“I didn’t realize it at first, but the fight over the library was rolled up into a bigger one about the library building, and an even bigger fight than that, about the county government, what it should pay for, and how and whether people should be taxed at all. The library fight was, itself, a fight over the future of rural America, what it meant to choose to live in a county like mine, what my neighbors were willing to do for one another, what they were willing to sacrifice to foster a sense of community here. The answer was, for the most part, not very much.” – The New York Times
Category: issues
London’s Old Vic Theatre Promised It Would Double The Number Of Women’s Toilets. It Made All Toilets Gender-Neutral Instead, And Some Women Are Furious
“The push for inclusivity has angered some women who say their comfort and safety is being put at risk – and argue men are still being left with a better deal. Here’s why toilets have become a battleground.” – Reuters
‘The Stage’ Runs Pro And Con Articles On The Old Vic’s Gender-Neutral Toilets, Then Deletes Them In A Panic
“The website issued a statement on Twitter today saying it had taken the articles [about the battle of the loos] down after receiving what it described as ‘strong responses’ from readers, adding they had ‘only polarised the debate further’.” Sareah Ditum, who wrote one of the essays, called the move “gross editorial cowardice.” – Press Gazette (UK)
American Research Universities Association Decides To Expel Canadian Universities… Then Backtracks
Whatever the reasons for its decision, AAU received significant blowback not only from the Canadian institutions but from some of its U.S. members, who argued that it seemed tone-deaf for an association whose core enterprise — scientific research and education — is an increasingly global one. The seeming parallel to the inward-lookingness of the Trump administration didn’t help. – Inside Higher Ed
Pop-Up Pop Culture Experiences Are Everywhere. Bored Yet?
The gold standard and the pop-up worth getting on line early to score tickets for is probably “Saved by the Max.” After its launch last year, Eater Los Angeles described it as a “near-complete recreation of the ’90s Saturday morning staple Saved by the Bell‘s diner.” It feels like it has items from every episode and Easter eggs to inside jokes for both die-hard and casual fans lurking in there somewhere. A $40 ticket gave Chicago and West Hollywood fans an appetizer, an entree, and all the fandom they could handle. – Fast Company
Where Are Artists Priced Out Of Gentrifying Berlin Neighborhoods Going? Here
They’ve been moving into abandoned East German factories along the Spree River. “Although the area’s landscape may look post-apocalyptic, with its giant weeds and empty power plants, strangely, the future here can seem positively Arcadian: Real estate is still cheap enough that artists are able to buy, rather than rent, their spaces. Here, four artists discuss how their work is shaped by the Spree.” – T — The New York Times Style Magazine
Arts Education For All? (Depends On How You Define It)
The problem is that the offering all across the country is premised on the wealth of schools or school districts and there is a fundamental, inherent inequity to that reality. – Barry’s Blog
Looking Deeper Into The Lawsuit Against James Franco
What is a comfort zone, anyway? And how are the claims about Franco and his acting school exemplary of a certain kind of boundary-ignoring harassment that, yes, Harvey Weinstein also engaged in? – The Atlantic
Arts Organizations Are Kicking Opioid Money And Oil Money To The Curb, But What About Oligarchs?
Russian oligarchs have sat on the board of the Guggenheim and given money to the Kennedy Center. They’ve funded the New Museum and historic parks in the U.S. At least, they’ve done all that until (& sometimes after) their companies are sanctioned by the U.S. This “soft power” money is approved by the Kremlin and appreciated by strapped arts institutions. “The Russian giving, and the strained relations between the countries, has created something of a minefield for American cultural organizations.” – The New York Times
What Should Performers Do When Audience Members Are Using Their Phones?
Just a few nights after Anne-Sophie Mutter stopped a concert to tell a woman in the front row to stop filming, actor Joshua Henry, star of a new Off Broadway musical called The Wrong Man, tried to get a man in onstage seating to quit filming. The man paid no attention. So Henry “reached into the seats, deftly grabbed the phone out of the man’s hand, wagged it disapprovingly, and tossed it under a riser — all mid-song, without skipping a beat. ‘I knew I had to do something,’ he explained later.” – The New York Times