Brett Stephens: “We live in an age that is losing the capacity to distinguish art from ideology and artists from politics. “I’m standing at my garden gate and there are 50 journalists,” Handke complained on Tuesday, “and all of them just ask me questions like you do, and from not a single person who comes to me I hear they have read any of my works or know what I have written.” He has a point. He didn’t win a Nobel Peace Prize or some other humanitarian award. His art deserves to be judged, or condemned, on its artistic merits alone.” – The New York Times
South Korea Wonders: Is Video Gaming A Mental Health Disorder?
Video games are practically the national pastime, played by the majority of adults and more than 90% of adolescents. Rising concerns over the effects of games on mental health have been met with skepticism and disdain by the $13-billion gaming industry. – Los Angeles Times
The twenty-five record albums that changed my life (3)
I was introduced to this album by Bob Nelson, my eighth-grade social-studies teacher, who decided for reasons of his own to introduce me to the music of my own time. – Terry Teachout
Ara Guzelimian To Be New Artistic Director Of The Ojai Festival
Guzelimian is currently provost of Juilliard and was Ojai’s artistic director for five years in the 1990s. He succeeds Chad Smith, recently appointed CEO of the LA Philharmonic. Smith has been in the Ojai post only for a few months and has yet to produce a festival. – Los Angeles Times
A Caravaggio Was Stolen From A Sicilian Church 50 Years Ago. Is Time Running Out To Find It?
Fifty years have passed since 17 October 1969, but Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s Nativity with St Francis and St Lawrence remains one of the world’s most sought-after works of stolen art. – The Guardian
The Role of Philanthropy in Advancing Equity in the Arts
“It’s time for cultural philanthropy to get more creative. … A small-but-growing number of funders are working with arts and culture organizations and individual donors to address inequities at the community level in creative, systemic ways. Here’s a look at three steps funders can take to drive change toward more inclusive arts philanthropy, along with some examples from the field.” – Stanford Social Innovation Review