Just this year, authorities have gone after social media, high-profile actors, highbrow artists, reality TV, K-pop fans, feature films, video games, and "sissyness". Intelligentsia both within and beyond China, worried about a return to Mao-era totalitarian control, are calling this "the great leap backward." - The Guardian
The June 4 Museum, as it's called, had been closed to the public (presumably on Beijing's orders) since June. This morning, police were seen entering the building and carting away display and exhibition materials. - The Guardian
At a meeting in Beijing titled "Love the party, love the country, advocate morality and art," officials told entertainment and media figures that they must "consciously abandon vulgar and kitsch inferior tastes, and consciously oppose the decadent ideas of money worship, hedonism, and extreme individualism." - The Guardian
Although winemakers have vision and bring that vision of what a particular wine should taste like to the blending table, their art depends inevitably on nature and nature’s “creativity.” - 3 Quarks Daily
At first glance, “common prosperity” and a desire to eliminate “sissy boy” fan culture seem like separate campaigns. But they point to a growing trend in domestic politics and society: the wish to eliminate difference. - The Guardian
Fear of COVID, to be more precise. "Even before you realise what you have done, anxious sideways looks will have been exchanged, the seeds of doubt sown. Coughing has become the equivalent of randomly shouting 'fire' in a theatre – a gesture guaranteed to provoke fear." - The Guardian
"Is there perhaps a clandestine pact to encourage audiences back out with some concerted cheerleading? If so, then the critics are doing us a disservice." - The Observer (UK)
Board members including Shonda Rhimes, Eva Longoria, and Jurnee Smollett have resigned, making way for an entirely new board as "the group continues to grapple with allegations that it has failed women who asked for its support." - Los Angeles Times
Early in the 2000s. the People's Republic created a string of new mega-developments — building much faster than people were moving in. Images of wide boulevards and flashy architecture completely devoid of people spread worldwide. Finally, folks are arriving and the cities are showing some life. - Bloomberg Businessweek
"Making History: Kansas City and the Rise of Gay Rights" opened last weekend and was supposed to be there through Christmas. It lasted four days. The State Senate's only gay member is furious. - The Kansas City Star
After last month's announcement that the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities is moving $5.3 million in grants from large, traditionally dominant institutions to smaller, often minority-focused ones, the big guys are starting to fight back. - Artnet
As petrodollars flowed and it became one of Latin America's most prosperous cities, Caracas built cultural and architectural landmarks such as Parque Central, the Museum of Contemporary Art, University City, and Teresa Carreño Theater. Now, amid shortages of money, staff, and good management, they're moldering away. - Bloomberg CityLab
As of Sept. 1, any adult in Texas may carry a gun in public, concealed or not, without any license. Private businesses and venues may still ban guns and use metal detectors, but staffers worry that communicating this to some patrons will be, er, challenging. - KERA (Dallas)
With pandemic restrictions (excepting some audience capacity limits) lifted just around opening day, 520,000 tickets were sold for events at the International, Book, Film, and Fringe Festivals. The great majority of those, 400,000, were for Fringe events, and another 350,000 people watched Fringe shows online. - The Scotsman
With overseas travel blocked, people from the state capitals are traveling to regional towns and boosting attendance there, and more local people are coming to venues as well. - Arts Hub (Australia)
