LA Times theater critic Charles McNulty: “We feed our minds and spirits as well our bodies. My way is theater. Yours might be movies, sports or church. It makes no difference. With gun regulation as irresponsibly lax as it is, we are all just a maniac away from being on the next casualty list.”
Category: issues
Arts Center Damaged In California Wildfires
The Luther Burbank Center for the Arts in Santa Rosa (Sonoma County), which hosts hundreds of performances and workshops a year reports that its main building has suffered “minimal damage,” but its eastern end and several classrooms are “destroyed.”
Why MacArthur Fellowships Matter: In Modern Culture, Expertise Is Under Fire
“Today, in public attitudes toward everything from science to politics, expertise is under enormous stress. … That pressure makes the MacArthur awards extra important,” writes Christopher Knight, because “the danger is that manipulative demagoguery flourishes in an environment polluted by the anxiety driving the assault on expertise … [so] I’ll take a ringing endorsement of expertise anywhere I can find it.”
What Newspapers Sacrifice When They Get Rid Of Their Arts Critics
Peter Preston, who was editor of The Guardian for 20 years (1975-95): “If a film critic, say, has real value, then it’s in the build-up of recognition and trust between them and the reader. Week by week, you share the critic’s views and check them against your own cinema-going experience. … [Critics’] eye on the arts, day by day and week by week, adds richness and information to the mix. They have the possibility of authority that blogs or compilations in the Rotten Tomatoes style lack.”
Many News Sites Have Shut Off Reader Comments. That Might Be A Mistake
Abuse, trolling, harassment, racism, misogyny—these are all real problems down in the comments, and they’re a symptom of wider problems: societal, yes, but also strategic. The current process goes like this: Journalist writes an article. Article is published. People write comments. Journalist peeks at the comments, and sees a lot of meanness and abuse (especially if they’re a woman, a person of color, or especially a woman of color). Journalist vows not to engage with such horrid readers. The organization listens to its journalists when they say that comments are worthless and puts fewer resources into them. The comments then get worse due to lack of engagement and strategy, leaving the space to a small number of argumentative types corralled by a tiny battled-hardened community team.
Beirut’s Museum Of Memory Opens Its First Exhibition (Though It Has No Board Or Director)
“The architect behind the $18m project to renovate and conserve the building as a memorial museum says it was a milestone simply for it to be open to the public during the 40 days of the show. Tangled local politics and the sensitive subject matter have left the museum without a director or governing board, and a generous research centre, offices and library have lain empty for over a year.”
Canada’s Proposed New Cultural Policy Sidesteps Cultural Issues
Canadian private broadcasters such as CTV and Global are regulated by a series of interlocking responsibilities (such as providing Canadian content) and protections (such as being allowed to drop their ads into competing U.S. signals). The requirement that they be majority-Canadian-owned means they don’t have to compete directly with American broadcasters. Without it, Canadians would simply have been watching ABC North or CBS Canada since the early days of TV.
Research: People Who Volunteer Give Twice As Much To Charity
We may offer training, and even recognition of these volunteers, but generally that’s the extent of how we see them. Perhaps we ought to be looking more intently at them as donors. Research from Australia shows that people who volunteer for a charity (nonprofit) give, on average, twice as much as those who simply donated money.
Harvey Weinstein Has Been Fired From The Weinstein Company
A third of the board of The Weinstein Company resigned before he was fired, and his lawyer stepped down as well.
Was Harvey Weinstein’s (Alleged) Harassment An Open Secret In Hollywood?
Women, at least those willing to speak on record, say it was. But it’s not as if Weinstein is alone. “The scandal has shone a harsh light on a culture of sexual misconduct that some say prevails in a male-dominated film and television industry that has barely changed in the last 40 years.”