Category: issues

“The question underlying the current posh war remains: are too many careers increasingly an option only for those with the backing of an affluent family? And what will Britain become if this continues?”

“If I’m worried about anything about the future of the arts in this country, it’s the future of the arts in London. Because I think London is becoming unsustainable as a city for artistic creativity, because it’s so expensive. The amount of young directors, writers, actors I know who are moving to Cardiff, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester… I think London could become like Manhattan: a very beautiful, empty place.”

“Nearly 30 years later, in response to the Paris massacre, the Associated Press removed an image of Piss Christ from its editorial archives. We’ve seen the same impulse for self-censorship in the West before, as we see it in the refusal of many media outlets to publish the Charlie Hebdo cartoons at the heart of this recent tragedy. Given the seriousness of the violence, such self-censorship is understandable; it’s also a step backward at a time when we need to reassert the importance of free expression by artists, activists, journalists and editors alike.”

Fergus Linehan has taken charge at a time of uncertainty over budgets, with a bid for an extra £1.73 million for the next three years rejected by Creative Scotland and the possibility of cuts to its grant from Edinburgh City Council. The EIF’s funding has been largely static for the past eight years, which, arguably means a series of cuts, considering inflation and rising costs.”

“Institutions that once competed, sometimes bitterly, over audiences, resources and donors are increasingly teaming up in ways both large and small.”

“in Bill de Blasio’s second State of the City Address, delivered this afternoon, the mayor outlined his plan for addressing New York’s housing problem, which includes building 1,500 affordable artist work/live spaces by 2024.”

“President Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal 2016 calls for slight increases in federal funding for cultural institutions, including the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities. But the proposed increases wouldn’t come close to reversing the cuts experienced by those groups during the previous five years.”

“The constant pressure to increase support often generates an impulse to create something new in order to drive funding and public interest — a new fundraising event, a new educational program, a new artistic offering. This is entirely justifiable; funders tend to respond to new opportunities that broaden or deepen their philanthropic impacts. However, the impulse to create new fundraising “hooks” can also be a trap.”

It is hard to avoid a feeling of nostalgia for the virulent days of the “culture wars,” when participants on different sides of the debate shared a common conviction about the importance of a humanist education.

It is, argues Michael Lind, the likes of The Incredible Hulk and Mrpoophispants (who is like Hitler).