“Results suggest that being entertained is not necessarily a universal driver, with significant variances in responses. In the visual arts sector, for example, audiences cited intellectual stimulation (45%) and inspiration (44%) as important drivers for attendance. More than a third (37%) of these visitors also stated that they attend art galleries because the visual arts are an important part of who they are, highlighting their personal identification with the artform as a significant factor in their decision to attend (more than for all other artforms).”
Category: issues
Thin Skins: Today’s College Students Can’t Take A Joke (Or Don’t Want To)
“Keeping hold of that kid for all four years has become a central obsession of the higher-ed-industrial complex. How do you do it? In part, by importing enough jesters and bards to keep him from wandering away to someplace more entertaining, taking his Pell grant and his 529 plan and his student loans with him.”
India Lifts Ban On Internet Pornography After Nationwide Debate
“In the first large-scale crackdown on the internet in India, the world’s largest democracy, websites were blocked over the weekend as telecommunications companies began to implement government instructions. The Department of Communications said the aim was to prevent pornography becoming a social nuisance, but the move immediately prompted a nationwide debate about censorship and freedom.”
Blurred Lines: The Battles Over Free Speech, Hate Speech, And Online Shaming
Kelefa Sanneh: “We live in a world, evidently, where a college-town d.j. who plays a popular song can inspire a Facebook protest that will eventually cost him his gig. But we also live in a world where an undergraduate who protests at her local bar can find herself vilified around the world … And it’s not obvious that the first development should trouble us more than the second.”
The Nonprofit Hunger Games, And How We Might Stop Them
“We all got to talking, and it turned out the two seniors [at our table] were major donors to Jane’s organization who also happened to like Vietnamese food. I said, ‘Hey, I know a great Vietnamese restaurant! I’d love to take you sometime. Maybe the four of us could get lunch together.’ There was a 20-second stare-down between Jane and me. … [Later,] I ran into her at another event, and she introduced me to others as ‘The guy who tried to poach my donors.'”
The Tourism Problem (It’s Killing Travel, Killing Experience, And Killing Places)
“In an age of unprecedented foreign travel, tourists get quite a bad rap, not least from tourists themselves. Of course, many high-minded people would scoff at the notion that they are tourists, beholden to the same vulgar taste as the travelling masses, even though, as we shall see, that hierarchy is not a very convincing one.”
Taking Stock Of The Arts In Kansas City
The city has made big investments in its arts. But it’s a time of transition as prominent leaders move on and arts institutions try to figure out what next.
Where Can You Afford To Live As An Artist? Here’s Why New Orleans Ranks No. 1
So, what’s a poor, pragmatic artist to do? According to a new study from the personal finance website SmartAsset, they should consider moving to New Orleans. The birthplace of jazz has much more than just music: it has the best affordability-to-culture ratio out of the 187 largest cities in the United States. Also, beignets.
How Can You Be A Middle Class Artist When The Middle Class Is Being Wiped Out?
“How can artists serve the social good, create excellent work, and critique the system when it is the system which is actively eroding the social good and preventing them from accomplishing excellent work? The result is not meaningful creative engagement but a scramble for survival—a blurring of vision and base opportunism.”
Comcast Is Spending Billions On Theme Parks
“That’s just a huge, huge number for a business this size. We see this as a major growth driver for the company for five, 10, 15, 20 years.” But now Comcast faces a new question: Is it moving too fast and disregarding the perennial problems that have long challenged this corner of entertainment?