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- The Guardian Now Has More American Readers Than The Washington Post Has
“(The Guardian) has found a lane in the U.S. news market as a progressive alternative to institutional American media, … backed by a voluntary contribution model that has attracted 700,000 supporters, 500,000 of them recurring. Reader revenue has grown 35% a year for the past two years, with a still-growing 150-person newsroom.” – The Rebooting
- The Trump FCC’s Threats To Disney/ABC’s Broadcast Licenses Are Legally Doomed
“That is the technical legal term for this: batshit crazy. … Legally there is no basis for removing a broadcast license because you don’t like the program. And if there is some kind of DEI claim here, I really don’t know what that would be.” – Vulture (MSN)
- “Shattered Moral Compass”: Whistleblower Alleges Malfeasance At Palm Springs Museum Of Art
“The whistleblower claims that the museum improperly moved funds between various accounts in order to meet severe cash crunches. The whistleblower alleged that a former director was forced out based on trumped-up staff complaints, and that the museum failed to even interview two qualified candidates to replace him before promoting an internal candidate.” – ARTnews
- Has A Valuable Stradivarius Looted By The Nazis Been Hiding In Plain Sight?
“In 1944 during the German army’s retreat, the 1719 ‘Lauterbach’ Stradivari violin was looted from the Warsaw Museum in Poland. … The violin’s value is estimated at €10 million. … Now, more than 80 years later, notice has been taken of an instrument which may be the looted violin.” – The Strad
- Boston’s Mayor Wants To Cut City’s Arts Budget By More Than One-Fourth
“(Mayor Michelle Wu’s) approximately 27% cut leaves the city’s budget for arts and culture with a total of $3,365,057 for fiscal year 2027. While still above pre-pandemic levels, even when adjusted for inflation, this is one of the largest cuts to any city department’s budget.” – Boston Art Review
- Buffalo AKG Art Museum Director Janne Sirén To Step Down
The move comes almost three months after news broke of a six-figure loan the museum made to Sirén for buying a house; the loan reportedly was never repaid. Under Sirén’s leadership, AKG greatly increased its collection, underwent a $230 million renovation and expansion, and achieved record attendance numbers. – ARTnews
- Hampshire College, Soon To Close, Will Sell Off Campus Of Pay Off Debt
“The college has around $25 million in debt, between loans and a private partner. It was primarily taken in 2010 and 2016.” – MassLive
- Stop Asking the Wrong Questions: How is the Advisory Board for the Arts Killing the Industry?The survey they just asked nonprofit arts leaders to complete proves that they really, really, really don’t get it.
- Local earmarked taxes for arts funding: a checklist
I read a story yesterday about the attempts to make a local arts tax in Portland, Oregon slightly less bad, and since I used to teach about this sort of thing I thought it might be worth giving my personal quick-and-dirty checklist on local earmarked taxes for the arts.
Here are
- Just How Big is the Culture Economy?
Most arts policy debates happen at one scale. Most cultural activity happens at another. It turns out the gap between those two scales — between the world that the arts, funding fights, and nonprofit board meetings live in, and the world where most people actually encounter culture — is so large that it’s worth pausing to measure.
The post Just How Big is the Culture Economy? appeared first on diacritical.
- Disney, CBS, Venice: Pressure Is the Point
Good Morning:
A pattern keeps showing up today: institutions getting squeezed over what they broadcast, show, or teach. The FCC has formally opened a license-renewal investigation of Disney’s broadcast properties, and Disney is “playing it cool” rather than fighting back (Deadline). Stephen Colbert went on the record questioning CBS’s claim that his show was canceled for purely financial reasons: “less than two years before, they were very eager for me to be signed for a long time. So, something changed” (The New York Times). And in Venice, the workaround for Russia’s pavilion is a tortured compromise — open to the press during the preview, then closed to the public for the rest of the run (Artforum).
Cory Doctorow, in a long essay, names the broader condition: enshittification has crossed from platforms into the physical world — homes, cars, the places we work and shop (Literary Review of Canada). Same diagnosis from a different angle: who gets to capture and degrade the systems we depend on.
A counterweight: the Minnesota Orchestra and its musicians settled a two-year contract months ahead of schedule, with hiring concessions to close a $2M gap (Pioneer Press).
From the recovery file: a lost copy of Caedmon’s Hymn — the oldest surviving poem in English — has turned up in a Roman library (The Guardian).
All of our stories below.
- VP of Human Resources, Tennessee Performing Arts Center
This is a pivotal moment to join TPAC as Vice President of Human Resources. As the organization prepares for transformational growth with the development of a new East Bank campus, the VP of Human Resources is being reimagined from a traditional administrative function into a strategic architect of organizational design. This leader will serve as the organization’s most important champion of culture, talent, and human capital by guiding TPAC’s staff through this period of exciting and complex evolution.
The VP of Human Resources reports to the Managing Director and works in close partnership with the President & CEO, CFO, and senior leadership team. This is a full-time, exempt position requiring three days per week in the downtown Nashville office with up to two days of remote work.
- In Defense Of Liam Scarlett, Five Years After His Suicide
Clarissa Hard argues that, with no hard evidence of serious sexual misconduct ever revealed, the gifted young choreographer should not have been made a total pariah and driven to take his own life. – The Critic (UK)
- FCC Starts Investigation Of Disney Broadcast License
As expected, Brendan Carr and the FCC on Tuesday unleashed license-renewal hell on The Walt Disney Co. However, with another Jimmy Kimmel brouhaha erupting with Donald Trump and MAGAland, the Josh D’Amaro-led Disney is playing it cool and playing along, at least for now. – Deadline
- A Change To Portland’s Widely-Disliked Arts Tax
“’We’ve not identified a way to make (the tax) not annoying,’ said Council President Jamie Dunphy, the architect of the new policy. ‘But we’ve found ways to make it less annoying.’” The proposed change: fewer people paying more money. – Oregon Public Broadcasting
- A Shift: Reviews Are More Important Than Ratings In Streaming
Reviews are now even more crucial than they used to be while ratings have dipped in importance in a world of cannibalized viewing, Jeff Pope told a Broadcasting Press Guild lunch this afternoon in London. – Deadline
- A Conversation With Víkingur Ólafsson
“So you could also call me a soft Viking. I tend to stay away from crime, but I do like parallel fifths and parallel octaves, so maybe I’m not as innocent as I’d like to pretend to be.” – San Francisco Classical Voice
- Cory Doctorow: Why The World Is Suddenly Becoming Enshittified
“The internet is getting worse, fast. The services we rely on, they’re all turning into piles of shit. Worse, the digital is merging with the physical, which means that the same forces that are wrecking our platforms are also wrecking our homes and our cars, the places where we work and shop. – Literary Review of Canada
- Lost Copy Of Oldest Surviving English Poem Turns Up In Rome
“Scholars from Trinity College Dublin uncovered the manuscript that contains Caedmon’s Hymn at the National Central Library of Rome. Bede, the medieval theologian revered as the father of English history, recorded the nine-line poem in the eighth century.” – The Guardian
- State Legislatures Tweak Library And School Laws Concerning Books (To Protect Them)
“We’ve had success in blue states that want to protect from book banning at the local level, but these efforts have moved to purple or even red states, to the point of Alaska now moving this forward.” – Publishers Weekly
- NJ Father/Daughter Team Convicted Of $2M Art Fraud
Erwin Bankowski, 50, and Karolina Bankowska, 26, admitted in federal court in Brooklyn to wire fraud conspiracy and misrepresenting Native American–produced goods. The pair, a father and daughter, now face up to 20 years in prison, along with at least $1.9 million in restitution. – ARTnews
- Zimbabwe’s Plundered Iconic Stone Birds Are Finally Returned
Known as the Zimbabwe Bird, it has long been a symbol of national identity, but behind it lies a complex tale of displacement, colonial plunder and restitution. – BBC (MSN)
- Stephen Colbert On CBS’s Stated Reason (Financial) For Canceling His Show
“They’ve got the books, and I (have no) desire to debate them over what they say their business model is and how it does not work anymore. But less than two years before, … they were very eager for me to be signed for a long time. So, something changed.” – The New York Times
- In a Strange Broadway Season, Some Big Stars
The play is still the thing for these powerhouse performers, even if drama as good as Arthur Miller’s masterpiece is a rare occurrence in any age. But these actors are after more than a prestige showcase. They’re looking for an artistic lifeline. – Los Angeles Times
- What Has Gone Wrong With Architecture
Architecture is a Fox’s discipline. It sits between capital, politics, infrastructure, climate, design, engineering, art, psychology, and economics. Its task is to hold these domains together, manage complexity, and, at its best, make spaces and places in which we can live better together. – Time
- The Death Of Art Schools
Rather than treating education as a public good, elected officials shift the burden onto individuals, underfund institutions, and protect a system that redistributes wealth upward. Financialization destroys the relation between education, citizenship, and the public world that the university is supposed to build. – Hyperallergic
- The Man Who Discovered The Inside-Job Thefts At The British Museum Has Died At 61
“Dr. Ittai Gradel … alerted the British Museum and the police after he was able to buy dozens of museum artefacts on eBay over the course of several years. Gradel died of renal cancer days after receiving a rarely-presented medal from the museum in recognition of what its director called his ‘very significant contribution.’” – The Guardian
- Old Globe Theatre In San Diego Selects New Managing Director
Trish Santini — who, as executive director, oversaw the construction, opening, and programming of the Barry Diller-funded Little Island just off the shore of Manhattan — will have the title of co-CEO at the Old Globe, working alongside artistic director Barry Edelstein. – Playbill
- Opera Philadelphia To Continue $11 Ticket Scheme, Revive Timely Gershwin Show After 93 Years
There’s a slight change to the all-tickets-for-$11-or-name-your-price scheme for next year: subscribers get first crack at tickets. And what is this “timely” Gershwin show? It’s Let ‘Em Eat Cake, about a fictional US President who loses his re-election bid and tries to overturn the result. – WHYY (Philadelphia)
- How Do You Put The Venice Biennale’s Central Exhibition Together After Its Curator Died?
Only days after she was diagnosed with liver cancer last year, curator Koyo Kouoh passed away. Nevertheless, the Biennale’s flagship show will open next month under her name and chosen title, “In Minor Keys.” A five-person team of Kouoh’s assistants and advisers has tried to channel her work. – The New York Times
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- Compromise: Russia Will Have Show At Venice Biennale, But It Will Be Closed To Public
“According to new reports from Italian news outlets, Russia‘s group exhibition ‘The tree is rooted in the sky’ will only be accessible to members of the press and industry insiders during the Bienniale’s preview May 5-8. When the exhibition opens to the public (May 9-November 22), entry will be prohibited.” – Artforum
- Minnesota Orchestra Musicians And Management Agree To New Contract Months Early
The new two-year agreement, effective Sept. 1, includes a 2.5% salary increase each year as well as what are described as “temporary changes to hiring practices” in order to reduce expenses by $2 million. – Pioneer Press (Minneapolis-St. Paul)
- One Of America’s Oldest Period-Instrument Orchestras Names Its Second-Ever Music Director
Boston Baroque was founded back in 1973 by harpsichordist/conductor Martin Pearlman, who stepped down as artistic director last year. His successor, as of this coming season, is Marc Minkowski, who has amassed an estimable discography with Les Musiciens du Louvre, the Baroque orchestra he founded in France in 1982. – Moto Perpetuo
- “Ghost Imaging” Recovers Text Of 1,500-Year-Old Biblical Manuscript
The 6th-century Codex H included a Greek-language copy of the New Testament’s letters of St. Paul. Sometime in the Middle Ages, though, the monks of Mt. Athos broke the book up and re-used the parchment. Fragments have since been identified, but the original text on them was considered irretrievable — until now. – Artnet
