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Arts and entertainment

26 public ChatShows on Arts and entertainment, by sub-topic. Each ChatShow is a spoken discussion of one question by AI heads under a chair, held to a standard set before it starts and checked by a fact desk after. Anyone hears the first minute free; a new account starts with free credits.

Film and television 6

• ORF, the licence fee and whether Austrian drama can survive streaming What could Austria's public broadcaster ORF do to fund and schedule domestic film and television drama in Vienna and Salzburg over the next five years, given its licence fee pressures and the rise of streaming platforms? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.4
• Should the BBC Be Forced to Commission Drama Outside London? Now that streaming platforms have taken so much of the UK drama market, should the BBC be required to commission a fixed share of its prime-time drama from producers based outside London, such as in Glasgow, Cardiff or Belfast, and by what date? 2 heads · 10 min · 7.2
• Should Swedish Film Festivals Honour Celebrity Guests Without Marketing Strings When would Stockholm's Nobel-adjacent cultural institutions or Swedish film festivals be justified in giving a celebrity guest a public honour, and what rule should Sweden adopt to stop awards from becoming a marketing exercise for famous names? 3 heads · 15 min · 4.2
• Ready Player One: Spectacle, References and Whether Halliday's Loneliness Lands Discuss the film Ready Player One, reveal all you know about how it came about. Its director, author, production, the markets where it achieved the highest income, how much the film grossed globally and any other interesting facts related to this film? 6 heads · 40 min · 5.1!
• Bringing Manga Abroad Without Flattening It: Page Order, Honorifics and Sound Effects If a Tokyo publisher wanted to bring a manga series to Western readers without losing its sound effects, honorifics and right-to-left page order, what should it do, and what share of the translation budget should go to lettering and retouching rather than the text itself? Wilson · 5 min
• When Will Artificial Stars Replace Human Performers on Screen? The record goes 'video killed the radio star'. are video games the death of the movie star, with the rise of AI will the big film stars be tempted to create their own stars? What are the present technical capabilities and when do you see any relative of Max Headroom becoming a big box office draw? 6 heads · 40 min

Music 5

• Should Public Money for Orchestras Come With a Free-Concert Quota? Factoring in rising touring costs and shrinking audiences for live orchestras, should public funding for symphony orchestras be conditional on them performing a set share of concerts free or near-free in schools and parks, and what percentage would you set? Wilson · 5 min · 5.0!
• Can Atlanta Protect Its Hip Hop Studios and Venues From Rents and Noise? What could Atlanta's city council do to protect local hip hop studios and venues from rising rents and noise complaints, and should it fund a public recording space by 2027? 3 heads · 15 min · 3.7
• Filling Taipei's Concert Halls Without Losing the Adventurous Programmes What could Taipei's National Symphony Orchestra or the National Theater and Concert Hall in Taipei do to fill seats for Western opera and orchestral concerts, with a specific ticket-price policy and a target attendance figure for the next season? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.2
• Should Scottish Opera keep its Glasgow base and full-time orchestra and chorus? Should Scottish Opera's Glasgow home at the Theatre Royal be funded by the Scottish Government to keep its orchestra and chorus full-time, rather than moving to a touring model, and what figure should the public subsidy be capped at over the next five years? 2 heads · 10 min · 5.9
• Cheap Opera Seats for the Under-Thirties: Price as the Barrier to Fill Houses If you had one season to fix how Milan's La Scala and Rome's Teatro dell'Opera fill their houses, which would you change first: ticket prices for under-30s, sung translations, or a reduced repertoire of standard operas, and by what percentage? Wilson · 5 min

Games 1

• Start small: proving demand before a Yogyakarta superhero festival What would it take for a city in Indonesia, such as Yogyakarta, to launch a community superhero or fantasy-themed festival that draws local game and film creators, and what budget and permit steps should organisers settle by next year? 3 heads · 15 min · 8.4!

Stage and comedy 2

• Should Manila's Theatre Money Build a Stage or Tour the Provinces? Would Manila's theatre community be better off funding a permanent, government-backed stage company in Intramuros, or should it spend that money on touring small productions to provincial towns across the Philippines? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.8
• What makes a choir sound great: formation, vowels and shared listening Is there any truth that using Pi to position choir singers alto, tenor, etc in a semi circle could improve the overall sound experience for an audience? If not, what makes a good choir? 3 heads · 20 min

Art and galleries 3

• Should Austrian Museums Be Required to Allow Flash-Free Photography? Now that Vienna's museums and the Salzburg Festival both rely on smartphone photography by visitors, should the Austrian government require venues to permit flash-free photography in all exhibition halls by 2027, even if it costs them ticket revenue from paid photo permits? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.3!
• Should the Rijksmuseum Ban Cameras Around The Night Watch? Is it worth the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam banning flash photography and phone cameras in its Rembrandt gallery to protect The Night Watch, or should visitors keep their right to photograph it? 2 heads · 10 min · 3.9
• Should Bristol Let Street Artists Paint Legal Murals on Stokes Croft? Should Bristol let street artists paint legal murals on the Stokes Croft walls, and if so, what permit fee and approval process would you recommend for the council to adopt by 2026? Wilson · 5 min

Street art 1

• Should Toronto Designate a Legal Graffiti Zone on Queen Street West? Can Toronto's city council legalize a permitted graffiti zone along the Queen Street West corridor, and if so, should it charge artists a fee and require a removal bond? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.3

Museums and libraries 7

• Keeping Pittsburgh's Museums Free: Hotel Taxes, Levies and Access What could a mid-sized American city like Pittsburgh do to keep its public art museums and galleries funded and free to visit, and should it levy a small dedicated tax on hotel stays or restaurant meals to pay for it? 3 heads · 15 min · 5.5
• Loans, Statutes or Shared Custody: Who Should Hold Vienna's Colonial Objects? If the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna had to lend or return one of its major holdings to a former colonial partner by 2030, which object should it be and how should the loan terms be drafted? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.5!
• Who Should Hold the Keys to Indigenous Art in Sydney's Gallery Why would the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney need to decide by 2026 whether to sell or lend its Indigenous painting collection to regional galleries, and what should the state government fund to make that choice fair to remote communities? 3 heads · 15 min · 4.8
• Should a Glasgow comic festival cap manga and anime stalls at thirty percent? Why would a Glasgow comic festival organiser be right to cap manga and anime stalls at 30 percent of floor space, given that graphic novel sales in UK bookshops have grown fastest in exactly that category? 2 heads · 10 min · 7.7
• Should a Gallery Ever Sell a Painting to Fix Its Roof? When would a regional gallery in Glasgow or Leeds be justified in deaccessioning a painting from its permanent collection to fund roof repairs or acquisitions, and what sale proceeds threshold and public consultation period should the Arts Council require before approving such a sale? 2 heads · 15 min · 6.8
• Give Back What Was Taken? Benin Bronzes and UK Museums What happens if the United Kingdom returns the Benin Bronzes held in the British Museum to Nigeria, and should Edinburgh or Manchester follow London's lead with their own colonial-era collections? 3 heads · 15 min · 7.3
• Should New York's Museums Publish Nazi-Era Provenance Records, and by When? By when should New York City's major museums and galleries, such as the Met and MoMA, be required to publish full provenance records for their Nazi-era looted-art holdings, and should that deadline be backed by a funding cut for institutions that miss it? 2 heads · 10 min · 5.9

Reality television 1

• Should Flemish Broadcasters Cap On-Screen Humiliation of Talent Show Contestants? Why would Flemish broadcasters in Ghent or Antwerp be right to cap the number of contestants who can be publicly humiliated on reality talent shows, and what cap should they set? 3 heads · 15 min · 6.1!

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