 'I'm always looking for the right material to build a book on,' Kalla says by phone from his West Coast home. 'Artificial intelligence is a subject exploding into the public consciousness, and I immediately realized that this is an incredibly rich topic, especially for a thriller. Incredible opportunities and horizons arise … but so do pitfalls and dangers.' The Deepest Fake is very much a cautionary tale. Article content Kalla enjoys giving the reader conflicted heroes — 'characters who are not black and white' — and putting them through an arc. 'Liam is absolutely meant to be an AI pioneer and somewhat blind to the perils of it until it messes up his life in a deeply personal way. He's so hyper-focused on products they're producing that he's losing all objectivity when it comes to the potential dangers of what he's doing.'
