What then makes a great patron? Bags of cash, obviously, but what else? The best patrons — the ones you can count on to cough up the green year after year — have guilty consciences. Or, at least, an image they need to burnish with good works. - The Critic
No matter that she founded the city of Odesa. She was a Russian empress, one who conquered large parts of modern Ukraine — and this year Ukrainians have had enough of the Russian Empire. - ARTnews
Among the intellectual property copyrighted in 1927 and available for you to have your way with as of Sunday are the last Sherlock Holmes stories, the films The Jazz Singer and Metropolis, the final volume of Proust's In Search of Lost Time, and Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse. - Smithsonian Magazine
"The triggering effect of the pandemic, and its impact on artists' livelihoods and careers, resulted in what had been previously been unimaginable: an almost doubling of the Arts Council budget from €75 million before COVID to €130 million for 2021, a level retained for the coming year." - The Irish Times
"Today's Tedium talks about Santa Claus as a visual and cultural icon who has had more changes in style than Madonna, a figure that seemingly every single celebrity has dressed up as at some point in their careers. Ho, ho, ho." - Tedium
The matter is more complicated than it appears, and those who try to capitalize on the expiring “Steamboat Willie” copyright could easily end up in a legal mousetrap. - The New York Times
"Language, religion, historical memory: These, as much as territory, are the war's battlefields. Against its appalling human cost, its cultural toll may feel insignificant — but culture is in every way a front of this war, and the fate of more nations than one hangs on its defense." - The New York Times
The United States Copyright Office (USCO) has initiated a proceeding to reverse an earlier decision to grant a copyright to a comic book that was created using "A.I. art" and says copyrighted works must be created by humans to gain official copyright protection. - CBR
With warnings mounting over a new Covid wave in the new year and the Bureau of Meteorology not predicting an end to La Niña until late summer, the live performance and festival sector has been left crippled – with no return to normal in sight. - The Guardian
Ben Davis: "Contemporary cultural backlash may not look like a return to a cozy, oblivious cultural center. It may take its cues more from Elon Musk buying Twitter to 'defeat the woke mind virus' or Peter Thiel funding an 'anti-woke' downtown film festival out of his pocket change." - Artnet
Political experts and campaign consultants were taken by surprise when schools suddenly assumed center stage in the national debate, but as this issue of Lapham’s Quarterly demonstrates, our recent battles are nothing new. - Lapham's Quarterly
"The Red Light District has become a huge problem for residents, sex workers, and city officials alike, as it attracts some of the world's rowdiest, most annoyingly disrespectful crowds of tourists. So, in an attempt to tackle the issue, city officials are launching a new 'Stay Away' advertising campaign." - Mic
“The presidential decree gives us, the culture authorities, guidelines to provide state support only to projects that obey the requirements. We now feel a hangover from all that mash the had been feeding us with for many many years." - The Daily Beast
An announcement from the museum's administration says that temperature and humidity controls in the building aren't yet robust enough to protect the fragile artifacts that will be on display. The grand opening is postponed from Jan. 21 to sometime "in the first half of 2023." - The Post and Courier (Charleston)
“The Scottish Government makes great play of our cultural heritage and the importance of promoting culture. The cuts they are making – £7 million – is negligible in terms of redressing the economic and social issues the country faces, but astronomical in its destructive impact on our cultural industry.” - The Scotsman
