Category: issues

“In Venice, a city famous for being visited by too many and home to too few, … [locals] hope the crisis has also provided an opportunity to reimagine one of the world’s most fragile cities, creating a more sustainable tourism industry and attracting more full-time residents. – AP

“Comparing the Covid-19 pandemic with the second world war is a perilous and largely ridiculous game. Yet in purely practical terms, the war was the last time cultural organisations ground entirely to a halt. Robert Skidelsky’s biography of John Maynard Keynes notes that the economist liked to say he used the calm of war to reflect on the turmoil of peace. That reflection led to an entirely new settlement for the arts in Britain – the foundation of the Arts Council of Great Britain, forged from a sense that arts and culture were a way of providing healing and comfort to all of society after a national trauma. This was done in the same political breath as the foundation of the NHS.” – The Guardian

“North Texas arts organizations tuned in eagerly at 2 p.m. Monday to hear Gov. Greg Abbott’s address regarding ‘Phase Two’ of the effort to reopen the state’s economy, which, they thought, would include them. But the governor pulled off a bit of a stunner in not addressing performing arts organizations at all. He gave guidance to youth sports camps, summer camps, Little League baseball and professional sports” — even indoor rodeo. But not the arts. – The Dallas Morning News

The grants, which are also available for live performance spaces, “will take arts fees paid by developers in support of now-canceled or planned cultural events and instead make the money available as small-dollar grants.” One city councillor said, “Whether a poet, a painter or a dancer, Los Angeles needs its artists right now … and artists need our help.” – Los Angeles Times

“In fact, no correlation exists between population density and rates of COVID-19 infection, according to recent studies examining the disease in China and Chicago. But if state and local governments still conclude that density itself is a problem, they are more likely to promote suburban sprawl as a matter of law—instead of making the accommodations, in their housing stock and their streetscapes, that allow people to live in cities safely and move about them comfortably.” – The Atlantic

Nearly all the jobs in this supersector involve some form of in-person services rendered for gatherings of people — which, of course, became impossible to maintain when social distancing requirements were put in place by local authorities. – FiveThirtyEight

City of Philadelphia political leaders must recognize that arts, culture and the creative economy are a critical part of the City’s economy and quality of life and it is a “must have” function of government to support that sector. – The Art Blog

“In The Long Haul” draws on the painful financial aftermath of the 2008 recession. The report concludes that nonprofits can expect attendance, subscriptions, working capital and corporate giving not to return to pre-pandemic levels. Ever. – Art and Seek

What’s special about midsize groups? The perfect storm: “these organizations have greater overhead costs than small groups and fewer deep-pocketed donors than large organizations, [so] they may be particularly at risk.” – Baltimore Sun

Beyond simply creating art for art’s sake, or for school credits, many of the young people I encountered are building social movements and creative projects around a different vision for our planet. And they are calling us in. This is an unprecedented moment for intergenerational justice and we need to seize it. – The Conversation