What's up: Author Sarah K.L. Wilson, Jordan Miller exhibition, One Gay Choir, International Women’s Day Rave, Sound Like Light concert

Compost — whose shows are known for integrating Joel Penner’s pristine time-lapse recordings of plant life cycles — are promising an “immersive night of music, sound and light” Saturday at the Centennial Concert Hall’s Sound Bites Room.

Robert De Niro delivers Lincoln’s civility warning at a Carnegie Hall benefit

NEW YORK (AP) — Robert De Niro walked onto Carnegie Hall's stage Tuesday night, unannounced and to loud applause. He didn't make any speeches, at least none of his own. After a career defined by playing gangsters, an avenging taxi driver and a paranoid prize fighter, the Oscar-winning actor recited a call for civility, as first spoken by Abraham Lincoln.

“Reason, cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason, must furnish all the materials for our future support and defense," De Niro said in an even voice, halting at first, but becoming firmer as he became caught up in words Lincoln delivered in 1838, early in his public life. “Let those materials be molded into general intelligence, sound morality, and in particular, a reverence for the constitution and laws."

De Niro was a featured performer at the 39th annual benefit concert for the nonprofit cultural and educational organization Tibet House US, where others appearing ranged from Laurie Anderson and Elvis Costello to Maya Hawke and Allison Russell. He didn't dwell on current events, or on President Donald Trump, whom he has denounced often fiercely over the past decade. But his reason for giving that particular speech had everything to do with the country today.

De Niro was reading excerpts from Lincoln's “Lyceum Address,” a warning against mob violence that Lincoln delivered to a young man's debating society in Springfield, Illinois. Philip Glass, a co-director of Tuesday night's benefit, used the address as inspiration for his Symphony No. 15, “Lincoln.” He was supposed to premiere his symphony at the Kennedy Center in June, but announced earlier this year that he was calling off the performance, citing Trump's ouster of the center's leadership. The president has made the venue a flashpoint for his battle against so-called “woke” culture.

Dutch museum makes ‘needle in a haystack’ confirmation of Rembrandt painting

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A painting that was once rejected as a work by Rembrandt van Rijn has now been acknowledged as a work by the Dutch master, thanks to two years of scrutiny in the city where the then-27-year-old artist painted it in 1633, a museum announced Monday.

The Netherlands' national art and history museum, the Rijksmuseum, unveiled the work, “Vision of Zacharias in the Temple,” and said painstaking analysis including high-tech scans has confirmed it was painted by Rembrandt after he moved to the capital, Amsterdam.

The painting hasn't been on public display in decades after being bought by a private collector in 1961, a year after it was deemed not to be a Rembrandt, the museum said in a statement. From Wednesday, will go on show among other masterpieces at the Rijksmusuem, where it is on long-term loan.

Director Taco Dibbits said the museum often gets emails from people asking if the painting they own might just be by the Golden Age master.

Prestigious ensemble bring sax savvy to GroundSwell program

The members of the Quasar Quartet must get along.

The prestigious Montreal-based saxophone ensemble has been together more than 30 years — no quiet personnel swaps, no loud exodus of unhappy members in the way of so many veteran pop groups.

Instead, they’ve been a driving force behind contemporary Canadian art music. The decorated virtuosos have commissioned and premièred more than 200 works and performed all over the world.

“They are as delightful and generous as individuals, as they are bold and brilliant as musicians,” says Gordon Fitzell, artistic director of GroundSwell, presents contemporary music and performance to local audiences.

Cuts to N.S. arts funding cruel and misguided, theatre coordinator says

HALIFAX - A Nova Scotia theatre coordinator says the provincial government’s cuts to the arts sector are “cruel” and “misguided.” 

Lily Falk, coordinator of the Perform! program, says the recently announced cuts in the provincial government’s budget will not only eliminate her job and the entire program, but could harm the students who most benefit from arts programs. 

“Having arts (in schools) increases positive school culture, it increases kids’ ability to be engaged in work,” Falk said. “Really foundational things like math and reading and science, arts education ends up impacting those as well.” 

Falk says Perform! gets $65,000 annually from the province. 

Vatican removes salty white film coating Michelangelo’s ‘The Last Judgment’

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgement” is getting a facial, with restorers removing a chalky white film of salt that has accumulated over the Renaissance masterpiece since its last major renovation three decades ago.

The Vatican on Saturday gave the media a sneak peak to the cleaning operation, which is taking place on a floor-to-ceiling scaffolding that has obscured the imposing fresco of heaven and hell that dominates the front of the chapel.

The cleaning operation is expected to be completed by Easter, in the first week of April. The public can continue to visit in the meantime, but will have to settle for a reproduction of “The Last Judgment” superimposed on a screen that covers the scaffolding.

Vatican Museum officials on Saturday described a simple but important cleaning operation to remove the white film of salt that has accumulated on the fresco thanks to the nearly 25,000 people who pass through the Vatican Museums each day.

Imaginative production delivers excellent encore performances

When Brush Theatre first brought its flagship production, Doodle POP, to Winnipeg in 2022, the South Korean company was an unknown entity locally.

Not anymore: with its third visit to the Manitoba Theatre for Young People in five years underway, the highly imaginative troupe has scribbled its way into the memories of a generation of theatregoers.

While adult audiences might not appreciate a professional theatre company programming similar shows with such frequency, MTYP hasn’t hesitated to extend return invitations to Brush, which blends miming, clowning, drawing and dazzling projections into unique and approachable stage concoctions, driven by participation from a rapt, ever-changing audience.

A kid only gets one chance to see their first theatre performance, and Doodle POP is just about as fun and engaging an introductory experience one can dream up.

Exhibit connects traditional and contemporary Métis beadwork artists

Suspended from the ceiling in Gallery 1C03 at the University of Winnipeg is an octopus bag, created by Métis visual artist Claire Johnston.

Deon Cole returns to host NAACP Image Awards and says ‘terrible’ BAFTA disruption will be addressed

LOS ANGELES (AP) — As Deon Cole returns to host the NAACP Image Awards, the comedian-actor is focused on celebrating Black achievement and responding to a recent onstage disruption at the British Academy Film Awards.

Cole called the incident “terrible” and said the matter would be addressed at the 57th NAACP Image Awards on Saturday, airing live across multiple Paramount networks including BET and CBS. The disruption occurred Sunday when a racial slur was shouted from the audience by Tourette syndrome advocate John Davidson while “Sinners” starsMichael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo were presenting during a ceremony that had been prerecorded earlier in the day.

The NAACP Image Awards honor achievements in entertainment, culture and public service. This year’s ceremony will include tributes to Viola Davis, who will receive the Chairman’s Award, and Colman Domingo, who will be presented with the President’s Award.

Known for his roles on the sitcoms “black-ish” and “The Neighborhood,” as well as his stand-up comedy, Cole told The Associated Press that he is preparing for both celebration and the unpredictability of live television. Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Cambodia takes back looted historic artifacts handled by British art dealer

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cambodian officials on Friday received more than six dozen historic artifacts described as part of the country’s cultural heritage that had been looted during decades of war and instability.

At a ceremony attended by Deputy Prime Minister Hun Many, the 74 items were unveiled at the National Museum in Phnom Penh after their repatriation from the United Kingdom.

The objects were returned under a 2020 agreement between the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts and the family of the late Douglas Latchford, a British art collector and dealer who allegedly had the items smuggled out of Cambodia.

“This substantial restitution represents one of the most important returns of Khmer cultural heritage in recent years, following major repatriations in 2021 and 2023 from the same collection,” the Culture Ministry said in a statement. “It marks a significant step forward in Cambodia’s continued efforts to recover, preserve, and restore its ancestral legacy for future generations.”

Art used as framing device in PTE drama coloured by charged family dynamics

The world première of Drew Hayden Taylor’s art-world thriller, The Undeniable Accusations of Red Cadmium Light, opened Wednesday at Prairie Theatre Exchange’s Cherry Karpyshin Mainstage, delving into the games people play when maintaining their personal, convenient status quo.

Sandra Cisneros long wanted an invite to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Now, she’s in

NEW YORK (AP) — Sandra Cisneros, one of this year's inductees into the American Academy of Arts and Letters, admits she's been wanting to join for a long time.

“I felt like I was waiting for someone to ask me to dance. I felt like a literary wallflower, because I never got invited,” says Cisneros, whose books include such favorites as “The House on Mango Street” and “Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories.”

“There are some clubs I don't care to be a part of, but this one I wanted to be in,” she added, noting that such friends as the poet Joy Harjo were already in.

Cisneros is among 11 new core members voted in this year, the academy announced Thursday. Others include travel writer Pico Iyer, poets Marie Howe and Carl Phillips, fiction writer Rick Moody and the current U.S. poet laureate, Arthur Sze, who joins such predecessors as Harjo, Billy Collins and Tracy K. Smith.

Nothing mysterious about Hood & Dagger’s motives

A bit part in a community theatre run in Selkirk has turned into a full-time pursuit for the Winnipeg couple behind Hood & Dagger, a non-profit that’s raised more than $15,000 for local charities through its stage productions.