Applied to the cultural and creative industries, this involves asking tough questions on the current working conditions, financial stability and social recognition of artists, as well as extending sustained non-monetary support such as counselling for those who have had to weather a seemingly perpetual storm. Only then can the sector turn to long-term rebuilding strategies, which must include reinvestment...
"The idea that the festivals can't go ahead and be socially-distanced is inaccurate," one festival director told the House of Commons Culture Select Committee, which is examining the live music sector. - BBC
Dan-el Padilla Peralta came to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic at age 4 and grew up extremely poor; it was his childhood fascination with ancient Greece and Rome, combined with his academic talents, that got him school scholarships and pulled him out of poverty and into a professorship at Princeton. Today he argues that his discipline, as it...
It has been educating future artists and entertainers for 47 years. It also ranks in the top 7 percent of U.S. schools in challenging its students academically. Few campuses nationally have students as enthusiastic about their school. Yet Ellington officials say the people who run D.C. public schools have failed to honor promises they made in 2017 to put the...
There are early signs that new president Biden and his vice-president, Kamala Harris, "could provide a much-needed boost for cultural scene hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and focus attention on the District of Columbia’s (DC’s) long campaign for statehood." - The Guardian
"The arts in the past four years have evolved in ways that are as broad and powerful as they are now commonplace. Many artists and arts groups seem determined to do nothing less than change the world. As one example, there’s probably not a single major museum, orchestra, or arts center that isn’t thinking about inclusion in everything it...
The study surveyed 104 organizations, including 91 in the United States and 13 in Canada, from Dec. 12, 2020 through Jan. 12, 2021. The study found that, among U.S. organizations, companies in the Southeast, Southwest, and South are the most optimistic, with a majority planning a return before July. Companies in the Midwest, West, and Northeast mostly plan returns...
“I do not consent to being part of an arts community that engages in witch hunts of people who don’t think like me,” Carmen Aguirre says in the nearly 30-minute video, which she posted to YouTube. “If I am to argue with someone because I oppose their views or even find their views harmful, then I’d like the argument...
"In addition to being creative thinkers and makers, many artists, designers and architects are also researchers whose work reveals new insights and approaches to solving some of the most complex challenges facing our world. … It is vital that our federal government includes art researchers so that their unique perspectives and voices can help catalyse change for a better...
Deborah Cullinan: "The events of the past year, and the shocking insurrection that took place at the Capitol on Jan. 6, have reinforced the value of art in our society. We have always known that art can be a source of peace, solace and joy in times of struggle. But art also provides the intellectual, economic and emotional healing...
"It is time to make significant investments in these smaller organizations to increase their capacities and develop a practice that does not make becoming more mainstream the ultimate goal. Most of these smaller organizations devote a significant portion of their energies to the task of survival, and while that might be a given in the nonprofit world, many of...
There can be no national recovery, no American Rescue, without the creative economy, and the 5.1 million creative workers who make it up. And right now, many of those creative workers are in dire straits. The impact of COVID has been profound in every state in the country and will continue to be for much of 2021. - Americans...
Perhaps it's better to say the culture wars have been brought to the tiny ex-Yugoslav republic in the Alps, courtesy of prime minister Janez Janša, now in a third term as prime minister. (His previous term ended in a 2013 corruption scandal.) Janša has been replacing museum directors, canceling government leases and contracts with arts organizations, and pushing a...
There is ample absurdity to wring from the fine-art ecosystem, where hierarchies and quid pro quos rule. Players ruthlessly engage in an unspoken competition for limited opportunities and resources—be they grants, residencies, publications, exhibitions, panel spots, teaching gigs, public commissions, or sales. And all of the above is adjudicated by gatekeepers who, like the gods of Olympus, deal fate...