Category: issues

Those people suddenly getting up to sing in shopping malls? It’s art baby, and an attempt by one foundation to more closely weave it into everyday life. “Our hypothesis is that people care about the arts, and if you analyze where they are and bring art to them, they will be passionate about it.”

Mary Shelley’s “myth has been interpreted as a parable about the ethics of governing (or failing to govern) experimental scientists; a cautionary tale, co-opted by both the left and the right, about what happens when the proletariat is allowed to run amok; a Freudian bodice-ripper about the id on the rampage; and as a coded homosexual saga about a man who usurps the female prerogative and tries to bypass womanhood in having a baby by himself.”

Christopher Knight: “Sunday is the centennial of Ronald Reagan’s birth. Among much else, one thing for which the late president is remembered is devastating the already small budget of the National Endowment for the Arts. … The chop came as part of a larger Republican plan to privatize former public services … The NEA budget has never recovered.”

“All local authorities in Wales should have a legal responsibility to support arts and culture, according to a report published today by the National Assembly for Wales.”

“Secretary G. Wayne Clough did have one thing to smile about this week. He reported that the Smithsonian, on the fund-raising front, had had its best December ever, bringing in $50 million. And the rest of the year wasn’t bad either. For the fiscal year 2010, which ended September 30, they raised $158 million.”

“The arts are aligning themselves with the Tories in ways much more subtle and insidious than simple endorsements. Just as New Labour managed to slot itself into the wider moment known as Cool Britannia, so there are lines that can be drawn from musicians, actors, film-makers and novelists to people at the top of government.”

“As pressure mounts on online courseware projects to demonstrate their value and/or become self-supporting, will the world’s premier universities be able to stay above the fray of online degree programs and pay-to-play course materials? Can they afford to stay pure, righteous, and unaccountable?”

“What are the city festivals supposed to do and how should they be run? Do we want high-quality entertainment at Taste of Chicago and other summer festivals? Or is it merely about background music for a lakefront party?”

“The state’s annual appropriation for the Arts Commission is less than 0.04 percent of the state’s total $5.1 billion budget. Why would Gov. Haley single out such a small agency? If the Commission is eradicated the budget savings will be minimal. And we would immediately lose $900,000 in matching funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.”

“The young people organised themselves into groups that directed traffic, protected neighborhoods and guarded public buildings of value such as the Egyptian Museum and the Library of Alexandria. They are collaborating with the army. This makeshift arrangement is in place until full public order returns.”