Category: issues

Marvel had already canceled its New York Comic Con “activation” event with bombmaker/dronemaker/etc. Northrup Grumman, and now the partnership is over entirely. “Fans immediately called out Marvel for seemingly promoting the military-industrial complex to children, and cited the fact that Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) eventually gave up manufacturing war materials, pointing out that a partnership with a military contractor was antithetical to Stark’s character development.”

There are several notable ways in which civically engaged arts organizations differ from more market-driven arts organizations, including: they maintain stronger networks with other community organizations such as schools, senior centers, etc.; they consider civic engagement a key force driving the mission; they’re consciously aware of their nonprofit status.

A Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance report “shows a nearly 25 percent percent increase in economic impact over 2011, measured in direct spending by audiences and art organizations and estimated indirect spending. It also shows a 32 percent increase in city tax revenue, attributable to the arts sector.”

“The recently completed … Lewis Center for the Arts complex is the largest single development in Princeton University history. Its 23 acres include a new train station, new restaurants, and three interconnected buildings housing state-of-the-art performance and rehearsal spaces. The centerpiece is the 139,000-square-foot building where all the disciplines rub against one another in an open plan – an orchestra rehearsal room is next to the black-box theater, which is next to a white cube exhibitions art gallery.”

The problem with Creative Canada isn’t that it devotes money to artists. It’s that it treats those artists as tech entrepreneurs. The ethos of Silicon Valley is encoded into the very dna of our new policy framework. Artists, says Creative Canada, are valued not for the art they produce but for “playing a critical role in driving innovation.” The plan answers the call “for developing the business, technology and entrepreneurial skills of Canadian artists and creators.”

“Several things dragged the Minister down, some quite unnecessarily. It was a mistake for her to pose as a champion of consumers while waving away a tax that would have cost Netflix subscribers less than a dollar a month. She seemed not to realize that tax fairness is also a potent issue – especially when the lack of it directly penalizes Canadian companies competing with Neflix for audiences. Or, more likely, she was instructed not to let anything divert her from the mission of keeping Neflix tax-free. And why?”

A problem arises if culture becomes simply a means to a non-cultural policy end. As Eleonora Belfiore argued, “if the logic of the instrumental view of culture… is taken to its extreme (but intrinsically consequential) conclusions, there would be no point in having a cultural policy at all”. Does an increasing emphasis on non-cultural policy intentions (health, wellbeing, etc) lead to a loss of meaning for cultural policy in its own terms? If so, what are the implications for the arts sector?

“What happens if, despite the sincerest of intentions and tireless efforts to integrate, most organizations rooted in European forms of artistic expression never achieve anything close to proportionate representation of the demographics of their communities? What then?”

“When he got to Bilbao a month before [the Guggenheim Bilbao] opened, says Frank Gehry, ‘I went over the hill and saw it shining there. I thought: ‘What the f*** have I done to these people?” … The museum was opened 20 years ago this month, by the king and queen of Spain, since when it has become the most influential building of modern times. It has given its name to the ‘Bilbao effect’ – a phenomenon whereby cultural investment plus showy architecture is supposed to equal economic uplift for cities down on their luck.” Rowan Moore looks at Gehry’s icon and his thoughts about it (he hates the idea of a “Bilbao Effect”) and at why the phenomenon hasn’t worked so well in other cities that have tried it.