ArtsJournal: Arts, Culture, Ideas

ISSUES

New York’s Three Big January Avant-Garde Festivals Are All Cancelled

The Under the Radar Festival (theater), Prototype (opera), and Exponential Festival (multiple genres) — much-anticipated events in what was once a barren January calendar — have called off this year's live performances due to the staffing and logistical problems caused by the Omicron variant. - The New York Times

American-Style Culture Wars Come To France

Politicians, media commentators, and scholars from both left and right all seem to agree that the French political debate has been contaminated by American ideas. - Catalyst Journal

Why Obama-Era Pop Culture Seems So Dated Now

As millennials age into the solid middle of the culture here at the end of 2021, they’re getting to experience that disorienting slip with some of the most beloved pop culture of their youths, and most particularly the pop culture that was celebrated during the presidency of Barack Obama. - Vox

Lincoln Center Was An Enormous Urban Renewal Project. What About The People Who Were Moved Out?

The Lincoln Center complex, which opened in 1962, was a citadel. Critics noted that it was designed to separate itself from the Black and Latino people who still lived in the area, particularly in the New York City Housing Authority’s Amsterdam Houses, which were built in 1948 as part of an earlier eminent domain project. - Gothamist

After A Painful Hiatus, The Mummers Will Be Strutting Down Philadelphia’s Broad Street This New Year’s Day

Omicron is spreading, sequin prices have gone up, and it may well rain; nevertheless, after last year's cancellation, the Mummers Parade is going ahead, even if the string bands, brigades, and fancies have to skimp a bit on costumes. - The Philadelphia Inquirer

So, What Goodies Are Going Into The Public Domain In 2022?

Among the properties that adapters can now use free of charge are A.A. Milne's original Winnie-the-Pooh, Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, the debut poetry collections of Langston Hughes and Dorothy Parker, Garbo's silent movie The Temptress, and a mother lode of early sound recordings. - Smithsonian Magazine

Here’s One Place Where High-Tech Firms Are Willing To Give To The Arts

For years, aesthetes and directors of development have been frustrated by the lack of interest that software industry execs have shown in directing their charitable donations to the arts. In the Bay Area, that has started to change. - San Francisco Chronicle

Censored Versions Of Books And Films Released In Spain Under Franco Are Still In Use There

The dictatorship's censors were all too thorough: scenes were even cut from It's a Wonderful Life — and the doctored version of that film is turning up on television. Same with books. Here's how and why this has happened … - The Guardian

Paris Revives a Cultural Icon – The Seine

Swimming has been officially banned since 1923. More than two-thirds of all French have a negative perception of the river. And yet when French officials unveiled their ambitions for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris this month, the Seine was treated like a resurrected national monument. - Washington Post

Belgium’s High Court Overrules Government’s Shutdown Of Cultural Venues

The Council of State, the country's top administrative court, found insufficient justification for prime minister Alexander De Croo's COVID-related order closing theaters, concert halls, and cinemas while leaving restaurants, bars, and Christmas markets open. - Variety

We’re Addicted To Stories With Trauma. But Are We Lazy?

The prevalence of the trauma plot cannot come as a surprise at a time when the notion of trauma has proved all-engulfing. Its customary clinical incarnation, P.T.S.D., is the fourth most commonly diagnosed psychiatric disorder in America, and one with a vast remit. - The New Yorker

Maria Rosario Jackson Confirmed as New NEA Chair

Jackson, 56, earned a doctorate in urban planning from the University of California at Los Angeles, and she’s a professor at Arizona State University and a sought-after speaker on how to embed arts, culture and design into community life. Jackson previously worked at the Urban Institute. - Washington Post

Boston’s New Mayor Has Big Plans For The Arts

"It's impossible to separate out 'arts issues' and 'arts equity' issues, from the stabilization of our communities," says Michelle Wu. Among her priorities are a dedicated income stream for arts funding, making free admission more widely available, and getting more arts into city neighborhoods. - MSN (The Boston Globe)

Los Angeles’s Leading Arts Institutions Will Require Audience Members To Have Booster Shots

Beginning in mid-January, audience members at all performances at the Ahmanson Theater and Mark Taper Forum, as well as those by the Philharmonic and Master Chorale at Disney Hall will have to show proof of booster vaccination status to be admitted. - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)

Identity Crisis? Universities Are “Triaging” Away Humanities

Suddenly, faculty in these departments are expected to justify why they exist and why anyone would need a degree in English. - The Baffler

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