“We’re pausing operations to recognise the weight of this moment in our community and to care for our employees and people in the Twin Cities community.” - The Art Newspaper
After all, large numbers of creatives have been fleeing the city, driven away mostly by the high cost of apartments. But would such a preference be fair to other struggling New Yorkers? - Gothamist
“CounterPulse … is in crisis caused by financial strain, leadership collapse and a bitter labor conflict. With just one show on its calendar for all of 2026 and no one at the helm, its predicament raises questions about sustainability, power and labor in small arts organizations.” - San Francisco Chronicle (Yahoo!)
Around 800 artists, writers, actors, and musicians signed on to a new campaign against what they call “theft at a grand scale” by AI companies. The signatories call the campaign “Stealing Isn’t Innovation.” - The Verge
“Although the IMLS restored discretionary grant funding in December and just last week reopened to grant proposals for FY 2026 — in compliance with a November court order — defendants in State of Rhode Island v. Trump have filed a notice of appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.” - Publishers Weekly
Around half of the package, £760 million, will go to museums, mostly for infrastructure needs. £425 million will go to support some 300 performance venues, £230 million to maintain churches and heritage buildings, £27.5 million to upgrading libraries, and £80 million over four years to National Portfolio Organisations. - Press Association (UK) (Yahoo!)
Fundamentally, the state of the humanities and liberal arts reveals a widening conflict over the “value” of higher education – with increasingly corporatized universities favoring market-driven metrics for evaluation, and proponents of humanistic education stressing that its worth to both individuals and society at large cannot be measured that way. - The Guardian
“Trolling and tackiness, often crossbred with left-coded pop songs and hot memes, have served to wish a new zeitgeist into existence. Consume only the output of MAGA’s multi-front media efforts, and you may come to feel that the country is coalescing into pep-rally unity on Trump’s behalf.” - The Atlantic (MSN)
The National Endowment for the Humanities on Thursday announced $71 million in new grants, including nearly $40 million to classical humanities institutes and civic leadership programs that have been promoted by conservatives as a counterweight to liberal-dominated higher education. - The New York Times
“The National Endowment of the Humanities (NEH) has announced a new round of grants — $75.1m to 84 projects, many of them celebrating the US’s semiquincentennial. These are the first grants since the administration of president Donald Trump fired all but four members of the National Council on the Humanities ... in October.” - The Art Newspaper
The notion that unstated corporate aesthetic preferences should determine what the public encounters as art — indeed, what counts as art at the nation’s art center — is absurd. It’s why we don’t (yet) have touring musicals about a young couple discovering the bold, zesty flavor of Cool Ranch Doritos. - Washington Post
Beginning in 1933, propagandistic art exhibitions were mounted throughout Germany. These “Schandausstellung” (modern art shame exhibitions) included the titles, “Art in the Service of Decay,” “Art Which Has Not Come from Our Soul,” “Horror Chambers of Art” and “Reflections of Degeneration in Art.” Artists themselves also faced pressure. - LMU
This isn’t great for U.S. audiences either - or the producers and promoters trying to bring international artists. “It’s an unbelievable mess, … and no one can provide an answer.”- The New York Times
“Learning about the end of California College of the Arts was a sad day. And it’s in moments like these that we should rekindle the debate over what kind of city we want to be going forward. Simply put, San Francisco without artists is a dystopia.” - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
“McConaughey has had eight trademark applications approved over the past few months, and the actor said in an email ..r that he wants to, quote, ‘create a clear perimeter around ownership with consent and attribution the norm in an AI world.’” - NPR
