Category: issues

Rupert Christiansen: “At what point does public demand become so low that this can no longer be justified, especially at a time when wonderful opera and ballet from all over the world can be relayed live in HD to cinemas at no cost to the Exchequer?”

The Smithsonian’s $2.8m figure estimates lost revenue from cafeterias, gift shops and theatres at the institution’s 19 museums and the National Zoo.

“Openness in a digital age implies that more academic services and content will be portable and that, for better or worse, this changes the kind of policies and institutional forms which are available to academic communities.”

“The world is changing radically and so must we. That’s the agenda underlying the innovation mandate. This change agenda is actually a critique, a presumption that arts organizations are calcified, failed.”

Poet Jose Padua: “It was one of the situations where I open the front door of a place, everyone’s smiling and laughing until they take a look at me, standing in the entrance looking, to them, like an uppity foreigner, an illegal alien, or maybe even a terrorist.”

“We document everything we want to be true. We seed in subplots with two careful clicks and a Valencia wash. In saying: ‘I’m fine! I’m totally fine!’, aren’t we, sort of, asking: ‘Am I?'”

“The best return on a massive art collection comes via charitable donations to museums or foundations. But art is also one of the few assets where one can exchange a work for different works to defer taxes.”

“Jeff Bezos is like King Midas in reverse: All the gold he touches turns to something else.”

“With the U.S. premiere of Glass’ Sixth Quartet, Las Vegas’ new performing arts center has begun making history.”

“Anonymity promises invaluable freedom from social, professional and political constraints. Without it, how readily would critics and whistle-blowers speak up? Would the Arab Spring have happened? If you believe in free speech, there are clear reasons to defend it.”