Category: issues

“The horrific event could lead city officials to go after illegally converted warehouses across Oakland, especially as evidence mounts that building inspectors knew of numerous problems with the Ghost Ship property but didn’t take action. Already, Oakland tenants housed in similar spaces are receiving eviction notices, and Mayor Libby Schaaf announced that the city is considering new fire and emergency exit regulations for its buildings. But any decision to condemn residences where artists are living illegally or force their owners to bring them up to code has led to worries that Oakland might hemorrhage more artists as housing costs continue to rise.”

In the UK there’s a perception that US-style fundraising won’t work there. But as government and corporate funding for the arts gets scarcer, trying to get private philanthropists to give more is getting energy. Here are eight myths about fundraising in the UK.

Last month the conservative youth group Turning Point USA launched this website to identify academics who (in the opinion of Turning Pointers) “advance leftist propaganda in the classroom.” (Last week George Yancy wrote an Op-Ed for the New York Times about finding his name on it.) Now, saying “this is the sort of company we wish to keep,” more than 100 professors at Notre Dame have signed an open letter asking to be included.

“Redux includes two lists of radical thinkers: those of the past and present, respectively. The past list includes blurbs about influential thinkers from Socrates to Thomas Jefferson to Anna J. Cooper to Alan Turing, with some perhaps unexpected entries. An entry on Jesus of Nazareth, for example, reads, ‘Notorious radical and troublemaker, taught the poor, executed by the state.'”

“Under the new business model, Luminato would start planning events three years in advance so that it could work with other festivals as partners in commissioning shows and work out the best possible deals with venues and artists. Meanwhile the festival would rely less on government funding.”

It’s not unusual for corporate entities to give money to arts organizations. It’s far less common for them to actually break out the hammers and nails. “We could just donate to the arts,” Joseph A. McMillan Jr., who founded DDG, said by phone. “But as a real estate company, we have opportunities and capabilities others might not possess.”

Adam Kirsch: “One illusion that will be particularly painful to part with is the idea that high culture and the arts have any effective power in American life. … The central role that writers and artists have played in public debate and popular culture is a thing of the past, but that role was always secondary to their real purpose.”

“Artists objected to the fact that the NAS Creative Community Fellows program would have emphasized community engagement–which they view as the province of outreach programs administered by nonprofit organizations. It also placed substantial emphasis on training for more community engagement–an investment of time and energy many artists view as taking them away from the focus of their work. They note that the work itself is exhibited in galleries and featured in art walks and as such has made enormous contributions to Cleveland neighborhoods.”

“Whatever problems you might have with the idea of a Trump administration, it opens up the prospect of a real improvement in American arts policy.”