Issues

Arti Prashar: “We operate in a climate where we have been asked to grow and grow, following a business model that just doesn’t work for the arts – of seeking bigger turnover and bigger and wider audiences. We need a mixed economy – always have, always will. I hear of many venues and organisations running huge deficits – how are they going to plug those holes?” – Arts Professional

Fewer than one-third of businesses do. “Most individuals surveyed by the funder wanted more cultural opportunities where they live (55%), but businesses were less enthusiastic: they prioritised other spending, felt local arts groups were “not business minded enough”, and didn’t see how investing in arts and culture would benefit them.” – Arts Professional

The letter states that recent job losses for arts critics at the Guardian and the Evening Standard highlight this issue. It goes on to quote figures from the List magazine that reveal the number of reviews in eight major national and arts titles dropped from 5,134 in 2012 to 3,169 in 2017. – The Stage

Natalia Dashan, who was a full-scholarship student at Yale and witnessed such imbroglios as the Halloween Costumes fiasco up close, looks at the underlying dynamic by which, among a very privileged group of young people, genuinely worthy and well-meant ideas get aggressively pushed and distorted in counterproductive ways. – Palladium Magazine

As the Pew Research Center finds in a new survey, there’s been a sharp increase in dissatisfaction with America’s colleges and universities among Republicans in recent years, and it makes perfect sense for right-of-center policy makers to want to do something about it. – The Atlantic

Justin Davidson: “The Kennedy Center’s new complex is not just more fluid, usable, and versatile than we had any right to expect — it is also the rare project that improved on its way from concept and digital renderings to final construction.” – New York Magazine

For a long time, the prevailing posture of the Silicon Valley élite was smugness bordering on hubris. Now the emotional repertoire is expanding to include shame—or, at least, the appearance of shame. – The New Yorker

After weeks of Sunday protests in the Russian capital against the disqualification of opposition candidates for the city council, on August 10 famous actors, artists, and rappers started to join the demonstrations. While the participation of well-known artists in protests is hardly unknown in Russia (e.g., Pussy Riot), some observers say that there’s a new level of “celebritization” indicating that demonstrations against the Putin government are becoming fashionable. – The Moscow Times

A character called Le Sauvage, covered in black face makeup, is featured on one of 22 floats in a traditional parade as part of the Ducasse d’Ath, held in late August in a small town in Wallonia. A letter from 14 anti-racist groups as well as academics and activist asking UNESCO to de-list the festival describes Le Sauvage as “adorned with all the humiliating signs that our racist societies have projected on to black people throughout history.” Some locals in Ath are reportedly puzzled, as they consider the character one of the parade’s most popular. – The Guardian

Louis Menand: “There are many canards about that generation, but the most persistent is that the boomers were central to the social and cultural events of the nineteen-sixties. Apart from being alive, baby boomers had almost nothing to do with the nineteen-sixties.” – The New Yorker

A group of about 800 so-called National Portfolio Organisations — from giants like the Royal Opera House and Southbank Centre and its residents such as the National Theatre (who receive tens of millions of pounds a year) to smaller regional institutions — are guaranteed funding from Arts Council England on a rolling multi-year basis. But ACE is warning that proposed in the Conservative government’s next budget would mean that those funding guarantees couldn’t be met. – Arts Professional

Native Hawaiians agree that Mauna Kea connects humanity to the universe — as an umbilical cord between Earth and space. The peak at Mauna Kea is the “highest point where land touches the sky — where the two deities, Sky Father and Earth Mother, meet,” said Noe Noe Wong-Wilson, 68 , a retired cultural studies professor and elder in the fight against the telescope. To Native Hawaiians, putting a giant telescope on their sacred mountain is a desecration. – Los Angeles Times

“I turned the essay in at the end of June, substantially the same as what appears here. A regretful Folio Society editor told me that Marvel Comics (evidently the co-publisher of the book) is trying to now stay “apolitical”, and is not allowing its publications to take a political stance. I was asked to alter or remove the sentence that refers to the Red Skull or the intro could not be published.” – The Guardian

“In both rural and urban areas, innovation is closely tied to the degree of presence of the creative class, with the innovation index being positively associated with the percent of the workforce employed in the creative class occupations.” – CityLab

Here’s the deal: “Some 19 million tourists visited the Netherlands last year, more people than live there. For a country half the size of South Carolina, with one of the world’s highest population densities, that’s a lot.” – The Atlantic

The actor Liu Yifei, who plays Mulan in Disney’s live-action movie, “this week reposted an image on Weibo, a Chinese social network similar to Twitter, that took the police’s side. The image she shared was originally published by People’s Daily, the ruling Communist Party’s official newspaper.” The meme she reposted has “become a nationalist meme in China — driven in part by the state-run media.” – The New York Times

In the enduringly expensive world of the multi-day music jamboree – where power bills alone can reach £100,000 for a 10,000-capacity event – ticket refunds are just one problem. – The Guardian

Justin Davidson: “The Berkshires, the bucolic swath of Western Massachusetts where urban refugees can get their weekend dose of gardens, waterfalls, and even the occasional moose sighting, enjoys the cultural life of a major city, spread out over an area half again as vast as Houston.” – New York Magazine