Category: issues

The new name, Segerstrom Center for the Arts honors the area’s biggest champion for the arts.”The change went into effect Wednesday with a late-afternoon ceremony on the center’s plaza in Costa Mesa. The name honors the family that provided a home and support for Orange County’s leading arts district by making periodic donations of land and money since 1974 that now total 14 acres and $75 million.”

The most significant thing about the feature on “Why Criticism Matters” is the title. The New York Times would never find it necessary to publish an article on why science, mathematics, medicine, music or art matters. The need to explain why criticism matters emphasizes as clearly as possible the fact that it doesn’t.

“Waters are rising close to the city’s major cultural institutions, including the Gallery of Modern Art, the Queensland Performing Arts Centre, the Queensland Museum and the State Library.”

“Historians’ relative silence about today’s policies stems not from agreement, but from trends in their field that have discouraged their scholarly peers from becoming actively involved in public debates.”

“Even as print space for books gets smaller, even as information technology continues to blast the mass-media glory of newspapers into a million little niches, a new generation of believers is emerging. They are weary of cynicism and the nostalgia for the past. They champion books, the craft of writing and the power of ideas. They see the present as an antidote, not as an antagonist, to the past.”

“In recent weeks, there have been several instances, far more than usual, of alleged censorship involving some of the bigger names in the field. What’s going on?”

“Artist-endowed foundations are a sleeping giant of philanthropy. They are rapidly expanding in number–close to 300 have been identified in the US at the last count–and financial strength, commanding approximately $2.7bn in combined assets.”

“Companies like Google that digitize artworks and books from public bodies should allow other companies and institutions to commercialize those materials after seven years, three experts advising the European Commission said Monday.”

“Like their human counterparts, cartoon celebrities are actually pretty eager to burnish their reputations by endorsing virtuous causes. … SpongeBob SquarePants appears on packaging for spinach, Tweety Bird has shilled for grapes, Bugs Bunny is pitching carrots, and Elmo’s hawking organic vegetable soup.”

“The chairman of the authority’s board Henry Tang said in a statement that Sheffield had advised WKCDA of his intention to resign for health reasons shortly before Christmas, after he had been advised by his doctor to step down with immediate effect.”