Category: issues

Even beyond the bombshell article from July accusing prominent men in the field of harassment, the “male-dominated field creates a ‘toxic culture’ that silences women in the profession and has kept a full reckoning from taking place. … 85 to 90 percent of the news imagery we consume is created by men. Last year, 90 percent of the images that The New York Times ran on their front page was made by men.”

All of this comes at a time when there’s been an enormous proliferation in the number of other online outlets – whether personal or under umbrella sites – to fill the vacuum. But few do (or can) remunerate their contributors. So we’re rapidly seeing a new model for criticism emerging: one in which only hobbyists and retirees, or those who are financially independent, will be able to pursue a ‘career’ in the field. The arts world constantly talks up diversity as an aspiration; but this will inevitably lead to reduced diversity in the field of arts criticism.

“Our world is moving faster and faster, and we’re more polarized and tribal. We find fewer and fewer excuses to talk about anything. (Reviews) are an opportunity to stop and let it marinade and understand how art helps us understand ourselves.”

A show that’s mandatory viewing for school pupils and parents had an opening number by the group New F4, who star in a Taiwanese teen soap opera. Detractors called the quartet “pretty girls that cannot have babies”; the state news agency declared them “slender and weak” and fretted about the effect these “not men but not women” would have on the youth of the People’s Republic. Then defenders started speaking up, among them (believe it or not) the military newspaper People’s Liberation Daily.

“The reform is called the Copyright Directive and it was first proposed in 2016. On Wednesday, members of European Parliament voted 438-226 in favor of adopting the directive. The law is meant to be an overhaul of copyright rules, aimed at making sure publishers and artists are compensated by platforms like Google or Facebook. … The controversial directive contains two articles” — known as the “link tax” and the “upload filter” — “that open internet and free speech advocates believe could fundamentally alter the way the internet works. Here’s what they mean.”

Naomi Campbell (a Torontonian not to be confused with the supermodel) has been a staff producer at the festival since 2011 and was appointed deputy artistic director last year. She succeeds Josephine Ridge, who stepped down in July over concerns about Luminato’s business model and rapidly shrinking budget.

The idea is that the Pergola on the River, as it would be called, would be in place for three years. It would then be removed and the arts centre would go ahead with a long-held ambition to use the roof for open-air performances. But the Twentieth Century Society, a conservation group, said it was shocked by the proposals and would be objecting in the strongest terms.

A new study by Bankrate.com of the most and least lucrative undergraduate fields of study found that theater, performing and visual arts, composition and speech, library science, and “miscellaneous fine arts” (rock bottom) were the ten “least valuable” majors. Worse, majors in “miscellaneous fine arts” have a substantially higher unemployment rate than high-school dropouts.