Cheap Tickets, Please: D.C.’s Office of Human Rights is stepping into the fray over discounted theater tickets for young audiences, following a complaint it received about venues capping the definition of “young” at 30 or 35 years old, the Washington Business Journal reports. The city agency started looking at theater prices across town, and has recommended that discounts targeted at young professionals “be broadened so that the same type of discounts are available for those 30 to 64.” So, with senior discounts kicking in at 65, cheap tickets for everyone!

Speaking of Theaters and Money: Looks like cuts to the federal government’s National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs program, which supports non-federal arts institutions in the District, are starting to take noticeable effect. The Washington Post reports that Arena Stage anticipated receiving $600,000 from the program in fiscal year 2012 but only got $130,000. The cut left a significant hole in Arena’s annual $18.5 million budget, and the theater has now canceled its planned production of Mary T. and Lizzy K in anticipation of further reductions in the program. (In April, the overall program saw a reduction from $9.5 million to just under $3 million under a federal budget continuing resolution.) Arena has also postponed its production of Like Water for Chocolate—-because of changes being made to the new musical’s creative team—-and replaced it with a less expensive touring production of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart.

Ambition Is a Battlefield: The video for Wale‘s single “Lotus Flower Bomb” is out. The clip’s A-story is a lovers’ quarrel between Wale and America’s Next Top Model star Bre Scullark, but really, it’s all about the denim, Pat Benatar-embroidered jacket worn by Miguel as he croons the song’s bridge:

Today on Arts Desk: More on cancelled programming in the wake of federal budget cuts. Louis Jacobson auf deutschen Fotografien.