David J. Skorton, who became secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in July of 2015, is leaving in June to become president of the Association of American Medical Colleges. A cardiologist by trade, he said of his decision that “the possibility of trying to contribute something to the national challenges of health care is important to me.” — The Washington Post
Category: issues
Ontario Gov’t Cuts More Than $7M From Arts And Culture Funding
The Conservative provincial government, under Premier Doug Ford, “has slashed base funding to the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) by $5 million, as well as [$2.25 million] to the Indigenous Culture Fund.” — Global News (Canada)
UK Government’s Brexit Proposal For Creative Sector Is “Huge Disappointment”
“Proposals to maintain the salary threshold, as well as the failure to include any measures to address the challenges faced by freelances, are hugely disappointing. It demonstrates government’s blindness to the major strains that Brexit and the current immigration system will have on organisations’ ability to recruit the talent they need.” – The Stage
Should Aziz Ansari And Louis C.K. Be Addressing The #MeToo Allegations Against Them In Their New Acts?
Jason Zinoman: “The answer has to do with the peculiar nature of stand-up, an art form in which the elephant in the room does not lurk in the background. It stands right in front of the microphone raising its trunk to the ceiling.” — The New York Times
In 2019, For The First Time In 21 Years, New Works Will Enter The Public Domain In The U.S.
“We have never seen such a mass entry into the public domain in the digital age. The last one — in 1998, when 1922 slipped its copyright bond — predated Google. … [And] we can blame Mickey Mouse for the long wait.” — Smithsonian Magazine
The Phenomenally Successful School That Exposed A Major Flaw In Higher Ed
Even taking the alleged fakery into account, how did T. M. Landry school seem to fool so many of America’s most prestigious universities for years? The work of admissions officers is notoriously secretive, but what little is known about the Landry affair threatens foundational assumptions about American higher education. – The Atlantic
Krampus The Christmas Demon Joins The 21st Century
The half-goat-half-devil has been St. Nicholas’s sidekick and enforcer for hundreds of years, warning little Austrian children that they’d better not be naughty. Traditionally he’d only appear once a year and his mask and costume would be more-or-less homemade, but today’s masks have things like glowing LED eyes, and there are Krampus shows with heavy-metal accompaniment that “feels like a rock concert mixed with a rodeo.” — Public Radio International
Nonprofit Journalism And Its Funders Have A ‘Random Acts Of Innovation’ Problem
A new report from Oxford’s Journalism Innovation Project refers to it as ‘bright, shiny things’ syndrome: a tendency to focus on, and fund, new and perhaps untested ideas such as algorithm-tweaking, new media, and even artificial intelligence — often while losing sight of the production of quality journalism that this innovation is supposed to be supporting. — Nonprofit Quarterly
Steven Spielberg Is Expanding His Shoah Foundation To Cover Genocides Beyond The Holocaust
“The Holocaust cannot stand alone. We decided to send our videographers into Rwanda to get testimony. From there we went to Cambodia, Armenia — we’re doing a critical study in the Central African Republic, Guatemala, the Nanjing massacre. Most recently, we’re doing testimony on the anti-Rohingya violence in Myanmar and the current anti-Semitic violence in Europe. We’re expanding our scope to counter many forms of hate.” — The New York Times
Americans Twice As Likely To Vote For Candidates Who Support Doubling Spending On Arts: Study
According to the 2018 Americans for the Arts report, “40% of Americans believe that the White House is not spending enough on nonprofit arts organizations. A majority of Americans (53%) also approve of doubling the federal government’s funding to these organizations and generally financing the arts (65%).” — Hyperallergic