Category: issues

“In times of crisis it is vital that multi-art form programming remains agile and responsive to the need for change. Each art form must prove its worth, but analysis of value should be based on qualitative concerns rather than the need to generate footfall.”

The National September 11th Museum and Memorial already has elicited a range of responses — some families support the plans, while others are critical.

“[A] half century after the Freedom Riders first arrived in this city, the Montgomery bus depot has been converted, with the help of the Alabama Historical Commission and historians, such as Raymond Arsenault, into the Freedom Rides Museum – a timely monument to a groundbreaking journey.”

“Cultural institutions around Los Angeles are bracing themselves for ‘Carmageddon,’ the 405 freeway closure on Saturday and Sunday, with a number of museums, theaters and performance spaces either closing or altering their schedules to accommodate the anticipated impact on traffic.”

The House Appropriations Committee votes to cut $20 million each from the budgets of the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

“You not only can browse these brokers’ inventories on their websites, but you also can find tickets through various aggregator sites and, perhaps most significantly, through online ticket exchanges such as StubHub and TicketsNow. This wide-open marketplace, the brokers contend, has driven down prices, certainly for events where supply outpaces demand.”

“Although few institutions know exactly how they will be affected, anger is directed not only at the cuts but at what is being widely perceived as government disdain for culture.”

“Financially healthy, reliably popular performing arts organizations are not so easy to come by these days, as the David H. Koch Theater goes searching for a major tenant to replace New York City Opera, which is expected to move out of its longtime home.”

This sense that “the best days are behind us” is particularly seductive to my generation, a cohort steeped in the twin ideals of authenticity and early-adopterism. But the idea that nothing is of real cultural import after it has been discovered by the masses is not just bogus – it’s unoriginal.

“A growing number of foreign artists, ranging from grassroots fringe performers to world-renowned stars, are ruling this country out of their future travel plans due to difficulties with obtaining visas.”