The 30th Annual Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition and Festival. Directed by Joan Chamorro and 2nd place in the competition, the Sant Andreu Jazz Band from Barcelona, Spain, performs at the Rose Theater on Saturday, May 10, 2025. New York. Jazz at Lincoln Center. Photo: Gilberto Tadday/Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Jazz Interview: Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Todd Stoll — Jazz Education’s Farm Team Keeps Growing

Coming Attractions

Coming Attractions: April 26 Through May 11 — What Will Light Your Fire

Our expert critics supply a guide to film, visual art, theater, author readings, television, and music. More offerings will be added as they come in.

The Arts Fuse Currents

Music

Jazz Interview: Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Todd Stoll — Jazz Education’s Farm Team Keeps Growing

By Steve Provizer | April 30, 2026

The Jazz at Lincoln Center vice president of education discusses the growth of Essentially Ellington, the rise in student playing, and the organization’s push for wider access.

Visual Arts

Visual Arts Review: Derrick Adams Turns Black Joy Into an Expansive World

By Lauren Kaufmann | April 19, 2026

Jubilant collages, TV motifs, and immersive rooms celebrate 25 years of Black artist Derrick Adams’s inventive practice.

Film

Doc Talk: In “Steal This Story, Please!,” the Free, Independent Press Persists

By Peter Keough | April 29, 2026

A brisk, galvanizing portrait of “Democracy Now!”‘s Amy Goodman and the stubborn fight for adversarial journalism.

Books

Book Review: The Stillness Before Silence — Robert Seethaler’s “The Last Movement”

By Joan Frank | April 28, 2026

A brief, haunting meditation homing in on the final weeks—and thoughts—of the ailing Gustav Mahler during his voyage back to Europe.

Poetry at The Arts Fuse

Weekly Feature: Poetry at The Arts Fuse

April 30, 2026

This week’s poem: Steven Karl’s “Sarah”

Dance

Dance Review: Dancing Between Traditions — Vimoksha’s Lush and Luminous Fusion

By Jessica Lockhart | April 21, 2026

A Boston-based ensemble blends Indian classical forms with contemporary dance to probe birth, patriarchy, and migration.

Theater

Theater Review: “Salesman” in the Void: Joe Mantello’s Haunting, Existential Revival

By Tom Connolly | April 29, 2026

The smoke drifting over the set is a metaphor for the mind-fogging rhetoric of Willy Loman’s phony boosterism. He has been adrift in an American dream that was a lie all along.

Television

Television Review: “Margo’s Got Money Troubles” Tackles Sex Work, Survival, and Suburban Hypocrisy

By Sarah Osman | April 18, 2026

A sharp, locally grounded dramedy that captures the contradictions of suburban Southern California — and the steep cost of survival for young women.

Podcasts

Short Fuse Podcast #88: “Arvo Pärt: Out of Silence”

By Elizabeth Howard | April 27, 2026

Host Elizabeth Howard talks to Peter Bouteneff about the power of silence in the music of Estonian composer Arvo Pärt.

Short Fuses

April Short Fuses — Materia Critica

By Arts Fuse Editor | April 1, 2026

Each month, our arts critics — music, book, theater, dance, television, film, and visual arts — fire off a few brief reviews.

Spotlight

Music Commentary: Big Ears 2026 — Another View

By Rob Battles | April 10, 2026

A diary of shows attended – good, bad, and indifferent — at this year’s Big Ears Festival, as well as comments on some of the non-musical joys and hassles.

About the Arts Fuse

The Arts Fuse was established in June, 2007 as a curated, independent online arts magazine dedicated to publishing in-depth criticism, along with high quality previews, interviews, and commentaries. The publication's over 70 freelance critics (many of them with decades of experience) cover dance, film, food, literature, music, television, theater, video games, and visual arts. Support arts coverage that believes that culture matters.

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