“The stuff of late-night LOLs used to be quippy monologues, vapid celebrity interviews, Stupid Human Tricks both official and less so. It still is, to some extent. More often, though, TV comedy that self-consciously defines itself as “comedy”—the stuff that originally airs on Comedy Central and FXX and HBO, the stuff that is firmly rooted in traditions of sketch and standup—is taking on subjects like racism and sexism and inequality and issues including police brutality and trigger warnings and intersectional feminism and helicopter parenting and the end of men.”
Category: issues
Artist-Friendly Portland Rents Are Pricing Out Artists
“Portland has long been an incubator for artists looking for a vibrant and supportive community—minus the high cost of living in larger cities like Seattle and San Francisco. But a perfect storm of decreased development during the recession, and increased in-migration in the years following, has transformed Portland into a place where artists like Abernathy are being priced out as rents continue to rise.”
UK Arts Funder Warns Government Funding Cuts Are Damaging Culture
“In his first speech since becoming Arts Council chief executive, Darren Henley said cuts could halt recent progress in cultivating culture around the country. Arts Council England has had its government grant cut by 36% since 2010. Chancellor George Osborne is expected to outline £30bn of spending cuts to government departments in his next budget in July.”
A Major New Arts Center For San Francisco’s Palace Of Fine Arts?
“The WAW proposal, which would give the palace the pseudonym, the Center for Global Arts and Cultures, calls for capital improvements totaling $150 million. By contrast, recent improvements to the Herbst Theater ran to $156 million.”
More Audience Engagement? Audiences Need To Reassert Themselves
“Aside from the artist’s responsibility, Don Roth has come to believe that audiences need to do a better job of reasserting themselves. They need to spend more time preparing for a concert, discovering or rediscovering the music, as well as finding out about the musicians. Audience members also need to disconnect themselves, literally and figuratively, from daily life, and be open to a musical experience that’s simultaneously emotional, intellectual, and spiritual.”
Ranked: America’s Most “Inspirational” Cities For Artists?
“The educational website WorldWideLearn recently culled data from the American Community Survey and the Local Arts Index to rank the 15 most creatively inspiring cities in the United States for aspiring young artists and art students. “
USC Dean Refuses To Accept MFA Class’s Withdrawal From Program
“Most notably, the Dean refused to acknowledge that the students were even dropping out, saying “we have not recorded your withdrawal. Instead, we have granted each of you a two-year leave of absence.” Given the clear sense of betrayal felt by the USC7, it seems unlikely that they would choose to return to the program.”
How To Reinvent A Big Performing Arts Center (With An Interim Director, No Less)
Toronto’s Sony Centre “has been buzzing this season with many events and lots of community engagement. In 2014, the centre presented 23 events plus 59 rentals by other presenters; that grew to 36 Sony events and 74 rentals in 2015 plus many corporate events.”
This Is Why Palmyra Is Important To World History
“It would be folly to believe that the survival of archaeological reports and photographs could in any way compensate for the destruction or looting of the ancient remains. The preservation of buildings and objects that managed to survive for two thousand years of Palmyra’s history has to be a priority wherever civilization is cherished.”
Luminato’s New CEO Thinks He Knows The Secret To Festival Success
“I think Edinburgh, Hong Kong, Sydney – those sort of festivals that are known globally as some of the most exciting, most interesting, defining festivals in the world, they have anchors in the cities that they’re in, but their content isn’t narrowly focused on the cities or the countries that they’re in.”