Research by the Public Campaign for the Arts "found that local authority expenditure on all cultural services – including public libraries, entertainment venues, museums, galleries and recreation facilities – has halved across England since 2010." - WhatsOnStage (UK)
As artists become more politically active today, it is worth remembering that John Reed Clubs and New York’s Artists Union organized strikes to negotiate federal arts programs during the Great Depression. The art made in each phase of proletarian advancement thus serves to protect this history. - Hyperallergic
The Betrayal of Anne Frank, by Canadian author Rosemary Sullivan, released on Jan. 18, caused a sensation when it said investigators had named Arnold van den Bergh as the main suspect. Other researchers later criticized the findings, saying they were "full of errors." - CBC
This Los Angeles cultural institution is at a crossroads as it goes through its first leadership change in 17 years, and confronts questions about its mission, programming and appeal in a changing city, all amid a debilitating pandemic. - The New York Times
Concerns about inappropriate donor influence at Yale rose after The New York Times reported in September that Beverly Gage, a professor of history, had quietly resigned after the administration in her view had failed to defend against interference in the curriculum by two of the university’s most prominent and deep-pocketed donors. - The New York Times
More than 1,600 works of art by some 400 artists were quietly shuffled through shell companies in tax havens according to records from the Pandora Papers. - Artnet
Every January, Dresden's Frauenkirche closes for seven days, "and dozens of carpenters, painters, and other craftspeople and cleaners get to work. The crew repairs wobbly benches and worn wood, touches up paint, and scrubs, sands, and vacuums every nook and cranny of the highly ornamented space." - Atlas Obscura
Concetta Antico is a tetrachromat, which means she has a fourth colour receptor in her retina compared with the standard three which most people have. While those of us with three of these receptors can distinguish around one million different colours, tetrachromats see an estimated 100 million. - The Guardian
"If the protest succeeds in getting him booted, he can go back to making his podcast available on other platforms or launch his own. A 'win' would merely allow politically progressive artists to end their tacit association with a personality whose brand is the puncturing of liberal pieties." - The Atlantic
The response of artists and writers was to remake their work: a way of seeking either to control the strange and uncontrollable, or simply to portray it more truthfully. - BBC
In an excerpt from his new history of Method acting, Isaac Butler looks at the American Laboratory Theatre, where, in the 1920s, two of Stanislavski's students at the Moscow Art Theatre, Richard Boleslavsky and Maira Ouspenskaya, began teaching what they called Stanislavski's "system." - American Theatre
While commonalities certainly exist the differences were astounding. How could it be that Rossini’s humorous comic operas, which have been bringing laughter and joy to western audiences for almost 200 years, were seen by our Kho and Kalash participants to convey less happiness than 1980s speed metal? - The Conversation
Beverly, Madison, and Eston Hemings seem to have inherited musical talent from both their mother and their enslaver/father, Thomas Jefferson, a lifelong violinist. The brothers and their cousins (descended from Sally's sister) formed a very popular dance band that lasted for several generations. - Early Music America
Teachers’ ability to absorb and transmit information quickly, manage stress and multitask are high-demand skills, recruiters and careers coaches say. - The Wall Street Journal
