Category: issues

“For at least a decade, a small but telling cross section of movies, books, musical acts and other forms of artistic expression have suggested that the major stress lines in Brazilian society – economic inequality, pervasive corruption, sub-par public services, lack of accountability among the country’s elites – were pointing toward a crackup.”

Roughly 50 other countries, including nearly all of the developed world, have a cabinet-level post devoted to the support of culture. Yet the United States has always resisted creating such a position. Would a Secretary of Culture improve U.S. government support of the arts and humanities or merely politicize it?

“Three decades later, there is almost no one in China willing to delve into the Cultural Revolution. The Chinese government does not exactly encourage discussion of the subject. It remains a deeply painful subject to those who lived through it.”

Today, whether the question is “Where is the best place to bring up your family?”, “Where do knowledge workers congregate?” or “What attracts inward investment?”, “Cities with a rich cultural life” is the most common answer

“Museums like the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum have tried to deter claimants from filing suit by beating them to the courthouse and asking judges to declare the museums the rightful owners.”

“At the current rate, however, reaching a parity of female and male characters would take about 700 years.”

“Baldwin’s rant jumps out as a cold reminder that hatred towards gay people still whistles all around, as alive as ever. And that, clearly, Hollywood helps keep it there.”

“Governments are waking up to soft power, and want to direct it more effectively.”

“After firing off a tweet related to the show, I received a response from a member of the Fringe community. What she had to say — only tangentially related to the show — was more interesting to me than the action on stage at that very moment. So I checked out. It wasn’t fair to the show, but honestly, I felt like they started it.”

“The European avant-garde was fascinated with the bike, seeing it variously as a symbol of man’s desire to break all physical, moral and aesthetic constraints.”