"Funded by a $440 million bequest from Ruth DeYoung Kohler II, the Ruth Foundation for the Arts immediately enters the highest echelons of arts philanthropy. ... The foundation, based in Milwaukee, is planning to give away between $17 to $20 million a year." - The New York Times
Countries—including Bangladesh, China, Denmark, Ireland, and Uruguay, and Bangladesh—had a net gain in tree cover, according to new data from researchers at the University of Maryland and the nonprofit World Resources Institute. Others, including the U.S., had a net loss. - Fast Company
I do think the purpose of criticism is to make an assertive claim for what is there. When Toni Morrison speaks of the “Africanist presence” in Willa Cather, or Richard Dyer on “romanticism” in disco, these observations operate inquisitively yet still, “stake a claim.” - The Point
Probably not, says Education Through Music executive director Janice Weinman, and especially not this year. The state legislature just passed a law requiring the city to lower class sizes, even as the Mayor and City Council cut $200 million from the schools' budget. - New York Daily News
Amigos Para Siempre ("friends forever"), as the firm is called, will produce musicals, plays, and other live events for Spanish-speaking markets throughout the world, including the US. Plans are already in place to present translations of most of Lloyd Webber's musicals. - Variety
"Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara will serve five years in prison for 'contempt, defamation, and public disorder,' charges human rights organizations have condemned." Otero Alcántara's partner said of the 500 people sentenced this week, "They are condemning them for making art." - Hyperallergic
Of course, white men do it too. But the point: "Inherent in the 'hypersexual woman' trope is the belief that Asian women aren’t simply women: They are an alien category unto themselves." That has real-world consequences. - Vanity Fair
Nothing, but also millions of dollars - at least on Reddit, where moderators are volunteers whose contributions are estimated to be worth $3.4 million. One researcher says, "Platforms are not really interested in investing in making the communities they create better." - New Scientist
Looking at the data revealed in The Stage’s West End ticketing survey this week, it appears producers are trying to straddle both horses, with top prices rising at rates above inflation but bottom prices rising at a rate lower than inflation. - The Stage
"The Philadelphia Cultural Fund, the main vehicle for supporting arts organizations in the city..., saw its budget increase to $3.5 million for fiscal 2023, a far cry from the first pandemic budget that initially sought to zero out the fund and eventually settled at $1 million." - MSN (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Conventional accounts of the effect of school closures focus on the shift from in-person to online teaching and the academic losses that resulted. This familiar story isn’t false, but it’s only a part of the truth, and it understates both the disruption and the inequities that COVID wrought on students’ lives. - The Atlantic
The initiative on this year's general election ballot "would require the state to find a source of revenue to fund K-12 arts education equal, at a minimum, to one percent of the total state and local revenues that local education agencies receive from Proposition 98 funding." - San Francisco Classical Voice
Russia, for instance, is attempting to wipe out a separate Ukrainian culture; as Ukraine's artist at the Venice Biennale says, "If it has no culture, Ukraine does not exist." Same with China and Uyghur culture. ISIS certainly understood culture's importance. Even Boris is using culture as a weapon. - The Guardian
"A vast new arts hub called Plateforme 10 has opened in the Swiss city of Lausanne with the aim to revitalize the surrounding area through culture. Poised to become a new 'arts district,' Plateforme 10 spans 25,000 square meters, the equivalent of five football fields." - Artnet
"Culture really does become a matter of life and death, then, when a society is under pressure. This can be for good or for ill: how narrative is shaped can, of course, be damaging – or dishonest." - The Guardian (UK)
