Another year, another round of MacArthur Foundation "genius" award winners, who are given $500,000 to use as they please, no strings attached. This year's New York-area winners include Radiolab host and producer Jad Abumrad, choral conductor and composer for the Young People's Chorus of New York City Francisco Nunez, Rutgers University European Historian Professor Jacob Soll, New Jersey silversmith/ restoration expert Ubaldo Vitali, jazz percussionist/composer Dafnis Prieto, and classical cellist Alisa Weilerstein. more ›

New York artist Elizabeth Murray (who split her time between Tribeca and Washington County, NY) died yesterday after a battle with cancer at the age of 66. Her husband (with whom she had several children), Bob Holman, is the founder of the Bowery Poetry Club. more ›

EVENT: Talking Head David Bryne joins Elizabeth Diller, recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant, for a talk about new tendencies and relationships between architecture and music. Christopher Janney moderates. More information here. more ›