Yes, there are secret committees. "And they're just one strange, clandestine part of a voting process that is largely shrouded in mystery." Yikes. - Vice
One reason we tolerate an even more frayed social safety net for artists than we do for everyone else: “The allure of artistic work often obscures — from arts workers themselves and the public at large — the working conditions that arts workers face,” according to the report, noting that organizations frequently ask arts workers to work for nominal...
"Citing corruption and waste under previous administrations, centre-left President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced hefty budget cuts across all government departments in May 2019. The ministry of culture lost 75% of its operating budget and expects to receive just $693m this year, a severe blow to arts institutions and those who depend on them for their livelihoods." Add to...
"The relief bill includes $470 million earmarked for cultural organizations, with $135 million each for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and $200 million for the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). The bulk of the NEA and NEH funding — 60 percent — is set aside for direct grants and...
"The National Audit Office … examined the allocation of the funds so far and found that of the £1bn that has been made available, about £830m in grants and loans has been awarded to different organisations but only £495m of that has been paid out, auditors said." - The Guardian
"Across the nation thousands of actors, musicians, dancers and other entertainment industry workers are losing their health insurance or being saddled with higher costs in the midst of a global health crisis. Some were simply unable to work enough hours last year to qualify for coverage. But others were in plans that made it harder to qualify for coverage...
"Too often, arts-based approaches undermine rather than support equity, as Richard Florida … now acknowledges. … How does one ensure arts-based development avoids this outcome and instead promotes equity?" One of the final reports from ArtPlace America (a ten-year, multi-institutional project researching creative placemaking that ran from 2010 to 2020) offers some promising case studies. - Nonprofit Quarterly
"Theatres, cinemas, museums and other cultural spaces have been shut since France's last full lockdown in October, and … thousands marched in cities across France last Thursday to demand they reopen with social distancing. The Paris march ended with around 50 people forcing their way into the shuttered Odeon Theatre and refusing to leave. Similar actions were seen on...
"A national culture secretary published the decree last week making clear that proposals under the Rouanet Law, which provides funding to cultural projects on a case-by-case basis, will only be considered if they involve in-person interactions and come from regions 'where there is no restriction on circulation, curfew, lockdown or other actions that prevent the realization of the project.'...
Following a consent decree from the Washington Sstate Attorney General's office, Seattle ticketing company Brown Paper Tickets has agreed to pay $9 million in restitution to an estimated 45,000 customers at both ends of the company's business model: ticket buyers owed refunds and event organizers owed box-office revenue." - The Seattle Times
Since U.S. schools began closing down roughly a year ago, the country’s children have been adapting, learning and getting creative with how they use technology. The realities of their day-to-day lives vary wildly, as have their relationships with screens. - Washington Post
The occupation began Thursday; on Saturday, Culture Minister Roselyne Bachot went to visit the out-of-work culture and tourism workers, who want to know when theatre can start up again. "Among their demands is another year of special government aid for seasonal theater workers, who often struggle to make ends meet but have been particularly crippled since the virus hit....
Does anyone believe them? Hm. The Time's Up Organization tweeted a reaction: "On behalf of the many artists who look to us to hold the HFPA’s feet to the fire on the racism, disrespect, misogyny and alleged corrupt financial dealings of the Golden Globes, we need to see specific details, timetables for change, and firm commitments. The right words...
It's not great. "COVID has led to a sort of existential crisis for me working in journalism. When some of your readers claim that any facts you present that are inconvenient to their personal narrative are proof that you’re embedded in a conspiracy, you can only take so much of that before you start to question whether or not...
"Critics no longer have the power to make or break an artist’s career. Rather, art critics depend more and more on maintaining friendly relationships with artists, galleries, and publicists in order to consistently secure paid work. In other words, art critics today seem less “in the middle” between artists, dealers, and public than tailing all three." - Hyperallergic
