“As the 2019 school year gets underway, ProjectArt, an initiative founded by Ardash Alphons in Harlem in 2011, is expanding to New Orleans and San Francisco, bringing arts access to two cities with large communities of homeless young people and giving the organisation a presence in a total of eight cities across the US (By 2021, ProjectArt plans to be in ten cities.)” – The Art Newspaper
Category: issues
How Country Music Became The Heart Of Nashville
Nashville attracted—first downtown, because that’s where the Opry was located, and then on Music Row—a creative community, and that creative community feeds off of itself. I teach at Belmont College, and my students are always saying, “Where I come from, I’m the only person that writes songs; I’m the only person that plays the guitar. I get here and everybody writes songs and everybody plays the guitar.” It either inspires you to get better or causes you to go home, and that’s been a key right there. – CityLab
Tim Page: What We’re Losing Without Critics
“Music criticism will go on – in a few papers, in small journals and on the web (some of the record reviews on Amazon are startlingly erudite, but they are in the minority). Still, for better and worse, there are few gatekeepers, people to guide a curious reader toward writing that will be both authoritative and as open-minded as possible. And with the near-disappearance of copy editors at most daily newspapers, all sorts of factual and lingual mayhem slip through into what you read. Worst of all, almost nobody gets paid.” – 21CM
Is There A Tech Backlash?
No, and it’s wild that we think there is one. “Technology has improved the world, and our lives, in plenty of ways. But it often seems we are willing to overlook significant potential downsides in exchange for rather trivial payoffs.” – The New York Times
Behind The Feud Between DC’s Mayor And The City’s Arts Commission
“The latest episode is tied to the fight for control of the commission, which will shift from the mayor’s office to an independent agency Oct. 1,” pursuant to legislation by the city council. The council did this because, “last year, [Mayor Muriel Bowser] proposed creating a broader office for the arts, which would include culinary and other creative endeavors, and making the commission an advisory council.” – The Washington Post
New Jersey Becomes First US State To Offer Arts Education To All Students
“The state has reached the benchmark for ‘universal arts education access’, meaning each one of its public schools provides some type of school-based arts instruction during the school day for all students.” However, as one official said, “Our work remains undone”: as of 2018, only 81% of students were actually enrolled in arts instruction of any kind. – Hyperallergic
How Can The Arts Be More Diverse When The Structure Isn’t Set Up For It?
This leads us to the most critical question: if most arts leaders are white, and diversity is the business of leaders, what is required of our leaders to effect change? – ArtsHub
Why Fewer Americans Are Volunteering
Fewer Americans are volunteering their time and money on a regular basis, according to the report. The national volunteer rate has not surpassed 28.8 percent since 2005, and in 2015, it dipped to its lowest, at 24.9 percent. – CityLab
Who Cares Where The Money Comes From If It’s Given Anonymously? Well…
“Giving money to higher education amplifies a billionaire’s legacy. The money greases hiring decisions and shapes curriculums, and it can ricochet across the wider culture for decades, even after the billionaire himself has shuffled off this mortal coil.” – The New York Times
Do We Have No Choice But To Stan? How Fan Culture Is Swallowing Democracy
“We are witnessing a great convergence between politics and culture, citizenship and commerce, ideology and aesthetics. Civic participation has been converted seamlessly into consumer practice. … Elizabeth Warren is cast as a Harry Potter character and Kamala Harris is sliced into a reaction GIF. … It is democracy reimagined as fandom, and it is now a dominant mode of experiencing politics.” An essay in nine parts. – The New York Times