We cannot allow this piece of our social and economic infrastructure to fall apart. Our creative economy of arts, culture, design and entertainment is no mere luxury. It is one of the three key sectors that power innovation and economic growth. More than gross domestic product or economic power, the true measure of a nation’s vitality and resilience is its cultural and technological creativity. From Louis Armstrong to Beyoncé, and from Irving Berlin to Lin-Manuel Miranda, arts and culture reflect and reinforce the power of our diversity. – USA Today
Author: Douglas McLennan
Florence Howe, 92, An Architect Of Women’s Studies Movement
When Ms. Howe began teaching in colleges and universities in the 1950s, women’s studies was not an established academic discipline. In fact, it was rare to find a course catalog or syllabus that mentioned scholarship by women at all. With the Feminist Press, founded in 1970, she sought to diversify the materials used in schools around the United States and beyond. – The New York Times
The Toxic Economic Doctrine That Captured The Culture And Glamorized Inequality
That’s right — 28 years after the Milton Friedman doctrine began the paradigm shift that made U.S. big business more powerful than ever, he was still insisting, as he had in his essay, that businesspeople with any willingness to pay a price to make society more fair were indulging “a suicidal impulse.” Which wasn’t just untrue, but by then more like the opposite of true: After the New Deal saved U.S. capitalism from its own excesses and helped enable decades of ultraprosperity and increasing equality, the full Friedmanization of our economy for the last four decades has generated such greed-driven extremes of inequality, insecurity and immobility that the system is now on a path that looks crazily self-destructive. – New York Times Magazine
How Algorithms Are Narrowing Our Reading
In practice, this ensures the less read become even less read. It creates what one might call popularity polarization: a few pieces rise to the top, leaving the rest to fend for themselves. With print, this didn’t happen as much. Flipping pages, you would see every article somewhere. But, on your phone, you scroll through what’s been selected for you. And that selection likely reflects a ruthless narrowing of editorial values and priorities. – The Walrus
Debate About Oscars’ New Diversity Rules
Perhaps predictably, the announcement received backlash on social media, particularly from right-wing circles. Many, inside and out of these circles, accused the Academy of stifling creativity or promoting tokenization. However, many others say that the rules are far less onerous than they’re perceived to be—and that most films won’t have to change their approach at all. – Time
Why Is Cory Doctorow Boycotting Audible For His Latest Book?
That, Doctorow explains, is because audiobooks sold through Audible must be bundled with copyright protection, or digital rights management (DRM) controls, whether authors or publishers want to include such restrictions or not. The DRM technology not only makes it harder to pirate audiobooks, but also restricts playback to devices and software authorized by Audible, which Amazon bought in 2008. – Fast Company
Why Is Congress Ignoring Help For The Arts?
One has to look only to such countries as Germany and the United Kingdom — whose governments have pledged $50 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively, in covid-19-related aid to the arts — to recognize a truism: that this country essentially pays its arts workers lip service. Sure, a few movie and recording stars make fortunes. But why do we treat rank-and-file employees in the arts industry like beggars? – Washington Post
Theatre Sells Cardboard Audience Cutouts For Empty Seats
Since the theatre is only being filled to one-third capacity, the cutouts will fill the remaining seats, and the cost will go toward supporting the theatre. – Broadway World
How Dance Can Heal Trauma
Is it the community, the special bonds developed from years of rehearsals and auditions and performances? Is there something to be said for the pure athletic exertion of dance and the endorphins brought forth by exercise? Or does dance transcend other activities and provide us with a deeper connection to our own humanity? – Dance Magazine
Strand Bookstore’s Workers Are Very Unhappy
There’s the issue of not properly protecting workers in the pandemic. And in April, the Strand was approved for a PPP loan of $1–2 million to retain 212 jobs. Given that those jobs were not actually protected, workers in the store want to know where the money went. – The Baffler