Festival lineup leans into mid-career artists

The numbers tell part of the story. The rest lives in the texture of how people are actually behaving when no one is watching.

Skeptics point to the long history of premature declarations. Their caution is earned, and worth keeping close at hand.

Critics raise familiar objections, and some of them land. The honest answer is that the tradeoffs are real and worth naming.

The institutional response has been measured, which in this context is a polite way of saying slow.

Expect the next chapter to be quieter than this one, and more consequential. The loud part is usually the prologue.

Outside the room, the response has been faster, messier, and considerably more interesting.