Category: issues

And it’s not only reporters. “A cohort of countries is moving toward digital authoritarianism by embracing the Chinese model of extensive censorship and automated surveillance systems.” This, needless to say, is bad. – Los Angeles Review of Books

Though much of the online discussion featured some questions for how the paper decides what’s front-page news, it quickly shifted to the content, and, well, this became front-page news. – The New York Times

As one presenter said, “These days, if you have a Muslim name, much less coming from a country on ‘the list,’ you can pretty much forget being granted a visa.” – San Francisco Classical Voice

“As part of a broad central government initiative, thousands of museums have been built across the country over the past decade, with a staggering 451 being opened in 2012 alone. … [But] the obsessive drive to build more and more cultural facilities has resulted in a conspicuous dearth of exhibits, let alone demand from people wanting to visit them — leaving hundreds of massive, often opulent, and architecturally iconic buildings sitting underused or even completely empty today.” – Forbes

Roberto Alvim announced last week that he was closing his São Paulo troupe because he was the target of criticism and boycotts for his conservative political views. President Bolsonaro promptly appointed him head of theatre at the National Foundation of the Arts — and from that perch, Alvim has called for right-leaning arts professionals to submit resumes for a database that can be consulted when awarding federal funding. – The Art Newspaper

When he became CEO of the city’s natural history museum in 2012, it was in enough financial trouble that its debt was on the verge of being downgraded. Then there was the “cringeworthy” Native North America Hall. Now that hall is being reworked with input from Native Americans, the debt is steady, attendance is up, and the endowment has grown by 45% to $435 million. – Crain’s Chicago Business

The last-minute interventions were revealed as part of a (none-too-favorable) independent review of Creative Scotland’s operations and processes that followed a major controversy over funding decisions last year. – Arts Professional

“Under a plan announced last week by Mayor Anne Hidalgo, thickets of trees will soon appear in what today are pockets of concrete next to landmark locations, including the Hôtel de Ville, Paris’s city hall; the Opera Garnier, Paris’s main opera house; the Gare de Lyon; and along the Seine quayside.” – CityLab

Richard Florida looks at a study of shrinking American cities and breaks down a couple of myths about them, and about why some cities remain vibrant even as they lose population while others enter a downward spiral. – CityLab