“The recipients will be selected by Department [of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications] officials. Their proposals must be ‘efficient, effective, economical and ethical’.” (Which means … ?) “And, perhaps most crucially, … the final say on where the grants go will be placed in the hands of the federal minister for the arts” rather than any arm’s-length panel. – The Conversation
Blog
Are Americans Losing Faith In Our Scientific Institutions?
We’ve reached a sort of meta-crisis of scientific authority, one in which our leading experts have lost their faith in the public’s faith in the leadership of experts. – Wired
How A Young Unknown Redefined Fame In The 1800s
In May 1884, long before the likes of Kim Kardashian achieved celebrity through the careful curation and promotion of self, a young unknown named Marie Bashkirtseff staked her desire for fame on the publication of her personal diary. – Public Domain Review
A Different Way Of Thinking About The Purpose Of Education
Too often schools are tasked not simply with caring for their students but with repairing an entire social order. Schools can do so much we do not ask of them, like developing solidarity, fostering political responsibility, and ensuring a love of learning for its own sake. Yet the one thing we are most insistent they accomplish, the ensuring of “equal opportunity,” is something even the best school is simply not capable of achieving. – Hedgehog Review
Two California Theatres Lay Off Their Artistic Directors. Now What?
The decisions suggest that the theater world will likely continue to feel the effects of the pandemic long after artists and audiences are again allowed to gather. Eliminating a position, as opposed to merely furloughing or laying off, adds another obstacle to theaters reopening and rebounding. Either a hiring committee must decide to re-create a leadership position and rehire, or a theater must rebuild after the pandemic while deprived of a leader. – San Francisco Chronicle
Why Do Some Technologies Transform Our World And Others Don’t
Although the private sector brought electricity to the big cities—New York, Chicago, St. Louis—the federal government’s Rural Electrification Administration brought electricity to much of America, helping to make radio, electric appliances, television and telecommunications part of everyone’s daily lives. A good deal of private investment created these technologies, but the transformations that they wrought were enabled by the “hidden hand” of government, and citizens often experienced their value in unanticipated ways. – Scientific American
Is Punctuation Finished?
Enter the international Apostrophe Protection Society, with its attempts to call out misuse and spread good practice. But November 2019 saw the announcement of the society’s demise, and owing not only to the highly respectable age of its founder John Richards (96): it would close, the society said, because of the ‘ignorance and laziness present in modern times’. – Aeon
‘What The Country Needs Now Is A Really Good Four-Letter Word’
Wilfred McClay: “I hear you, gentle reader, saying that surely I must be kidding. We need more profanity? Aren’t we already being inundated with it? … And that’s exactly the problem. Our curse currency has become grossly inflated and devalued. … When what once was salty loses its savor, it becomes worthy only to be trampled underfoot.” – The Hedgehog Review
Community Engagement Network
Two years ago ArtsEngaged created the Facebook group Become Indispensable as a mechanism for people interested in community engagement in the arts to learn and share. That group’s advisory board has had its first meeting, and here are some of the changes and ideas we discussed. – Doug Borwick
Who’s Leaving the Metropolitan Museum? A Partial List of Retirees
It’s with dejected déjà vu that I report the imminent departure of some 90 Metropolitan Museum staffers from more than half a dozen departments. – Lee Rosenbaum