“Critics have gotten confused about the issue of what their role is…. this is about instant response. It’s about the number of likes you get on your Facebook page. It’s all about the ego popularity presence of the critic. And frankly, none of these people, are interesting enough to really merit being a presence overall… I can’t imagine most of this stuff will people read 10 years from now.”
Category: issues
New York Attorney General Investigating Cooper Union’s Finances
The inquiry will examine the handling of the school’s endowment, management of its largest asset (the Chrysler Building), the terms of the $175 million in debt the board took on for a new starchitect-designed building, and how things came to the point that a lavishly endowed insitution created to be tuition-free had to begin charging students last year.
London’s Royal Opera House Trying To Fend Off Backstage Strike
“A last-ditch attempt to prevent strike action at the Royal Opera House has begun between the Covent Garden venue and backstage union BECTU. The union is seeking a 4% across the board pay increase for backstage staff who, in early March, rejected an offer from the Royal Opera House for a 2% rise.”
More Private Funding Of UK Arts Will Make London-vs-Regional Imbalance Even Worse, Says Labour’s Shadow Culture Secretary
“For all the efforts that have been made, and for all the good donors outside of London, actually there is a massive imbalance. The truth is that even if you do have a proper strategy, you can’t just leave it to the market.”
This Female Comedian Does An Hour Of Rape Jokes Every Night (With No Pants On)
Adrienne (“I do wear a jacket and heels – I’m not ridiculous”) Truscott: “And what is my right to do it – because I’m a woman? A comedian? Journalists ask me if I’ve been raped. A fair question in a way, or does it reveal an assumption based on my material: that I couldn’t simply be a comedian doing an hour of pointed observational comedy. Would being raped give me the right to joke about rape? No, anyone has the right to do it, but it could make my observational comedy about it more incisive.”
California’s Next Bohemian Hot Spot – In A City You’d Never Expect
James Fallows reports: “‘The Tower District is the bohemia of Fresno, and Fresno is the bohemia of California,’ a Fresnan named Heather Parish told us recently. If she were editing in real time, she probably would have said: Fresno should be the bohemia of our most populous and creative state. Here is what she is talking about and why she could dare say such a thing.”
Brooklyn Academy Of Music Chooses New President
“[BAM] hasn’t had to search for a new president in a very long time. Since the impresario Harvey Lichtenstein stepped down in 1999, Karen Brooks Hopkins has held the position, becoming a fund-raising powerhouse and building the institution into an anchor for a cultural renaissance in Downtown Brooklyn.”
Why We Should Let Prisoners Take College Courses
“Education was once an integral part of prison life. In the early 1980s, there were 350 college degree programs for prisoners nationwide. It was part of the “rehabilitative era.” School buildings in prisons were like satellite campuses of colleges, and federal and state grants paid prisoners’ tuitions. But the following years brought unemployment, crack cocaine, the Willie Horton debacle and tough-on-crime rhetoric.”
‘Satirized For Your Consumption’ – Joking Becomes Integral To Public Policy
The CIA launched its Twitter account with self-mockery; the U.S. State Dept. vetted The Interview; Obama’s best promotion of the new healthcare law as with Zack Galafianikis, and he was funnier than the pro comedian at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner – on the night Navy SEALs got Osama Bin Laden, no less. “Comedy [has been] stolen from the professional jokesters by their traditional targets and became, unexpectedly, the new language of power, policy, and politics.”
Fund Saves 16 San Francisco Non-Profits From Soaring Rents
“A music recording studio operated by women, legal services for people living with HIV/AIDS and a performing arts theater were among the nonprofits threatened with closure amid a climate of soaring commercial real estate rents. The funding contributes to expected long-term solutions for the organizations.”