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
Issues
Latinos Aren’t Visible Enough In American Popular Culture. Trump And El Paso Show Why That Matters
Carolina Miranda: “If ever there were an urgent moment for the various culture industries — film studios, theater companies, art museums and TV production companies — to act on issues of diversity and inclusion, that moment is now. And not because diversity is some feel-good thing that makes for a nice talking point during Hispanic Heritage Month, but because rendering an entire segment of the population invisible makes the cultural arena complicit in a marginalization that is entering increasingly dangerous” — literally dangerous — “territory.” – Los Angeles Times
Owner Of Pulse Nightclub Wants To Put Up Museum To Massacre There. Survivors Are Not Having It
Says one who was wounded in the 2016 shooting, “They’re talking about a theme-park environment where you buy memorabilia.” Of the club’s owner, who runs a foundation (which pays her a six-figure salary) to build and operate the proposed museum, the mother of one victim said, “These [young survivors] can’t afford their co-pays, they’re not getting PTSD therapy, and meanwhile you’re profiting and you want an admission-charging, souvenir-selling, tour-bus-visiting hate museum.” – Orlando Sentinel
Five Years On, How Artists, Writers, Musicians, And Theatermakers Have Responded To Ferguson, Missouri
“Their art was not only a response to Brown’s death. It was also a way to bring understanding to issues that had angered and oppressed African Americans for generations.” A package looking at responses to Michael Brown’s death and its aftermath in visual art, classical music, theatre, literature, popular music, and cinema. – St. Louis Post-Dispatch
More Than 70,000 People Used New York City Libraries’ Culture Pass In Its First Year
Of those 70,000, 12,000 signed up in the first week alone. “Cardholders at the Brooklyn, New York and Queens public libraries can gain free admission through the program at participating cultural institutions that include museums, performance venues, botanical gardens and historical societies.” – The New York Times
Controversial San Francisco School Mural Won’t Be Removed. It Will Be Hidden By Panels.
In a 4-to-3 vote, the San Francisco Board of Education voted to reverse its earlier decision to paint over the series of 13 Victor Arnautoff frescoes, collectively titled The Life of Washington, at the city’s George Washington High School. Students and activists had complained of the murals’ depiction of Native Americans and of Washington’s African-American slaves, though Arnautoff had maintained that those depictions were meant to be critical of the country’s treatment of those two groups. – The New York Times
The Berkshires: Big Time Cultural Center
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
Artists Join Protests In Hong Kong
Since the protests began on June 9, artists have been wondering about their role, and many have taken up the job of disseminating information to the wider public. – Artnet
Artists Join Protests In Puerto Rico
“It is impressive how the process has been turned into memes and audiovisual content with such extraordinary speed. There are artists creating posters and songs and whatnot, but artists also provide work strategies that contribute in many ways to these processes that don’t necessarily entail creating work for or inspired by the political processes.” – ARTnews
Who Gets To Fund Culture? (Is There A Scale Of Evil?)
“Museums depend heavily on philanthropy. How do they start dissecting what’s okay and what’s not in terms of their policies?” says Komal Shah, a trustee of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Tate Americas who worked for many years in the tech industry. “There’s no black and white. Since I come from the tech world, I’m wondering if at some point Google or Facebook was deemed evil, do museums stop taking their money? And what is considered evil? How do you really define?” – Artnet
Refugees, Migrants And The Role(s) Of The Arts
According to the annual Global Trends Report from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, released on June 19, nearly 70.8 million people worldwide had been displaced as of the end of last year. Add to that approximately 13.6 million individuals displaced so far in 2019. “We are now witnessing the highest level of displaced persons on record,” says the UNHCR, a fact that affects all aspects of modern society and social progress, including the arts. – Clyde Fitch Report
Major NHS Hospital In UK Institutes Arts-As-Patient-Care Program
“University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust’s board agreed to continue funding a pilot scheme initiated last year, suggesting that creative activities could reduce the need for certain types of pain relief, help tackle major challenges such as loneliness and mental health, and reduce financial strain on the NHS.” – The Stage
A New Vision For City Halls Of The Future
“A group of designers, architects, and city planners are rejecting that vision (of the old citadel of democracy) and replacing it with something more human and playful. To their mind, city hall is a space for citizens to act out democracy alongside their elected officials—and perhaps grab a coffee or see a show while doing it. In the face of global unrest, online polarization, and the increasing commercialization of public space, city halls are quietly becoming the communal living room of the future.” – Fast Company
Why Small Talk Matters
Casual conversation—whether at the start of a company-wide meeting, with fellow parents at a school event, or when you’re waiting in line at the airport—serves a real social purpose. These are four reasons to up your small talk game. – Fast Company
Study: Political Values Influence Food Choices
“New research suggests that the divergent moral values underlying our polarized politics can influence our judgments even in a presumably non-partisan arena such as diet. The study finds that both liberals and conservatives perceive a food product as less healthy if the advertising pitch fails to align with their values.” – Pacific Standard
Is Education Innovating?
To my mind, perhaps the most striking and significant innovation is higher education’s heightened emphasis on community engagement, community service, and local and regional economic development. So what, then, do critics mean when they decry higher education’s alleged failure to innovate? – Inside Higher Ed
San Francisco School Board May Reverse Course, Save Racist Murals
The controversy exploded into a national and international story, with historians, politicians, educators, artists and others arguing that the board was whitewashing an important artwork, and history itself. In the last few days, the local branch of the N.A.A.C.P. joined the opposition. – The New York Times
Funding Data Reveals Problematic Diversity Funding At Arts Council England
“Diversity data is not considered when applications are checked for eligibility, so we do not think unconscious bias is playing a role. However, as an organisation we recognise the importance of tackling unconscious bias – this is particularly important to consider when eligible applications are being reviewed by panels – and have rolled out training on this for all staff.” – Arts Professional
As Plantation Museums Turn Their Focus To The Enslaved, Certain Tourists Are Not Happy
“‘It was just not what we expected.’ ‘I was depressed by the time I left.’ ‘… the tour was more of a scolding of the old South.’ ‘The brief mentions of the former owners were defamatory.’ ‘Would not recommend.’ These are a few of the apparently negative reviews posted online about guided tours of Southern plantations.” – The Washington Post
You Think Venice And Barcelona Have Too Many Tourists? Pity This Poor Austrian Village
Hallstatt, a pretty lakeside hamlet of 800 people, got 19,344 tour buses last year (that’s an average of 53 a day, year-round) and more than a million visitors. Residents have encountered strangers in their bathrooms and camera drones by their bedroom windows. The flood began after Chinese developers, unbeknownst to Hallstatters, built a life-size replica of the village in Guangdong and Asian tourists came flocking to see the real thing. – The Washington Post
Is Venice Really Banning Cruise Ships From The Lagoon? Not Exactly, No
Despite many an international headline to the contrary (not to mention the wishes of some local campaigners and residents), no ban has yet been adopted into law or even government policy. There’s a proposal from Italy’s transport minister to begin, as of September, diverting the largest ships away from Venice’s historic center to the other side of the lagoon. Clare Speak explains what is and is not happening. – The Local (Italy)
It Will Soon Be Easier For Artists To Enter The UK To Work
Rule changes mean that from autumn, employers wanting to recruit non-European artists will no longer have to advertise the role to citizens of the European Economic Area first, and artists will no longer be subject to a salary threshold of £30,000. “We accept there is a national shortage,” the MAC wrote in a wholesale review of the labour market in May. – Arts Professional
How Can Arts Organizations Trying To Lead On Equity Issues Oppose Paying Overtime For Their Own Workers?
That’s what most of Seattle’s major arts organizations are doing, writing to protest Washington State proposals that would dramatically increase the number of workers eligible for overtime pay. “It’s illuminating that the argument Seattle’s arts organizations are making isn’t about whether paying overtime is fair, but whether it’s affordable.” – Post Alley Seattle
Tourists Are No Longer Allowed To Sit On Rome’s Spanish Steps
If they do, they can get €400 tickets. And if they try to wade in the Trevi Fountain the way Anita Ekberg did in La Dolce Vita? €450. Those guys in centurion costumes who pose with tourists at the Colosseum are now forbidden, and there are plenty of other new rules “intended to ‘guarantee decorum, security and legality’ by prohibiting actions that are ‘not compatible with the historic and artistic decorum'” of the historic center of the Eternal City. – The New York Times
WESTAF Exit Interview: Anthony Radich
“I find the field to be rather bad at evaluating the quality and usability of research. Often desperate for another advocacy hook, arts leaders at all levels have historically misused research results and, by doing so, have made themselves targets of criticism by those who know better.” – Barry’s Blog
The Arts World Still Isn’t Good At Making Accessible Spaces For Art
“In 2019, inclusive spaces that are comprised of voices from the neurodiverse and disabled community are still extremely rare. Despite the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 29 years ago, neurodiverse and disabled communities continue to face collective discrimination from failures to accommodate in access, transportation, employment, education, and many other arenas. Unfortunately, the art world is no exception.” – Hyperallergic
New York City Told Its Museums To Get More Diverse Or Lose Funding. Here Are What Museums Are Doing And How The City Will Enforce The Mandate.
“Directions on how institutions should incorporate these objectives were left intentionally vague. Rather than issuing blanket checklists, the city wanted individual institutions to formulate plans that made sense for their respective audiences and agendas.” Reporters Taylor Dafoe and Brian Boucher talk to leaders at the Brooklyn Museum, MoMA PS1, Queens Museum, and Brooklyn Children’s Museum about how they’re responding to the city’s directive. – Artnet
Ruth Reichl On The Power Of Food Journalism
“I honestly think there’s almost no story you can’t tell through food. If you want to read about women’s lives throughout history, you can do it through cookbooks. If you want to teach math, you want to teach history, there’s nothing you can’t get to through food. It is one of the major forces in the world. When I went to Gourmet, I knew it couldn’t just be about fancy restaurants and taking trips to have a good time.” – Columbia Journalism Review
Rethinking Gentrification: Maybe It’s Not So Bad?
The researchers come up with some startling findings. In a paper published by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Quentin Brummet and Davin Reed say that urbanites move all the time, for countless reasons, and that gentrification has scant impact on that constant flow. Those who stay put as a neighborhood grows more affluent often see their quality of life rise and their children enjoy more opportunities. Those who leave rarely do worse. – New York Magazine
Seattle Arts Groups Protest State Proposal To Require Non-Profits To Pay Employees More Overtime
In a letter on behalf of the Seattle Art Museum, the Seattle Opera, the Pacific Northwest Ballet, the Seattle Symphony, the Seattle Theatre Group and a who’s who of other ritzy local institutions, the signatories warn that L&I’s proposal “is unreasonably too high, and would negatively impact the arts and culture services and programs we offer to our communities.” – Crosscut