Category: issues

“The nonprofit’s model — part performing-arts presenter, part economic-development engine — has been mimicked by arts groups from New Jersey to London. And while PlayhouseSquare’s pursuits might seem at odds with running the nation’s second-largest performing arts center, (Lincoln Center in New York City is No. 1) real estate has provided the foundation with a way to subsidize arts and education programs.”

“For the most part, philosophers exist, and have always existed, outside the public spotlight. Yet when we reflect upon those eras of humankind that burn especially bright, it is largely the philosophers that we remember.”

“I instantly decided that I never wanted to be the kind of critic who reveled in the chopping-up of somebody else’s work. If it has to be done, fine; but you don’t have to cackle happily and smack your lips with gusto while doing it.”

“Oil-rich Norway — with its 81.0 years of life expectancy, average annual income of $58,810 and 12.6 years of schooling — has now topped the Human Development Index (HDI) for all but two years since 2001.”

“Welcome to the new world of shaming, in which the ancient fear of public humiliation and ostracism (once a homely, low-tech business of the stocks and pillories) has become a high-tech tool to motivate and incentivize.”

“Rev. Maurizio Mirilli, head of youth ministry in Rome’s Catholic Church, has converted a section of the crypt [at San Carlo al Corso] into a nightclub with a live-music stage and a bar stocked with beer, Prosecco and other wine. Father Mirilli has christened the new watering hole GP2, short for ‘Giovanni Paolo II,’ as the late Polish pope was known in Italian.”

“Arts Council England, which distributes cash to about 850 groups, wants to make recipients more accountable and open up the process to new organisations. More than 100 organisations are likely to lose their funding.”

“The money will go principally to the Youth Access Endowment, a new entitly created by the Smithsonian. Gates is giving $30million of the gift to ‘reach underserved students” in the United States’.”

“The British author Alan Shadrake is today facing a possible prison sentence after a court in Singapore convicted him of challenging the integrity of the city-state’s judiciary in a book” – Once a Jolly Hangman: Singapore’s Justice in the Dock – “criticising its use of the death penalty.”

“All Canadians should have equal opportunity to succeed, no matter where they live. Without universal access to high-speed internet, this cannot be achieved.”