Western Avenue Studios & Lofts, a former textile mill in Lowell, Mass. (about 25 miles from Boston), was purchased last month by the Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston, which set the complex up as a nonprofit along the lines of a land conservation trust. - MSN (The Boston Globe)
The subject has been largely skipped so far, though far-right candidate Marine Le Pen has said she plans to privatize the French public broadcasting networks and incumbent Emmanuel Macron promises to continue the €300 culture pass for teens. Many arts figures fear censorship if Le Pen wins. - The Art Newspaper
"There will still be people with traumatic experiences. There will be new Ukrainian communities in many countries. There will be years of rebuilding our cities. We’ll have to talk about it all – and we’ll do so through art.” - The Guardian
In America alone, there are 11 million vacant positions and only 6.5 million people to fill them. Suddenly, we’re in the middle of a talent crisis. Employees have unprecedented leverage, and the Great Resignation as we know it is just beginning. - Fast Company
While the world debates whether to cancel or to welcome artists and writers who suddenly feel like leaving Russia amidst its economic collapse, it neglects the crucial question: will Russia succeed in executing Ukrainian culture once again? - Eurozine
"A district court judge in Florida ruled that the City of Miami Beach had the right to censor a public artwork depicting Raymond Herisse, a Haitian-American man who was killed by Miami Beach police in 2011." The city government, declared the judge, has First Amendment rights of its own. - Artnet
The unspoken secret had been fleetingly exposed: Free labor is a fact of academic life. “These arrangements are common in academia.” - The New York Times
After successfully leading Scottish Opera, the Manchester International Festival, the Holland Festival, and the cultural program at the 2012 London Olympics, her firing from the Châtelet was (and remains) somewhat mysterious. She now takes over as director of Australia's Adelaide Festival through 2026. - The Age (Melbourne)
Wealthy Russian businessmen, many of whom are now sanctioned, have donated between $372 million and $435 million to more than 200 nonprofits in the US in the last two decades. The findings are laid out in a database created in 2020. - Hyperallergic
"The arts center will be the centerpiece of a 53-acre park on the Sarasota bayfront. It will have a 2,250-seat main stage theater and a 400-seat flexible performance and event space ... (as well as) a lawn where people can watch movies or performances in the open air." - Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Artists do not deserve financial support just for being artists. Selling one’s art is a different story altogether and requires at least 2 parties to be in agreement. Artists are no more deserving of financial support than any other worker, thinker, or creator. - Alan Harrison
"As of March 30, UNESCO said, the confirmed damaged sites, located in several regions across Ukraine, include 29 religious sites, 16 historic buildings, four museums and four monuments." - NPR
And activists, including the co-director of last year's documentary nominee Crip Camp, would very much like that to change. (The report focuses on representation of and by Black, indigenous, and other people of color, and women of all races and ethnicities.) - Variety
The novel Brother of the More Famous Jack has just been reissued - and "The title alone deserves a party. It puts its finger on a big category – the person who gets used to being an adjunct. It’s a category traditionally inhabited by women." - The Observer (UK)
This seems transparently foolish. After all, it wasn't Jada Pinkett Smith or their adult children up there smacking Chris Rock. Yet: "Public relations specialists who focus on crisis management warned that the incident could erode the good will that the Smiths have built up." - The New York Times
