“The Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association posted an operating deficit of $1.4 million for fiscal 2017, compared to deficit of $1.1 million the year prior.” It’s the CSO’s seventh consecutive year in the red. On the other hand, endowment and investments are up more than 6% to $373.4 million, and the subscription renewal rate is 90%. (For a more optimistic take on the same fiscal news, see the Chicago Tribune report here.)
Blog
Former Tate Britain Director Is Revolutionizing Lisbon’s Gulbenkian Museum
“When [Penelope] Curtis arrived in 2015, the museum’s design had barely changed since it opened in 1969. … [One of her main projects is] to open up Gulbenkian’s ‘rather rigidly divided’ collection and shine a spotlight on its Islamic holdings.”
NPR Bosses Knew About Mike Oreskes Allegations But Kept Him On (And Newsroom Is Furious)
“NPR’s senior management was aware of multiple harassment complaints by women against its top newsroom executive during the past two years but took no action to remove him from his job until news reports about his conduct appeared on Tuesday. … Oreskes’s behavior, and the organization’s response to it, has stirred a virtual rebellion in NPR’s newsroom, particularly among female employees.”
NPR’s SVP For News Ousted After Harassment Accusations
“‘This morning I asked Mike Oreskes for his resignation because of inappropriate behavior,’ NPR CEO Jarl Mohn wrote in an email to NPR staff on Wednesday. ‘I have received his resignation, effective immediately.'”
German Arts World Has A Woman Problem, Too: Study
“Women are under-represented in decision-making positions in the German arts and earn less than men for equal work, according to a new study commissioned by the government and conducted by the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin.”
Top Posts From AJBlogs 11.01.17
After Inconclusive Hearing, Attorney General Steps In as Possible Plaintiff in Berkshire Museum Case
After hearing more than two hours of arguments today (Wednesday) from two sets of lawyers for plaintiffs, as well as a response to the plaintiffs’ motion by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, Judge John Agostini … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrl Published 2017-11-01
How Fear Can Be a Positive Thing
Given that real fear can be scarring and unpleasant, there’s a temptation to believe that the best way to deal with it is to avoid it at all costs. But science and philosophy often suggest otherwise. Fear can be one of the great sources of personal improvement. In particular, fear can help people cultivate several classic virtues that religious figures, sages, and secular moral traditions have all seen as essential for living a well-ordered life.
The Popular Myths Of Martin Luther Aren’t True. Nonetheless…
“Not only were there no eyewitnesses; Luther himself, ordinarily an enthusiastic self-dramatizer, was vague on what had happened. He remembered drawing up a list of ninety-five theses around the date in question, but, as for what he did with it, all he was sure of was that he sent it to the local archbishop. Furthermore, the theses were not, as is often imagined, a set of non-negotiable demands about how the Church should reform itself in accordance with Brother Martin’s standards. Rather, like all “theses” in those days, they were points to be thrashed out in public disputations, in the manner of the ecclesiastical scholars of the twelfth century or, for that matter, the debate clubs of tradition-minded universities in our own time.”
Turns Out Brain Science Studies Are Biased And WEIRD
“When scientists use medical scanners to repeatedly peer at the shapes and activities of the human brain, those brains tend to belong to wealthy and well-educated people. And unless researchers take steps to correct for that bias, what we get is an understanding of the brain that’s incomplete, skewed, and, well, a little weird.”
Why We Want To Assign Blame For Natural Events
“When weird things happen, we still crave the sense of control we get from believing that there’s a reason, that they lay bare the good and evil in society. The human toll of natural disasters tells a story of collective apathy that allows a famine to unfold; corporate greed and unchecked development causes a flood. When nature throws something unexpected our way – as it did to us here in Houston, when I was writing this article from the island that used to be my neighbourhood – we are all apt to look, despite ourselves, for meaning in the madness.”