ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

ISSUES

Should Arts Organizations Draw More From Their Endowments To Get Through The Pandemic? In Canada, The Argument Heats Up

Up there, as in the States, organizations themselves explain (again) that endowments are for providing income year after year and that drawing down capital is less than prudent (and forbidden by regulations). But in Canada, the issue is complicated by the fact that many of those endowments include money that came from the government, and there's an argument that...

The Case For Banning The Unvaccinated From Theatres

If universities, such as Yale, Stanford and UCLA, are planning to require returning students to be fully vaccinated, why can’t performing arts venues do the same? This policy would offer audience members some insurance that the stranger crammed into the seat next to them wasn’t a potential petri dish of COVID variants eagerly seeking a crack in their newly...

Study: BIPOC Arts Workers In LA Earn 35 Percent Less

On average, entry-level arts administrators in Los Angeles County earn $36,847 annually—a figure that’s higher than the $31,200 minimum wage in the area, but lower than the living wage of $40,200, according to the MIT Living Wage Calculator. BIPOC respondents from the same group reported an average income of just $32,027, while white arts workers earned $43,437, or 35 percent...

The Amenities This Developer Is Adding To Apartment Buildings Are Theaters And Gallery Spaces

Mind you, this isn't just any old real estate mogul: it's Dasha Zhukova, the collector who founded the popular Garage Museum Of Contemporary Art in Moscow. Her new U.S. venture, called Ray, is already at work on a New York building that will incorporate the National Black Theatre in Harlem and a development in Philadelphia's Fishtown neighborhood with six...

UK Culture Minister: I Won’t Allow Our History To Be Cancelled

"Confident nations face up to their history. They don’t airbrush it. Instead, they protect their heritage and use it to educate the public about the past. They “retain and explain,” rather than “remove or ignore”. They don’t do what Liverpool University did and remove William Gladstone’s name from an accommodation block because of his family’s links to slavery." -...

Diversity Means Teaching How To Think Rather Than What To Think

"Teaching kids what to think instead of how to think is dangerous. Advocacy-based teaching deprives them of the skills to reach their own conclusions. Instead they learn to parrot what they know they’re supposed to say to get a good grade. Kids are really good at that, but it doesn’t translate to actually believing what they are saying...

Radio City Music Hall Set To Reopen At 100% Capacity, No Masks Required

The first scheduled event is the finale of this year's Tribeca Film Festival on June 19. Only vaccinated people will be admitted. And how will management ensure that patrons are telling the truth about their shots? Said CEO James Dolan, "That's a really good question, I have no idea." - The New York Times

At The Ballpark, In The Concert Hall, A Crowd Feeds Off Itself. But At 25% Full?…

“You don’t feel part of a crowd,” said Michael Howell, a season ticket holder for 40 years. “It’s more like a movie theatre where you’re all watching the same event. But you don’t feel a common purpose like you do when a sports crowd is really excited.” - WBGH

WhatsApp’s Weird Privacy Debacle Hints At Deeper Tech Issues

When WhatsApp - for years, owned by Facebook - asked users to agree to a privacy update for something that had been true since 2016, the service engendered a revolt and a massive uptick for the more private, not owned by Facebook service Signal. Why? Unclear, but "'When your users have made it clear that they would rather not...

Increasingly — Vaccination Has Its Privilege

Come summer, the nation may become increasingly bifurcated between those who are permitted to watch sports, take classes, get their hair cut and eat barbecue with others, and those who are left behind the spike protein curtain. - The New York Times

St. Paul’s Cathedral In London Is Running Out Of Cash And Could Close

With the pandemic having cut off the revenue from tourist admissions, the landmark's income is down by 90%. The engineer in charge of maintenance and upkeep says the 300-year-old building is "rotting" and all renovation projects have been halted; there's little to no money for the professional choir that sings services; the Dean of the Cathedral said frankly, "If...

Can Los Angeles Re-Establish Itself As A Cultural Capital Post-Pandemic?

"In many ways the challenges here are more intense and complex, in no small part because the virus hit at a time when so many things were in flux. The next steps — by cultural institutions, wealthy philanthropists, government and audiences — could well determine whether COVID will have derailed, or merely delayed, the city's ascendance as a cultural...

Status Report: When And How Various Countries Are Restarting Their Arts Scenes

Here's where plans currently stand in Australia, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Spain, as well as the U.S. - Reuters

New Research: Angkor Wat Population Was Greater Than Modern Boston

Researchers have determined the city’s population at its zenith in the 13th century, and the number is impressive: some 700,000 to 900,000 people likely called the Angkor region home, making it one of the world’s largest pre-modern cities. Compare that with the 2019 estimated population for Boston, at 692,600. - Artnet

How To Grapple With An Artist’s Legacy When You’re Responsible For It?

As I’ve tried to make decisions about those areas of influence, I’ve found that I have to fight the “what would Michael have done” or “what would Michael want” voice. While it seems natural to say that my primary job is to listen to that voice, I’ve come to realize this rationale is not a legitimate way to make...

Our Free Newsletter

Join our 30,000 subscribers

Latest

Don't Miss

function my_excerpt_length($length){ return 200; } add_filter('excerpt_length', 'my_excerpt_length');