“He honors the heights but gladly descends from them, all the while wondering anxiously whether something a little less sublime, a more easeful ideal of the engagement with art, does not shrivel him into a fan or a consumer. The anxiety is fully warranted..”
Category: issues
France’s Culture Minister Replaced – Mid-Debate – In Surprise Cabinet Reshuffle
“Audrey Azoulay, currently President François Hollande’s cultural advisor, is to replace Fleur Pellerin as France’s minister of culture. … Pellerin learned that she was no longer the minister of culture and communication in the middle of a senate debate over her proposed ‘creation, architecture and heritage’ law.”
The Connection Between New Arts Organizations And Neighborhood Diversity
Richard Florida looks at a new study of New York City neighborhoods and organizations founded between 2000 and 2010: “Two thirds of new nonprofit arts organizations are located in neighborhoods with moderate to high levels of racial and income diversity.”
How Realistic Is It To Think You Can Make A Living As A Mid-Career Artist?
The chances that you’ll make any money making art are so few and far between that it is like, “Why give everyone false hope?” The main thing I try to encourage is that if you want to be an artist, don’t be realistic.
Math Revolution? Some American Students Are Suddenly Really Good At Math. Why?
“You wouldn’t see it in most classrooms, you wouldn’t know it by looking at slumping national test-score averages, but a cadre of American teenagers are reaching world-class heights in math—more of them, more regularly, than ever before. The phenomenon extends well beyond the handful of hopefuls for the Math Olympiad.”
An Arts Revolution Is Transforming Small Cities
As part of an Atlantic cover story on how down-and-out-of-the-way cities and towns in the U.S. are reviving themselves, James Fallows writes, “Perhaps the topic on which I’ve most changed my mind through our travels concerns the civic importance of local arts, and the energy being devoted to them across the country. Almost every place we visited offers an example.” (scroll down to fourth boldface sub-headline)
What’s Wrong With Our Debates About Cultural Appropriation
When well-meaning white people say, “Help me define cultural appropriation so I know what to do and not to do,” what they are actually saying, even if they aren’t aware, is, “Help me understand how to continue in this system of privilege and oppression without feeling bad.”
Why Academic Researchers Are Supporting The Mass “Theft” Of Their Work
“Websites like Sci-Hub and Library Genesis have a lot of support from the academic community, including from the authors whose work is being traded for free in shadowy corners of the Internet.”
Bill Introduced In Congress To Help With Visas For Foreign Artists
Legislation to make the artist visa process more reliable and affordable was introduced in the U.S. Senate today by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT). The Arts Require Timely Service (ARTS) Act, S. 2510, would improve opportunities for international cultural activity by ensuring that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) processes artist visas on time.
London Gets Twice As Much Arts Funding As Rest Of England: Report
“[That’s] despite accounting for just a third of the country’s cultural offering. … The report also reveals that the average funding per London organisation is £2.1 million, compared with £495,000 for organisations outside the city.”