"A recent surge in cases — Taiwan's worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic — has brought a halt to cultural life on the island, forcing performing arts centers, concert halls and museums to shutter just as they are coming back to life in the rest of the world. Performers from Taiwan and abroad have been caught in...
Here is the story — told, it must be said, rather against the wishes of its founder, who'd have preferred privacy — of the Alphadyne Foundation. - The New York Times
On Monday, the Biden administration sent letters to architect Steven Spandle, landscape architect Perry Guillot, sculptor Chas Fagan and commission chairman Justin Shubow asking that they resign by 6 p.m. that day or face termination. None of the four resigned. - Washington Post
"San Diego arts organisations are still struggling from last year's 50% cut in the city's arts and culture budget, which Mayor Kevin Falcouner instituted to offset lost tax revenue in the early months of the pandemic. These cuts now remain in the mayor's proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, despite the pandemic easing in the US, which has...
"After a regional trial run, French president Emmanuel Macron is launching his program to fund cultural activities for young people nationally. Culture Pass, as the initiative is called, is now open to all 18 year olds in France, and will be extended to high schools across the nation in 2022." - Artnet
"The U.S. education system is not held accountable for ensuring that students are properly equipped with the skills and capabilities to prepare for a career where they can obtain financial stability. Additionally, employers continue to rely on a traditional four-year degree requirement as a primary means of determining job candidate employability. The disconnect here is obvious, and the result...
The average discount rate for first-time undergraduates reached 53.9 percent -- an all-time high -- during the 2020-21 academic year, according to NACUBO’s preliminary estimates released Wednesday. In other words, for every $100 in tuition colleges appear to charge on paper, they do not collect $53.90 from first-time undergraduate students. - Inside Higher Ed
The government’s recent proposal to cut funding for arts higher education by 50%, covering music, dance, drama and performing arts, art and design, media studies, and archaeology, appears somewhat contradictory. - The Conversation
StartSmall’s gift will extend the pilot, administered by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in partnership with Mayor London Breed, in two ways. The first 130 artists will receive $1,000 monthly payments for another full year, for a total of 18 months. It will also fund a second round in which of 50 more artists will receive 18 monthly...
U.S. arts organizations are still waiting for that cultural institution money to flow. "Business owners are wary of the promise after weeks of delay and confusion over the initiative, the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, which many had cheered as a lifeline. Each day applicants vent their frustrations on an online forum, regularly polling one another on whether any applications have yet been...
If approved by the D.C. Council, Reginald Van Lee will lead an 18-member board that critics describe as dysfunctional, toxic and beset by cronyism and white supremacy, according to internal documents and reports and interviews with 14 people associated with the commission. A partner agency of the National Endowment of the Arts, the commission awarded 1,044 grants worth $29.9...
"From Judas and the Black Messiah to H.E.R.'s 'I Can't Breathe,' from the canceling of podcasts to the toppling of monuments to oppression, from White Fragility to Ibram X. Kendi's How to Be an Antiracist: Thanks to the culture we shared in a year unlike any other, the world looks, for better or worse, at least a little different."...
Currently the sales revival is uneven across venue types, with aggregate sales for symphonies and concert halls the lowest compared to the equivalent month in 2019. -TRG
