Issues

“Hours devoted to discussing, refining, retooling and rejecting arts policies for Collier County over the last 10 years: Roughly 500 Committee meetings, public forums and legislative sessions that included discussion of creating arts policy here. – Naples Daily News

“Our festivals, and creatives across the sector, are effectively prohibited from trading our way through to recovery, while hospitality and sports are being supported to do so to the maximum safe extent.” – The Stage

The total of $2.7 billion in grants announced this week “marks the third time in 12 months that Scott … has issued a wave of donations worth a combined ten figures. It’s also the first time she has funded arts organizations at scale. (The latest round of recipients also includes racial justice groups, universities, and other organizations.) Absent from the list of arts recipients are big names that wealthy donors often favor, such as the Museum of Modern Art or Lincoln Center. Instead, Scott opted to fund smaller, largely BIPOC-led groups.” – Artnet

The online, interactive map divides the province up into Indigenous territories, including some areas where there is overlap, with sections featuring language, art and culture. – CBC

The lack of fanfare associated with the June 15 announcement, which came in the form of a simple Medium post rather than a costly PR blitz, was part of the point, according to Scott. – Artnet

“The reopening means the end of mandatory [capacity limits and] mask requirements for vaccinated patrons of California movie theaters, gyms, restaurants, stores and family entertainment centers. However, businesses may choose to retain mask requirements or opt to implement a vaccine verification system, but those verification systems have not yet been developed. ‘It’s the honor system,’ [Gov.] Newsom admitted. ‘We’re not requiring passports.'” – Variety

While venues try to maintain pre-pandemic ticket prices and the availability of shows by offering multiple gigs on the same day, their economic viability is massively diminished by the drop in capacity. – The Conversation

“England was due to move to stage four of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown on 21 June, when venues and events would be allowed to operate without capacity limits and the cap on guests at weddings would be lifted.” But, as the country is seeing a new surge of COVID cases, many of the virus’s Delta variant, reopening measures have been postponed to at least July 19. – BBC

“The return of cruise ships, which caught many by surprise after the Italian government announced in March that they would be banned from the historic centre, has reawakened old divisions in Venice. … The argument has pitted the economy against the environment in a city where the pandemic has served as a sharp reminder for residents of just how much their livelihoods have come to depend on tourism.” – The Guardian

Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire? Is this the title I’m asked to carry? I cannot think of anything I want less than to be a member of that empire. – The Guardian

Ronald Brownstein, a senior editor at the Atlantic and political analyst for CNN, offers 1974 as a pivotal year in which Los Angeles took center stage as a cultural broker and “transformed movies, music, television, and politics.” – Los Angeles Times

It’s not easy to find creative community at the best of times. Sometimes you just need an outside force – say, an “art incubator.” – Oregon ArtsWatch

The story of Selena Quintanilla is quintessentially American – so why did Netflix order it as a Latin American original with a tiny budget that meant filming in Mexico and paying writers (and other staff members) much, much less than they would have gotten in the U.S.? “Their love for Selena, the writers said, drove them to take the job despite the low wages, but all expressed frustration at the disrespect they say they felt being underpaid and overworked for a series that quickly dominated Netflix’s own top-10 charts in 23 countries following its December 2020 release.” – Los Angeles Times

The sitcom’s actors took to social media to say more about the series’ abrupt end – and the series itself. Their posts “threw into sharp relief the ongoing reluctance of producers and executives from Hollywood to Toronto to trust and empower Asian actors, writers and directors to tell their own stories — and as Yoon and Liu both pointed out, few of the writers for Kim’s Convenience were of Asian descent.” – Los Angeles Times

“The Edinburgh festivals have been offered millions of pounds in emergency funding in the face of widespread fears they may never fully recover from the severe impacts of the COVID pandemic. The Fringe, international and book festivals, which help make up the world’s largest annual arts season, have been forced to very significantly curtail this August’s events, the second year running it has done so.” – The Guardian

The Dear Respected Leader has “called it a ‘vicious cancer’ corrupting young North Koreans’ ‘attire, hairstyles, speeches, behaviors.’ His state media has warned that if left unchecked, it would make North Korea ‘crumble like a damp wall.’ After winning fans around the world, South Korean pop culture has entered the final frontier: North Korea, where its growing influence has prompted the leader of the totalitarian state to declare a new culture war to stop it. But even a dictator may have trouble holding back the tide.” – The New York Times

As in the US, UK politicians are wading in to debates about statues, history, and the culture that defines the country. – The Guardian

Provincial governments and public-health authorities have, understandably, been focused on science getting us out of this – but, less understandably, they’ve neglected allowing (never mind encouraging) artists to explore the possibilities of how outside-the-box creativity could make this pandemic (or future ones) less isolating and more livable. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)

This stunning state of affairs stands in bold contrast to the initial PPP and the more recent restaurant relief funds, which were on their way to businesses within days. – Variety

The capital of the United Arab Emirates, whose government wants to diversify its economy away from oil and catch up with Dubai as the UAE’s major draw for foreign visitors, is adding $6 billion over five years to its budget for the cultural sector. While some of the funding will support media, music, and cultural heritage, much of it will go toward completing the museums — most notably, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, with a building designed by Frank Gehry — that will join the now-open Louvre Abu Dhabi on the emirate’s Saadiyat Island. – Artnet

“As the June 22 primary draws near, we rounded up the top six contenders” — in alphabetical order, Eric Adams, Kathryn Garcia, Dianne Morales, Scott Stringer, Maya Wiley, and Andrew Yang — “and summarized their priorities for the sector if elected.” – Hyperallergic

“Just over a month ago, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that as part of NYC’s post-pandemic recovery, the city will be investing $25 million in … a new recovery program aimed at hiring over 1,500 artists to create works throughout the five boroughs this summer and beyond. Today, he finally revealed more info about exactly how this program will work, and how artists can apply to take part in it.” – Gothamist

The science author and historian Sarah Dry withdrew as a trustee of the Science Museum Group in March after she was asked to support the government’s position on contested heritage. Meanwhile, the re-appointment of the Bangladeshi-British academic Aminul Hoque as trustee at Royal Museums Greenwich was vetoed by the government earlier this year, prompting Charles Dunstone, the chair of the museum board, to resign. Hoque was reportedly rejected because of his focus on “decolonisation”. – The Art Newspaper