Issues

“Based on responses from our survey, a high share (66%) of cultural workers identify as White (non-Hispanic), compared to just 32% of New York City’s population. In contrast, Hispanics, Blacks/African Americans, and Asians are underrepresented – 10% of cultural workers identify as Black/African American, compared to 22% of the city’s population; 11% identify as Hispanic, compared to 29% of city residents; and 6% identify as Asian, compared to 14% of city residents.” SMU Data Arts

Under the Trump Administration, the challenge for cultural workers who agree to participate in official events is akin to swimming upstream in boiling waters. Civil servants, thinking of the long game—the point in the future when Trump will be gone and our democracy will be restored—task cultural workers with creating a counter-narrative of America while their employer puts forth a pernicious, deleterious version of the country. But how will this anticipated moment of restored democracy arrive if we behave as if events unfolding in this country were normal, as if our collective house were not on fire? – The New Yorker

Her blunt views on culture were summed up in a 2008 blog which complains “I simply can’t stand going to exhibitions, museums, opera”. – BBC

“Performance Space New York [formerly P.S. 122], the historic performance arts nonprofit in Manhattan’s East Village, will shift to a new, artist-run model for 2020. A cohort of NYC-based artists and collectives will direct the organization’s programming, working in collaboration with its staff, board, and leadership. The artists will have ‘full transparency into the organization’s inner workings’ and control of its annual production budget to pay their own wages and develop programs … The only requirements of their tenure is that the spaces must be utilized.” – Hyperallergic

The Speaker of the House told a town meeting last month, “I truly believe that [the arts are] something where we find our common ground.” Would that it were so, writes Lucas Justinien Perez: “The ‘arts’ are more divided than ever. Schismatic tribal ‘factions’ generate and consume art and media that’s increasingly characterized by blatant political partisanship, and overt contempt for ideological dissidents. … This impasse of perceptions precludes the possibility of Pelosi’s prognostication ever coming true.” – Hyperallergic

The number of UK domicile first year students (first degree) selecting historical and philosophical subjects fell by 5% between 2017-18 and 2018-19, contributing to a 17.5% decline in popularity over the past ten years. Tucked within this category sits art history, which fared a particularly rocky 28.5% drop over the decade. Between 2017-18 and 2018-19, Languages also fell by 6.2%, whilst creative arts and design saw a 1.5% decline. Conversely, business and administrative Studies saw a 7% growth from last year’s figures, with agriculture and medicine also growing in popularity. – The Art Newspaper

Pete Wells: “Restaurants are loud because we’re loud. With a few exceptions, when we complain about the noise, we’re complaining about ourselves. … Far from being an accidental side effect, a noisy restaurant is the end product of a business that helps us have a good time, just as purring is the end product of scratching a cat’s chin the right way.” – The New York Times

“Serebrennikov was a particularly Russian type of rebel: one who sought, and attained, mainstream success, often with the blessing and support of the state.” Until, that is, his sudden arrest in 2017 on charges of embezzlement widely believed to be trumped-up — and his unexpected release last year. “Just as your downfall may come with no warning or explanation, so, too, can your redemption.” An excerpt from Joshua Yaffa’s Between Two Fires: Truth, Ambition, and Compromise in Putin’s Russia. – The Guardian

“A few minutes into the speech, secretary of culture Roberto Alvim said, ‘The Brazilian art of the next decade will be heroic and it will be national, it’ll be endowed with great capacity for emotional involvement and deeply committed to the urgent aspirations of our people, or it will be nothing.’ The line is a slightly modified version of a Goebbels quote … [and] the video also featured music from Lohengrin, Adolf Hitler’s favorite Wagner opera.” The subsequent outcry was huge, and Alvin was ousted within 24 hours. – artnet

Facial recognition tech is advanced and is everywhere from our phones to sports arenas to public spaces to, in China, everywhere. But it’s far from perfect. “One such risk of the technology is that current facial recognition methods are far from perfect, and many times the systems powering facial recognition are racially biased. Given that, the European Commission’s recommendation seems like the logical, reasonable thing to do.” – Fast Company

Only 780 people live in Hallstatt, Austria – but a million tourists visit each year, hoping for the perfect Frozen-style photo. The town had had enough. “Hallstatt is embarking on a campaign to focus on quality — not quantity — tourism, according to local officials. Tour buses, which tally as many as 90 on the busiest days, will be capped at 50 and must register with the tourism office. Groups that arrange lunches at local restaurants, sign up for boat cruises or visit Hallstatt’s famous salt mines will be given preference.” – The New York Times

Artists have stepped up in a huge way at this dark time in Australian history by volunteering their talents and resources to support communities and firefighters. They have demonstrated artists and arts practice can contribute to our society with passion, ingenuity, and imagination. – The Conversation

“Funding cuts over the past 10 years are impacting cultural organisations ability to deliver non-artistic operations, such as site maintenance and recruitment, Arts Council England has warned. According to ACE, other areas that are affected outside arts organisations’ main programming, include investment in future technologies and staff training.” – The Stage

“It has been mocked and pilloried as a ‘festival of Brexit‘, but the newly appointed boss of the £120m nationwide celebration planned for 2022 has said he is going to embrace the cynics – and prove them wrong. In his first interview as the director of Festival 2022, Martin Green said the aims would be to bring the nation together, showcase British creativity, and on a basic level bring some ‘joy, hope and happiness’.” – The Guardian

40 years after enrollment, the return at liberal arts colleges reached $918,000, more than 25 percent higher than the $723,000 median gain at all colleges. – InsideHigherEd

Wasting no time, the Kremlin on Wednesday posted a list of 75 members of a working group appointed to draft the constitutional amendments, including a range of political and cultural figures. Among them are Mikhail Piotrovsky, the director of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and Zelfira Tregulova, the director of Moscow’s State Tretyakov Gallery, both seasoned political players. Both were among the public figures who served as his 2018 presidential campaign confidants. – The Art Newspaper

There have been rumors in London’s government and business circles that the Conservative government will make major changes to the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport next month — and the DCMS is refusing to confirm or deny that it will be reduced in scope or made redundant. The rumors range from simply moving digital and telecom matters into another department to downgrading culture to a portfolio under a different cabinet minister. – Arts Professional (UK)

Just after New Year’s, ARTS San Antonio, one of the city’s top presenters of touring music, dance and theater artists, sent a message to donors and subscribers saying that the organization was insolvent and had ceased operations as of Dec. 31. There will be no refunds for tickets purchased for canceled performances. – The Rivard Report (San Antonio)

In Germany, the home of modern board-gaming, the industry has grown by over 40% in the past five years; the four-day SPIEL trade fair this year saw 1,500 new board and card game releases, with 209,000 attendees from around the world. – Fast Company

“Some community leaders … wonder why a city with such a fierce appetite for new parks, public spaces, museums and theaters has not invested in a major facility that acknowledges their significance. Why doesn’t Houston have a Latino cultural center on the scale of, say, the Asia Society Texas Center?” – Houston Chronicle

The new database hosts profiles of underrepresented critics and journalists and invites media outlets, studios, networks, talent and film and television critics associations to find and contact them for screenings, interview junkets and publishing opportunities. – Los Angeles Times

“In an announcement made on Tuesday, the French culture minister Franck Riester said the project was ‘conceived and wanted’ by Georges Wolinski — one of five caricaturists killed in the 2015 attacks, in which 12 people lost their lives. Its aim is to create ‘a place for meetings’ to enable the creation and promotion of satirical cartoons and support their creators, the statement says.” – The Art Newspaper

American Historical Association meetings aren’t known for rousing policy debates. At this year’s gathering, however, there was a sense that historians’ perspectives are sorely needed in current policy discussions — and that historians are increasingly willing to step up. – Inside Higher Ed

The books have the same publisher. They credit the same authors. But they are customized for students in different states, and their contents sometimes diverge in ways that reflect the nation’s deepest partisan divides. – The New York Times

Ballooning budgets and years of delay are becoming a regular feature of prestigious cultural construction projects in Germany. For a country that thrives on a reputation for efficiency and engineering prowess, its recent record is sobering. – The New York Times

‘You live on one continent and work on two others.’ You have ‘a firsthand knowledge of the sunrise over the Po, the sunset over Shenzhen, the crackle of the midday sun as the Acqua Alta wets your calves’. You might be a poor culture-ronin, but you have accidentally attained an enviable ‘air of weary cosmopolitan glamour’, which follows you back to your shabby, expensive flat. But with climate change… – Frieze