Category: issues

“Social media portals such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others are not only changing the way arts organizations interact with audiences, [a] Pew study shows, they are also helping define how arts are presented. … The study also identified two curious downsides to the rise in social media use among audiences.”

“As construction begins on a new $653m branch of the Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi, a group of artists who have spoken out against labour conditions in the Gulf released another letter calling on all the cultural institutions opening museums on Saadiyat Island to ‘seek uniform and enforceable human rights protections for the workers working on their sites’.”

“Leading cultural organisations are to share an extra £7 million which has been set aside for major capital projects over the next three years by the Scottish Government.”

Museums and theatres in the Yorkshire city face a 20 percent reduction in council support. “The news comes a week after Sheffield Theatres was named regional theatre of the year by The Stage newspaper.”

“The $60 billion industry is facing intense political pressure from an unlikely alliance of critics who say that violent imagery in video games has contributed to a culture of violence.”

The Twin Cities are great for artists in many ways. Except for the money thing. “You have little chance of making the orchestras; acting jobs rarely last for an entire year; the average dancer earns about $7,000 annually; visual artists live by what they can sell; full-time choral work is extremely rare.”

“Artisphere is a beautiful building filled with all sorts of exciting rooms: galleries, ballrooms, black box theatre, classrooms, and space for artists and audiences to intertwine. On their website they describe the space as ‘designed for people and art to collide.'”

“The queue to share some of your cash is lengthy and varied, spreading through crew, media, caterers, managers and the venue itself. And this doesn’t include the fee you pay on top for the privilege of buying the ticket and, gallingly, printing it out yourself at home.”

“About 71 per cent of those polled said they use the internet to engage in arts and culture. About 54 per cent said they used the web to find out more about an artist or event, 44 per cent either bought tickets or watched or listened to an art exhibition or performance online, and 38 per cent discussed arts and culture on the Internet.”

MoMath is “the only place in the world that has an L.E.D. foot-touch ‘Math Square’ as a permanent exhibit. We were standing beside it, watching a young boy run in circles around it, while [founder Glen] Whitney dismissed the idea that studying algebra is any different from learning to drive.”