“Humor in the time of Trump is a triumph for our democracy. There’s nothing he can do to stop it and the message has plenty of messengers. Information is there for anyone who wants to know, as comedy takes on a pioneering new role in the dissemination of that information. Resistance takes many forms, and humor may turn out to be the most potent of all.”
Author: Douglas McLennan
How The Big Auction Houses Are Mutating To Survive
“Though the hammer’s coming down on a major price in front of a crowd is good for headlines, auction houses have dealt with the pressures of the business by branching out. Private sales are increasingly important to the bottom line, as are advisory businesses — the auction houses help a collector manage her treasures, for instance, or broker acquisitions for museums.”
Eight Ways Non-Profits Talk About Exploiting Workers
“The nature of nonprofit exploitation is revealed in the language we use uncritically. I’ve ranked eight common nonprofit phrases from least to most exploitative.”
Image Fees For PhD’s? Outrageous!
“As one-off fees, you might say, ‘that’s not so bad’. But consider that your average art history PhD will have dozens, if not perhaps hundreds, of images, then soon even an unpublished PhD can become prohibitively expensive. You want to discuss mid-18th Century portraiture, and show perhaps 50 images? That’ll be £750. You want to turn that PhD into a book? £3050 please, before you’ve even thought of printing costs. Want to put on a Hogarth exhibition, with a decent catalogue? £8600. Ouch. And Tate are on the cheaper end of the scale.”
A Jazz Revolution In Philly
The October Revolution in Jazz & Contemporary Music was something like a State of the Union for free improvisation and avant-garde composition, and also a statement of potential. An intergenerational sweep of experimentalists — including younger acts as well as many of free jazz’s first-generation heroes, now in their 70s, 80s and 90s — appeared on a well-appointed stage in a city not known for high-budget jazz presentations. It was a rare institutional moment for the improvising avant-garde and maybe proof that in a moment when jazzis surging, the United States can respect its fringes on a level that only Europe historically has.
Lessons From The Collapse Of Lincoln Center’s Concert Hall Project For The NY Philharmonic?
“The ‘Old World’ model of Geffenesque patrons seems to be receding, making way for donors striving to solve real-world problems. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to shoehorn a $500-$800 million capital project for a legacy institution into a paradigm that frames the arts as a vehicle for social change. This trend is permeating public policy, as well. Consider the political landscape that is Bill de Blasio’s New York City. While legacy institutions have expected some sort of public support from the mayor’s office since time immemorial, de Blasio has instead shifted the city’s focus to smaller institutions across the five boroughs.”
Go West! That’s Where The Best And Brightest Are Moving, Says New Demographic Research
“Three cities in Colorado — a state whose fortunes have been tied to the boom and bust of oil, gas and other commodities — are among the top 10 leading destinations for the nation’s best and brightest as old cow and mining towns morph into technology hubs, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Another Colorado city is plotting a 21st century revival.”
New Evidence That Online Dating Is Changing Our Culture
eal social networks are not like either of these. Instead, people are strongly connected to a relatively small group of neighbors and loosely connected to much more distant people. These loose connections turn out to be extremely important. “Those weak ties serve as bridges between our group of close friends and other clustered groups, allowing us to connect to the global community.”
In 20 Top Markets, NPR Is Now The Leading News Source On Radio
NPR stations are well on their way as the leading radio news source in 20 of the 50 or so Nielsen PPM markets according to NPR. In those 20 markets, NPR has more weekly cume listeners than their commercial news/talk competitors.
Director Yuval Sharon On Being Awarded A MacArthur:
“It was so surreal. They read back to me why I was selected — and I don’t even have the words to describe what it felt like to hear,” he said. “I thought, ‘Wow, I guess that’s what I’m doing,’ but you get in the thicket of doing it, and with no warning, you get this bird’s-eye view of the past 15 years.”