Category: issues

“Ten years ago, two-thirds of population increase was courtesy of immigration. By 2030, it is projected to be 100%. The economic benefits are also self-evident, especially if full citizenship is the agreed goal. All that “settlers” – ie, Canadians who are not indigenous to the land – need do is look in the mirror to recognize the generally happy ending of an immigrant saga. Our government repeats it, our statistics confirm it, our own eyes and ears register it: diversity fuels, not undermines, prosperity.”

“Critics at newspapers are dying off even faster than print journalism. Theatre critics, film reviewers, A&E editors, and arts writers of every kind have been stripped from dailies and weeklies around the country.”

Artists including Richard Serra and Cindy Sherman have signed on to the “J20 Art Strike,” and some museums are considering it as well. The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) says it won’t close because “Our entire program and mission, every day, is an expression of inclusion and appreciation of every culture.”

A grim analysis from Britain: “Let’s face it: art and serious culture are completely marginal to American life. Trump’s victory proves that. Closing museums is not likely to have any impact on those who support him. With all due respect, they might be affected a lot more if reality television shows went on strike.”

People are worried, people are scared, and people are determined: “With Inauguration Day coming ever closer, a mantra has risen from the private conversations of LGBT Hollywood: ‘Keep pushing.'”

Author John Scalzi with a 10-point plan, including get off the internet for a while. Also, stop repeating the lie that chaos will lead to good art. “People who don’t make their living through creative endeavors often suppose turbulent times make for great art, but the truth is that for many artists, being worried or anxious or depressed steals away the ability to create. The new reality of Trump’s America means a lot of creatives have to readjust — find a new balance to get back to creating.”

“World tours, fancy conferences, prestigious bylines and book contracts were bestowed on artists who hewed to political positions favored by the establishment, rather than on the most talented. In 1966, The New York Times confirmed suspicions that the CIA was pumping money into “civil society” organizations: unions, international organizations of students and women, groups of artists and intellectuals. The agency had produced the popular cartoon version of George Orwell’s anticommunist classic Animal Farm in 1954. It flew the Boston Symphony Orchestra on a European tour in 1952, to counter prejudices of the United States as uncultured and unsophisticated. It promoted the work of abstract expressionist painters like Jackson Pollock because their artistic style would have been considered degenerate in both Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union.”

It seems there was no existing research on that question – so one organization organized this pilot project to find out.

“While critics may continue to exist, the conditions that allow them to reach and effect an audience have been eroded. Arts coverage, no matter the medium, is largely reduced to quick responses to what’s new this week. There are exceptions of course, but can you imagine an hour-long conversation between John Berger and Susan Sontag being broadcast on Channel 4 today?”