Watching these wounds being inflicted is painful. People who work in culture and the arts in this country are exhausted. The 30% cut to Arts Council England in 2010, when the now chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, was culture secretary, has done huge and long-term damage. - The Guardian
An alleged internal document was reported by the city's biggest tabloid to reveal that the complex is short $223 million (Aus), due to the lingering effects of the lockdowns. But the premier of the state of Victoria says the relevant funding budget hasn't even been written yet. - The Age (Melbourne)
“In general, I don't think people recognized how much of an economic footprint the arts have in this country,” he adds. “We are for sure seeing some setbacks for major industries in the arts, but we're seeing resilience too.” - The Art Newspaper
"The Ford government says it will maintain its $60-million in base funding for the Ontario Arts Council in next week’s budget but will not renew about $5-million in one-time grants for the culture sector." - The Globe and Mail (Canada)
O-1 visas for “individuals with extraordinary ability or achievement” would increase from $460 to $1,655. P-2 visas would jump from $460 to $1,615. The USCIS proposed the changes in January, arguing that the new rates would reflect an increase in costs at the agency. - MixMag
Collective campaigns, lawsuits, international rules and IT hacks are all being deployed at speed on behalf of the creative industries in an effort, if not to win the battle, at least to “rage, rage against the dying of the light”, in the words of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. - The Guardian
"The Kimmel Center was trumpeted as Philadelphia's fifth public square — an 18-hour-per-day, seven-day-a-week arts center where you could show up anytime and find a concert or see a film. But the Kimmel has sent mixed signals about just how welcoming it really wants to be." - MSN (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Criticism is not an unerring ranking system but a form of personal expression, and a good review is not right (or not only right) but convincing, fresh, entertaining, satisfying, perceptive – in other words, possesses the sorts of qualities prized in the objects the critic is nominally appraising. - New Statesman
Good criticism can provide that context — historical or theoretical or even economic — and some vocabulary for discussing musical taste. It can help demystify some of the mechanics of the art form, ideally in language that remains approachable to the novice or new initiate. - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
This is a huge issue for verifying images, as hand issues had been one of the ways to tell an AI-generated photo from a human-created image. "Many viewers have already proven themselves unable to discern AI-generated artwork from the real deal." - Hyperallergic
"These workers – who help create the show’s music-video parodies and other popular pre-taped segments – had been unrepresented and paid rates far below industry standards." - Variety
Yeoh said, "Ladies, don't let anyone tell you you're past your prime." Inspiration, except on South Korean broadcaster SBS News, where "'ladies' was conspicuously omitted from the coverage. The single word was edited out of a video of Yeoh’s speech, and it wasn’t translated in the subtitles." - Time
"The real reason that the critique has shifted from 'people are too mean to bots' to 'people are too nice to them' is because the political economy of AI has suddenly and dramatically changed, and along with it, tech companies’ sales pitches." - Wired
Figures published on Friday by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions show that while the number of visits to its sites rose by 69% in 2022 compared with the year before, this was still 23% lower than in 2019. - The Guardian
“Despite being the top per capita provider of arts in the nation, Los Angeles ranks 259th in government funding allocation,” the nonprofit’s CEO Gustavo Herrera said in a statement. - Hyperallergic
