Issues

“Pop-up shows at Washington’s two airports and an immersive display in a 12th-floor suite at the Hamilton Hotel offer the first glimpse of its future. The suffrage-themed displays represent a significantly diminished footprint for the long-struggling museum of journalism, which last year sold its building, laid off 88 employees and moved the remaining staff of about 40.” – The Washington Post

“Home Office officials are to launch a consultation on legally forcing organisations to increase physical security at venues and train staff to respond to terrorist attacks, as well as putting in place incident response plans – and how failure to comply would be enforced.” – The Guardian

“It’s a truism to say our society doesn’t do well when faced with competing stories about what happened; that’s what ‘he said/she said’ has become a shorthand for. … To overcome that reflex, … we need to practice on something with lower stakes than the literal lives of accusers and accused. We need Me Too fiction and metatexts that help us understand this problem outside of a news cycle. And recently, we’ve been getting them.” – Slate

Across northern Italy from Venice to Milan, theatres, cinemas, museums, and opera houses (including La Scala) have been ordered to stop operations for a week as cases of the disease spread. – Hyperallergic

Camila Prins says she first realized she wanted to be a woman at a Carnival party at age 11, when, like the other boys, she was allowed to dress like a girl as part of the burlesque festivities. Now, in the final minutes of Saturday, she became the first transgender woman to lead the drum section of a top samba school in either of the renowned Carnival parades put in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. – Washington Post (AP)

“The U.S. government made us paper Indians — our ancestors are here,” Jack proclaimed last week at Sand Point. To close and remove the archives is to physically remove the ancestors (word is the contents of these warehouses would probably be transferred to facilities thousands of miles away in Missouri and in Southern California). – Crosscut

Over the last few years a pool of Italian biologists, anthropologists and geochemists conducted a series of forensic tests on the skull and accompanying lower mandible, which were unearthed 120 years ago on a shore not far from Pompeii. On Jan. 23 the scientists presented their findings at a conference in the museum. The skull, they concluded, squared with what was known about Pliny at his death, but the jawbone belonged to someone else. – The New York Times

Once Haenel publicly accused film director Christophe Ruggia of harassment and “inappropriate sexual contact” that began when she was 12, women in France began speaking out in large numbers. “My story was like the last gram in a chemistry experiment that made everything fall out of solution,” she said. She’s clear about the problem: “Many artists blurred, or wanted to blur, the distinction between sexual behavior and abuse. The debate was centered on the question of [men’s] ‘freedom to bother,’ and on feminists’ purported puritanism. But sexual abuse is abuse, not libertine behavior.” – The New York Times

The objection: “The series depicts fictional atrocities taking place in Nazi death camps, including a game of human chess in which people are killed when a piece is taken off the board.” And factual inaccuracies simply aren’t a good idea at this point: “Inventing a fake game of human chess … is not only dangerous foolishness and caricature, it also welcomes future deniers. We honor the victims by preserving factual accuracy.” – Los Angeles Times

Yes, in recent months, Amazon has removed sellers who are peddling Nazi imagery on ornaments and a beer opener. But these are books, and “Amazon takes a different approach with books than it does with home goods. ‘Amazon’s Offensive Products policies apply to all products except books, music, video and DVD,’ the retailer’s guidelines state.” – The New York Times

Australians took 12.3 million daytrips and 13.4 million overnight trips within Australia that included arts activities in 2018 – an increase of 14 percent and 20 percent respectively since 2014 – with increases found across visiting museums and art galleries, attending performing arts, visiting art or craft workshops or studios, attending festivals, and experiencing First Nations arts and craft. The report also flagged an increasing interest in First Nations arts tourism. – Limelight

“Although it is theoretically ‘points-based’, the reality is that it will be impossible to accrue enough points with a salary below £25,600 (without a PhD) unless the role is on the shortage occupation list; a list which excludes many highly-valued creative professions. In our sector, high skill levels do not always equate to high salaries. There must be recognition of sector-specific means of assessment including auditions, work experience and portfolios.” – The Stage

More than eight out of ten survey respondents agreed that “workers in the arts and cultural sector who share controversial opinions risk being professionally ostracised”. The overwhelming message that comes across from more than 1,000 free text comments – running to 60,000 words – is neatly summed up by one person, who said “I often feel pressured to self-censor for fear of being ‘cancelled’ or bullied for not conforming to the orthodoxy”. – Arts Professional

That system sometimes “reward[s] bad behavior. We reward those who keep spending without regard” and sometimes “penalize organizations that take thoughtful, correct and prudent cuts to their budget and then they get less as a result.” – Salt Lake Tribune

It’s not the liberal arts vs. corporate education. And it’s not soft skills vs. hard skills. It’s both a dichotomy and a lexicon we must eliminate. First, the dichotomy: the education needed for today and the future is one that blends the two instead of treating them as separate and distinct. Second, the lexicon: terminology like soft vs. hard skills inherently undermines the importance of the poorly named “soft” skills while the words “liberal” and “arts” are a poor brand name for an otherwise powerful and relevant pedagogy. – Forbes

“The question … is far more complicated that it first appears. (What does ‘best’ mean? What does ‘the arts’ mean?)” There isn’t all that much evidence to look at, but Chris Jones surveys what’s there. – Chicago Tribune

That a company engaged in conservative or liberal political activity did not affect Republicans’ opinions of that company, but it did for Democrats. (As previously reported, Democrats didn’t care one way or another if a Jones Corp engaged in liberal activities.) That means the 33% drop in opinion when Jones Corps engaged in a conservative agenda was entirely driven by participants who identified as Democrats. – Harvard Business Review

Since 2010, urban inner rings, including central business districts, accounted for barely 10 percent of population growth in the nation’s 53 largest metropolitan areas. More revealing still, the country’s three largest metropolitan areas — New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago—are now losing population. Since 2012, suburbs and exurbs, which have seven times as many people as the core, are again growing faster. Suburbs are also seeing a strong net movement among educated people, those earning over $75,000 and especially those between the ages of 30 and 44. – The Daily Beast

“Arts organisations and museums in England are being warned they will lose public funding unless they meet ‘stretching’ targets to create and attract more diverse workforces and audiences. … ACE has been publishing diversity data for five years but has often been accused of merely talking instead of taking strong action. The language this year is significantly more robust.” – The Guardian

The arts advocacy group says these are the trends that will inform its work over the next few years. – Americans for the Arts

The organization has about half the members it did in the 1970s. But it has failed to address claims of sexual abuse for decades, and the claims have mounted up. The bankruptcy is an attempt to deal with some of the settlements. – The New York Times

“Since AB5 took effect on January 1, hundreds of thousands of Californians are finding their businesses in tatters. Musicians can’t join bands for a one-night gig, chefs can’t join forces with caterers, nurses can’t work at various hospitals, and writers must cap their submissions per media outlet to 35 per year.” – City Journal

Dear United States, this isn’t new – but it is alarming. “For centuries, autocrats, authoritarians, and dictators have held a fascination with using architecture as a political tool to glorify their regimes, often while also dismissing modern architectural styles as lowbrow, cold, or weak. The current crop of far-right world leaders with authoritarian impulses is no different—and that now appears to include President Donald Trump.” – Slate

And the Writers Guild is ready to crack down on their wayward members. The WGA president wrote, “‘For any writers breaking the rules there must and will be accountability.’ He added: ‘We know that some agents are harassing former clients to work with them in secret under the false premise that ‘everyone else has come back.’'” – Los Angeles Times

Protest is meant to bring a reality that lurks beyond the sight lines of most people crashing down in front of them. When resistance to the current order arises, citizens are put to the test. We are forced to reveal where our allegiances lie. What are we willing to support, or do, in the pursuit of rightness and justice? – Maclean’s