First, and most simply, philanthropy is most certainly a business model, or at least the core of such a model, because it is at the heart of financing nearly every private university and almost all of the country’s leading cultural institutions, from museums to the performing arts, as well as most organized religious institutions. - Second Rough Draft
As governments spin up new AI programs, regulators around the world are urgently trying to hire AI experts. But some of the job ads are raising eyebrows and even chuckles among AI researchers and engineers for offering wages that, amid the current AI boom, look pitiful. - Wired
"Key insights: States with higher proportions of rural population tend to have lower levels of arts vibrancy – with some notable exceptions. States ranking higher on arts vibrancy generally have lower poverty rates; but having low levels of poverty doesn’t guarantee a top arts vibrancy ranking." - SMU Data Arts
The inflection point is coming for Substack, OnlyFans and any platform where creators are reliant on the largesse of their audiences. When creators realise the dream of financial success and celebrity is sputtering, so too will the impression that this is a radical new future for content creation fade. - Medium
Toronto is a city of festivals, but two years after pandemic restrictions were lifted, even big names in the sector are struggling to attract audiences, pay down debt and meet steeply rising costs of production. - Toronto Star
"Elizabeth Babcock … will head a (yet-to-be-built) museum that was shaken last summer by the withdrawal of its incoming founding director, Nancy Yao, following a Washington Post investigation of her handling of sexual harassment allegations at a New York museum." - The Washington Post (MSN)
"A trained soprano with degrees from Temple University and the University of the Arts, (Valerie) Gay, 58, was most recently deputy director of audience engagement and chief experience officer at the Barnes Foundation. … Arts leaders said they were thrilled with Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s appointment." - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
Thanks to Arts Council England’s recently published analysis on opera and music theatre, ‘relevance’ is back on the agenda. But the report and its conclusions do not show true understanding of art and artists. - The Stage
unesco is best known for its prestigious list of World Heritage sites. But its most interesting endeavor might be a survey of humanity’s cultural practices. - The New Yorker
"From York stone" — still valuable as a building material — "gouged from a 200-year-old bridge to graffiti sprayed on a medieval chapel, there has been a rise in theft and vandalism at the nation’s most cherished historic sites, with the cost of living crisis expected to only worsen the problem." - The Guardian
The Philadelphia Orchestra is averaging 78 percent attendance so far this season, compared with 63 percent before the pandemic. The New York Philharmonic is averaging 85 percent attendance this season compared with 74 percent. - The New York Times
Overall tickets sales in 2023 were 101% of what they were in 2019, the last complete year of data before Covid. More than half of audiences in 2023 were first-time bookers.54% of the audience had not attended before, a near record high in the decade, eclipsed only by the figure of 55% first-timers in 2013. - BachTrack
"An investigation into the clawback of Metro Arts grant funds intended for underserved artists (found) probable cause of discrimination. … Six people, including five artists who lost some or all of the grant money promised to them, filed formal Title VI complaints alleging that Metro Arts discriminated based on race." - The Tennessean (Yahoo!)
The Unesco convention defines intangible cultural heritage as: “Practices, representations, expressions, knowledge, skills – as well as the instruments, objects, artefacts and cultural spaces associated therewith – that communities, groups and, in some cases, individuals recognise as part of their cultural heritage.” - The Conversation
In 2022 alone, charities raised $749 million nationwide through so-called point-of-sale donations, a 24% jump from 2020, according to Engage for Good, which tracks this type of charitable giving. - NPR
