“While we desperately need an open debate about free speech and the freedom to offend in our society, the obsessive focus on Muslims, religion, and blasphemy has diverted attention away from the bigger question of how we handle offending and being offended as part of a big, broad society where not everyone is going to agree.”
Category: issues
A History Of Shocking Art (Are We All Shocked Out?)
“To be shocking, to be offensive: the meaning of these noble terms might not be obvious. There are so many variants of shock. What might be necessary, for more precise orientation, is some kind of shock genealogy.”
The 20 Top University Fundraisers (A Record Year)
“Donors increased the amount they gave colleges in 2014 by 10.8 percent, up from $33.8 billion in 2013, which was the previous historic high. Without adjusting for inflation, the growth between 2013 and 2014 was the largest since 2000.”
Male-Female Inequality Is Still A “Dangerous Subject” In The Arts, Says London’s Top Arts Exec
Jude Kelly, artistic director of the Southbank Centre: “I think cultural spaces are the places to talk about dangerous subjects, and gender equality is still a dangerous subject, and it’s just as relevant in the arts as anywhere else.”
Is There TOO Much Arts Journalism?
It’s uncomfortable to think that more arts writing is creating less substantive engagement with the arts, but the arts are not the only field wrestling with this issue. As Alice Robb reported (ironically, in The New Republic, last September), “Science has never been so democratic. It’s just not clear whether democracy is what science needs.” There may be no correlation between current arts participation numbers and the increase in arts journalism, but arts journalism played a significant role in audience development during the 20th century.
The World Has Some Remarkably Dark ‘Tourist Attractions’
“Everywhere Tézenas went, he saw examples of the oblivious, sometimes offensive behavior one might expect of tourists at any popular attraction. In a torture cell in Cambodia, he saw that a tourist had written ‘I was here’ on a wall.”
The Perks At The Top Of The Nonprofit Arts World
“Such special payouts can put directors at odds with colleagues who do not receive similar perks, nonprofit specialists said. They can also appear out of step at a time when such add-ons have come under greater scrutiny in the corporate world.”
This Russian Movie Was Nominated For A Foreign Film Oscar, But Might Be Censored In Russia
“The film, which paints a dark picture of corrupt provincial life in the country, has been denounced as anti-Russian by public figures ranging from politicians to clerics. The culture minister, Vladimir Medinsky, has said he doesn’t like the film’s depressing story and foul language.”
Music Journalists Don’t Take Women Seriously As Writers, Producers Of Their Own Music
“Everyone is prejudged and sorted into preexisting categories. Man with guitar: songwriter. Man at a mixing console: Producer and mastermind. Woman with a shiny outfit: pop star.”
Women Fight On Many Fronts To Gain Equality In Hollywood
“Increasing numbers of people — if mostly women — are pushing back hard at the industry’s biases. And they’re pushing back publicly, a gutsy stance in an industry that runs on secrets, lies and fear.”