ISSUES

And cultural workers need the money, and purpose: "Creative jobs dropped 53% between late 2019 and mid 2020, recovering only halfway since then, and the prolonged pandemic continues to threaten re-openings of art spaces." - Hyperallergic

York, Pennsylvania students, their parents, and authors around the country have won a temporary "freeze." But the school board's racism and homophobia seem entrenched and intransigent. One senior: "We know that they did not temporarily reverse out of the goodness of their hearts." - The New York Times

Why should culture and economic innovation go together? Because, right now, we have a superstar system in which the winners take all and the rest are left with crumbs. Because, just like art, housing and dignified work are human rights. Because artists are the original gig workers. - Nonprofit Quarterly

Over the next two years, Arts Council England's Capital Investment Fund will issue grants from £100,000 to £750,000 to cultural organizations to make improvements to their buildings such as upgrading equipment, improving ventilation, or increasing access for the disabled. - The Stage

The Islamists now in control in Kabul have not yet stated any cultural policies other than that any art, music, publishing, film, and the like that's permitted must conform to Islamic law. (As interpreted by whom?) Artists within Afghanistan are not hopeful. - The Washington Post

Here are ten rules I try to live by in my own experiences with harsh feedback. - Ted Gioia

Both pilots have received private funding. In San Francisco, after initial city funding, the team raised an additional $3.4 million from #startsmall, a pandemic-relief fund started by Twitter’s Jack Dorsey. - Next City

"This historic progression", said culture minister Roselyne Bachelot, "will bring to +15% the lasting increase in the means which have been allocated to culture since 2017, excluding public broadcasting and civil pension charges." - Euronews

Current and former employees are using terms like "mass exodus", "freefall", and "climate of fear" to describe the situation at the central London venue. The turmoil comes in the wake of reports of racism and other discrimination there. - The Stage

Singapore has followed its dismissal of Yale's liberal education by introducing a Foreign Interference Act that, "under the guise of defending national sovereignty, will enable the government to designate any independent media outlet as a foreign agent and to censor its content." - Salon

Games like The Sims can get boring, so content creators add virtual challenges to keep themselves, and others, engaged. - Wired

"I couldn’t help but think about how the approaching opening of the Academy Museum — a space that will celebrate the work of these below-the-line craftspeople — is set against the backdrop of Hollywood’s labor strife with the union that represents these same artisans." - Hyperallergic

Google and Apple opened offices in Russia. Then Putin pressured them to delete his opposition's Smart Voting app - and they caved. "This episode is a powerful reminder that old-fashioned force can decisively tighten a state’s grip on the web." - Wired

But did the copyright ever belong to the artists who wrote and drew the characters? - The New York Times

Mark Pullinger finds that, while venues' staff may be masked themselves, they're not requiring patrons to have face coverings or proof of vaccination (to be clear, they're following the lead of Boris Johnson's government), and he looks with envy at safety measures in Europe and New York. - Bachtrack