Category: issues

“[T]hings have gotten ugly in an online contest among cultural organizations to win a $200,000 grant from American Express” in the wake of a Twitter message by an overeager Lincoln Center employee: “I know we’ve asked before, but we really need to beat StoryCorps. We NEED your HELP.” While Lincoln Center has apologized and disavowed the offending tweet, many in the arts world remain bothered by the idea of awarding grant money by popular vote.

This weekend in Toronto, two “multimedia artists are staging Z’s By The C, a ‘radical crafting and public napping project,’ wherein people will be invited to decorate their own sleeping masks and then be given access to a ‘safe sleeping zone’ in an undeveloped patch of grass.” Says one of the artists, “‘We started doing this in Calgary, in 2008, and at first it was sort of terrifying for people, even though we provide a safe area for them.”

Ben Brantley: “The Swedish-born actress … became an international star as an enigmatic love goddess in silent movies, and she carried with her ever after an awareness that saying nothing is what becomes a legend most. … Today’s democracy of technology would, of course, conspire to put a fast and brutal end to the tantalizing demi-invisibility that Garbo sustained so well. Everyone who possesses a cellphone now is a potential member of the paparazzi.”

“Back to basics was never a recipe for a rich culture. It looks as if the most culturally irresponsible policy in modern British history is about to lay waste our artistic landscape. Where’s the sense in that? And yet, the great and the good are confused and wrongfooted.”

“The benefit of arts education is generally twofold, employing both creative and kinetic practices to broaden a student’s synaptic frontiers. However, many programs make the mistake of setting themselves too far apart from the reality of the art market and process of artmaking.”

“A number of leading arts benefactors have argued that philanthropy cannot fill the hole that the threatened 25 to 40 per cent cuts under the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review will leave if they are pushed through later this summer.”

“Londonderry will be the first British City of Culture in 2013, it was announced on Thursday night.The title, which comes with no Government funding, is designed to help areas boost their economy through tourism and the creative industries. Londonderry, Northern Ireland’s second city, had been competing against Birmingham, Norwich and Sheffield.”

“Their heartfelt declaration of love of the arts prior to the election won them many friends across the sector…. They also strenuously argued that they would do everything in their power to make the cuts as painless as possible, that they would fight toe-to-toe with the Treasury to ensure the arts received a fair hearing. And it is on that promise that they will be judged by the arts world.”

“[T]he $4.1 million in grants from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission is still down 6.8% from 2009-10. The Arts Commission had been facing an overall 10.6% reduction in its budget for 2010-11, in keeping with cuts that faced many county operations as officials tried to cope with revenue shortfalls in a poor economy.”

Says the paper’s features editor, “Our three arts reporters have many responsibilities – including writing news, previews and reviews for our Web site and our newspaper. … [They] will continue to cover their beats and publish online and in print. We are just relieving them of the added duties of a blog.”