On the Friday before Memorial Day weekend, President Biden proposed a 20 percent increase in funding for an agency the previous president always threatened to cut entirely. "According to the endowment’s analysis, the Biden spending plan would be the largest single-year increase in its funding since the jump between 2009 and 2010 when its budget rose from $155 million to...
"Robert L. Lynch, the longtime president and chief executive of the Washington-based advocacy organization Americans for the Arts who had been on paid leave since December amid workplace complaints, has agreed to retire effective immediately, the organization's board announced Thursday." - The New York Times
“For generations, the worst event in Tulsa history wasn’t spoken about in public,” said Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum in a statement. “Today, artists are helping to educate and inform people all around the world about this tragedy—and by doing so honor the memory of our neighbors who were lost.” - Artnet
"The pandemic has changed the way people think about geography. I think that you can connect with community anywhere, but there's something to be said about proximity and sharing the same spaces that I'm really missing right now." - CBC
"For the last two months, culture workers in France have been protesting on-site at scores of theaters around the country, demanding they reopen and that staff receive better financial support. But when theaters, museums, and cinemas were finally given go-ahead to open their doors on May 19 after more than six months of lockdown, few protestors cried victory. Instead,...
"The German government on Wednesday unveiled a €2.5 billion ($3 billion) fund to kick-start the country's pandemic-hit cultural sector. The fund will provide insurance in cases where a spike in coronavirus infections forces events to be canceled or postponed. It will also supplement event ticket sales if audience numbers have to be capped to meet social distancing rules." -...
"A recent surge in cases — Taiwan's worst outbreak since the start of the pandemic — has brought a halt to cultural life on the island, forcing performing arts centers, concert halls and museums to shutter just as they are coming back to life in the rest of the world. Performers from Taiwan and abroad have been caught in...
Here is the story — told, it must be said, rather against the wishes of its founder, who'd have preferred privacy — of the Alphadyne Foundation. - The New York Times
On Monday, the Biden administration sent letters to architect Steven Spandle, landscape architect Perry Guillot, sculptor Chas Fagan and commission chairman Justin Shubow asking that they resign by 6 p.m. that day or face termination. None of the four resigned. - Washington Post
"San Diego arts organisations are still struggling from last year's 50% cut in the city's arts and culture budget, which Mayor Kevin Falcouner instituted to offset lost tax revenue in the early months of the pandemic. These cuts now remain in the mayor's proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, despite the pandemic easing in the US, which has...
"After a regional trial run, French president Emmanuel Macron is launching his program to fund cultural activities for young people nationally. Culture Pass, as the initiative is called, is now open to all 18 year olds in France, and will be extended to high schools across the nation in 2022." - Artnet
"The U.S. education system is not held accountable for ensuring that students are properly equipped with the skills and capabilities to prepare for a career where they can obtain financial stability. Additionally, employers continue to rely on a traditional four-year degree requirement as a primary means of determining job candidate employability. The disconnect here is obvious, and the result...
The average discount rate for first-time undergraduates reached 53.9 percent -- an all-time high -- during the 2020-21 academic year, according to NACUBO’s preliminary estimates released Wednesday. In other words, for every $100 in tuition colleges appear to charge on paper, they do not collect $53.90 from first-time undergraduate students. - Inside Higher Ed
