ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

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Americans Are Abandoning Big Cities

In the past three years, the net number of moves out of Manhattan has increased tenfold. In every urban county within the metros of New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, immigration declined by at least 50 percent from 2018 to 2021. In downtown Detroit and Long Island, deaths actually exceeded births last year. - The Atlantic

The Librarians Fighting Book Censorship

"Libraries, principals, school boards, superintendents are just fending off not only formal complaints that have been filed, which is what ALA was counting, but also informal complaints, email complaints, comments at school board meetings. The atmosphere is one that’s very difficult." - Slate

San Francisco’s Castro Theatre, Undergoing Renovation, Gets Hit Hard By Burglars

The historic theatre was hit "twice in the span of a single week — a repeat offense by the same suspect that reportedly resulted in $45,000 in damages to the near-century old venue." - San Francisco Chronicle

What’s Behind All The Book Bans?

A Nambé Pueblo scholar describes how book bans might affect Native peoples. "We are few in comparison to nearly all other groups. If read Native books and develop empathy for us ... their actions will be shaped by us" rather than by stereotypes. - Learning for Justice

The Humanities’ Credibility Crisis

That problem takes two forms: first, the lack of public trust in humanities scholars’ processes of inquiry and expert conclusions. Simply put, the public doesn’t seem to trust that we are engaging in real, methodical scholarly inquiry. - Washington Post

“A Disconcerting Level Of Disconnection” As College Students Return To Campus In Person

"More than 100 (professors) wrote in, using words like 'defeated,' 'exhausted,' and 'overwhelmed.' ... Far fewer students show up to class. Those who do avoid speaking when possible. Many skip the readings or the homework. They have trouble remembering what they learned and struggle on tests." - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Why Researchers Are Leaving Australia In Droves

My peers are burnt out, despondent and thinking of leaving the sector. Everybody has told me to leave the country, even if I am able to find a job here. Alongside precarious short-term contracts and chronic overwork, which are common everywhere, the government has cultivated a set of policies which demonstrate its neglect. - Sydney Morning Herald

For This Summer, At Least, Lincoln Center Is Replacing The Mostly Mozart Festival

"Summer in the City", running mid-May to mid-August (and including six Mostly Mozart programs), is the first festival under chief artistic officer Shanta Thake, appointed with the mission of expanding beyond classical music and dance to spoken poetry, hip-hop, and other genres seen as less exclusive. - The New York Times

Florida Senate Votes To Strip Disney Of Special District Status

Republicans in the House also are expected to approve the move. It would take effect on June 1, 2023. - Deadline

We Live In An Isolating Culture. The Arts Are Swimming Upstream

Collecting people in a certain space, at a certain time, on a certain date, in a certain seat, to see an unknown quantity — these mandatory requirements fly in the face of the behavior of the increasingly isolationist consumer market. - Alan Harrison

The Philadelphia Inquirer And The Museum Of The American Revolution Get Gifts Of $50 Million Each

The donations, the largest in each organization's history, come from the estate of H.F. "Gerry" Lenfest, the board chair who oversaw the Museum's creation and opening and the owner of The Inquirer before he transferred it to the nonprofit Lenfest Institute for Journalism in 2016. - MSN (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Putin’s Government Allocates Millions To Fund Russian Arts Projects Cut Off By Other Countries Following The Ukraine Invasion

The Russian government will provide 1 billion rubles ($12.1 million) to cultural projects and institutions which have lost money due to "sanctions pressure" because of what Putin's deputy chief of staff called "their patriotism and loyalty to the country." - The Art Newspaper

The World’s Biggest Arts Event Returns — But Has It Learned To Manage The Crowds?

A record-breaking 3841 Fringe shows were registered in 2019, consequently, like many in Edinburgh I enjoyed having ‘my’ city back in the summer of 2000; seeing it in all its breathtaking glory, while wandering through empty streets, soaking in the history. - The Scotsman

How The World Is Uncoupling From Russian Artists And Culture

Few places now seem to epitomise Russia’s cultural decoupling from the west better than the large, empty walls of GES-2, created as Moscow’s answer to Tate Modern. - The Guardian

At Most American Universities, The Struggle Over Ideas Is Not Free-Speech-Versus-Woke Censorship. Not At All.

Lucas Mann, an English professor at a UMass branch campus: "For a professor at a school like mine, ... the trick isn't convincing students to drop their dogmas. It's convincing them that the stuff we're talking about could matter in lives already complicated by many other things." - Slate

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