“I can see absolutely no reason why every arts organisation in this country cannot raise philanthropic funds,” Ed Vaizey told a House of Commons committee. “I think that too many arts organisations think, ‘well, we live in an area where rich people don’t live, so they’re not going to back the arts’. I think that is pathetic, frankly.”
Category: issues
Debunking The Culture Of Free (In The End, Someone Always Pays)
“Like children behind the Pied Piper, we’ve been all too eager to believe the fairy tale that we could get something for nothing, greedily using the ‘free’ services of Google, Facebook and Twitter. But we pay one way or another. We can pay directly through public subsidies such as the TV licence and taxes, or indirectly, our data sold, our public culture placed into private hands and our eyeballs targeted relentlessly with advertising.”
How The Arts Should Use Data (At Least Asking The Question)
“If we are to measure cultural participation, then we should clearly know exactly what it is we are measuring. We should also be open to the many empirical forms of cultural participation that exist whether we say they do or not.”
The 9-11 Museum: Ritualized Grief
“It is a stew of the basic metaphors of Western Civilization, and in the end you realize that this isn’t just a museum trying to be a quasi-sacred space for reflection, it is a new religion, fully articulated and perfectly adapted for our distracted, self-involved, media-saturated world. Sprawling over 110,000-square feet, with vast, cavernous spaces that reach down to the depths of the original footings of the old World Trade Center, this is the great, subterranean cathedral of America Militant, Suffering and Exceptional.”
Entire Board Of Toronto’s Sony Center Performing Arts Center Resigns Amid Management Questions
“All eight citizen directors of Toronto’s Sony Centre for the Performing Arts have resigned, the latest upheaval at the city-owned theatre, which is facing questions about oversight and cost overruns for a renovation that has yet to be finished.”
U.K.’s New Culture Secretary Offers Government Support, But Calls For Rich People To Donate To The Arts Too
“One of the reasons such people choose to live here is our world-beating cultural scene and there’s no reason why they can’t do more to support it.”
Why Would A Scientist Diss The Power Of Fairytales?
“The material is super-rich: the stories crystallise the accumulated knowledge of the past into brilliantly coloured, sharply outlined, yet often baffling motifs.”
Why Has Good Taste Gone Out Of Fashion?
“As the idea of good taste is ridiculed, bad taste has been embraced in its place. We are comfortable showing that we know what is bad, but all too quiet about what is good.”
It’s Not Just Classical Music That Has A Woman Problem
Barney Sherman: “I was more surprised than I should have been when I looked at other contemporary arts and saw how off-kilter they can be.”
On The Eve Of This Year’s Toronto Luminato Festival, Fears About Its Future Funding
“The festival is without guaranteed long-term funding from the province and has a looming multimillion-dollar hole in future budgets, as its $15-million-dollar reserve fund is almost dry.”