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The economic downturn forces state officials to slash budgets for many government-funded services. New Jersey, one of 40 states in which funding for the arts is expected to plummet, become the third state to propose eliminating arts spending entirely. Joel Rose of member station WHYY reports.

It's a Scottish invasion at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. There's a castle, golf, bagpipes, haggis burgers and Scotch to boot. It's all a part of the Smithsonian's Folklife Festival, an annual celebration of the world's folk arts and traditions. NPR's Robert Siegel reports.

The body of actor and writer Spalding Gray was pulled out of New York's East River Sunday, two months after he was first reported missing. He was 62. Best known for a 1987 movie based on his monologue Swimming to Cambodia, Gray inspired a whole generation of performers with his groundbreaking confessional, humorous and disarming storytelling. NPR's Bob Edwards has a remembrance.

The Sundance Film Festival kicks off in Park City, Utah. In the past few years, Sundance has become associated with Hollywood sightings, glamorous parties and celebrity skiing. This year, festival organizers are trying to take the event back to its independent roots by featuring more films from unknown directors. David D'Arcy reports.

Before Frank Sinatra sang "My Way" into the American musical lexicon, a French singer-songwriter had his own version of the ballad. Twenty-five years after his death, Claude Francois is still drawing fans to his former home, which has been turned into a museum. NPR's Nick Spicer reports.

Hollywood studio executives chafe under new rules for the Academy Awards that bar them from sending free copies of their movies to other awards organizations. Opponents say the rules, combined with a shortened voting season, will prevent smaller-budget films from receiving recognition. NPR's Kim Masters reports.

Every Saturday night in a gritty YMCA in the South African city of Durban, men put on finely-pressed suits, drink cheap beer and compete in an a cappella Zulu choir competition called isicathamiya. They're sometimes called the "tip-toe guys". Isicathamiya means "in a stalking mood" and it refers to the slow deliberate dance moves the men do in unison while harmonizing. NPR's Jason Beaubien reports.

An exhibition called "The Gates" opened at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art Tuesday. The exhibit includes drawings, plans and mockups of the 7,500 saffron-colored, nylon fabric "gates" that famed conceptual artist Christo and his wife, Jeanne Claude, want to install along Central Park's walkways. NPR's David D'Arcy reports.

A judge rules the Barnes Foundation's art collection should not be moved from suburban Philadelphia, unless trustees can provide hard data to support the move. The world-renowned art is worth $20 billion, but the foundation says it needs to relocate downtown to avoid bankruptcy. Joel Rose of member station WHYY reports.

An artist in Cologne, Germany, is working to memorialize individual victims of the Nazis. He's embedding thousands of small concrete blocks, each topped by a brass plate, in sidewalks across the country. Each of these so-called "stumbling blocks" bears the name, and fate, of one person killed by Adolph Hitler's regime. Kyle James reports.