Amanda Petrusich: “In the past decade, a spate of unconventional residency programs have offered unused (or otherwise flexible) space to artists starved for time, solitude, or simply a room of their own, and as a result artists have taken up residence on moving Amtrak trains, a barrier island off the coast of Texas, the tower of a bridge that crosses a shipping canal, and an oceanographic research vessel. I can’t decide whether the grimness of some of these places … is simply funny or an apt and horrifying reflection of how America presently esteems its artists.”
Category: issues
The Hidden Queer History Of Paper Dolls
Sure, paper dolls were manufactured and marketed – to the parents who held the purse strings – as tools for teaching little girls obedience and conformity. (Well, until the ’70s – more on that later.) Yet, as Benjamin Frisch and Willa Paskin point out, “the conformity represented by paper dolls was easy to subvert, because it was so easy to ignore. The virtue of simple toys is that it’s simple to use them any way you please.” And that’s exactly what gay men did. (article and podcast)
More On Creative Placemaking From Kresge Foundation Study
“Earlier this year, the Kresge Foundation published the first in a series of white papers to help grantmakers and practitioners more successfully integrate arts and culture into community development. … Kresge recently published the second white paper, ‘Creative Placemaking and Expansion of Opportunity — Observations and Reflections,’ which surveys the state of the rapidly evolving field … Here are some key takeaways.”
Edinburgh International Festival Ticket Sales Down; Book Festival Sales Up
“[The EIF] reported ticket sales of £3.8m, down from the £4.3m reported this time last year, due, it said, to a smaller programme, notably in the opera section. … The Edinburgh International Book Festival reported a rise in ‘footfall’ in its Charlotte Square site, and an 8% rise in book sales.”
In A New Cultural Hub, Baghdad Slowly Starts To Reclaim Its Historic Place As An Intellectual Center
“For several years now, al-Qishla, an Ottoman military barracks-turned-cultural-hub in the heart of Baghdad, has become a space where intellectuals, poets and artists come together to exchange ideas and discuss current affairs. Regular attendees say al-Qishla provides residents with a safe avenue to share views freely, as well as a sliver of hope that Baghdad – once a major international intellectual and cultural hub – may return to a shadow of its former self before successive wars gripping the country for decades, left it in decay.”
Why Burning Man Worked And Why It Doesn’t
At the heart of Burning Man—not just the artworks but the entire festival—is its ability to inspire in attendees a combination of awe and pride: We made it. Look what we did. Look at what we’re capable of. There’s an earnestness to this sentiment that’s both admirably pure and grossly myopic, as if Burners were the only ones ever to have built a city, experimented with alternative models of living, or spent time in the Black Rock Desert. This is the root of so much of the self-congratulatory language that can make the festival seem insufferable to those who’ve never been.
Huge Data Set On Audience Buying Behavior Released
There are now more than 600 organisations participating in Audience Finder, including “performing arts venues, touring companies, museums, galleries, festivals, outdoor arts and many other kinds of cultural organisations”. Their ticketing data has been gathered over the past seven years and dates back to 2011/12, although data from these early years is less comprehensive and accessible than more recently gathered information.
Artists Are Being Pressured To Cancel Shows In Israel
Social media campaigns and protests are putting pressure on artists to cancel shows in Israel over the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Site Of Deadly Nerve Agent Attack Uses Arts To Reclaim City
“Six months on from the shock of the nerve agent attack on the Skripals, the people of Salisbury are attempting to use the power of the arts to reclaim the streets, work through the trauma of the assault and draw visitors back to the cathedral city.”
It’s Time For British Arts Orgs To Prepare For ‘Catastrophic’ Hard Brexit, Warns Industry Group
“Creative organisations and businesses must now prepare for the ‘catastrophic’ possibility of losing employees, facing higher costs when trading goods and services and being denied access to European Union (EU) funding through a no-deal Brexit, the Creative Industries Federation (CIF) has warned.” A new guide distributed by the CIF warns arts organisations to carry out an audit and, if they find themselves highly dependent on the EU, to set up a branch in another member country.