Here are a few local and global arts stories that caught my eye over recent weeks:

From a record 546 entries, the 24 finalists in the 2014 John Fries Award for emerging artists were announced. This year’s award is curated by Sebastian Goldspink and will be announced on 12 August.

Marah Braye, CEO of the Biennale of Sydney for the past eight years has moved on to take up the position of CEO of the Harbourfront Centre, Toronto.

An artists membership organisation in the UK has found that in the past three years, 70% of artists who exhibited in publicly-funded shows received no fee for doing so.

And finally, this daguerreotype depicts the earliest-born person ever to be photographed!

Conrad Heyer, Waldoboro, ca. 1852
Daguerreotype, leather case
9 x 7 cm
Image: Collections of Maine Historical Society