"What do filmmakers owe the people who inspire the stories they tell, particularly when those stories involve abuse or exploitation?" - Los Angeles Times
There's basically no response that won't offend someone, says a USC prof. "Add alcohol to the mix, as is often the case at these awards dinners, and what could possibly go wrong?" - The New York Times
In Suffolk, where roughly three-quarters of the population qualifies as "wealthy" or "comfortable," the county announced that it will end all core arts funding as of April 2025. Arts organizations issued a joint statement saying that the amount (£500,000) is tiny for the council but will severely affect them. - The Guardian
“This expectation that all artists per se should have a particular responsibility to be overtly political flies in the face of what I believe about art being directionless research. Or sometimes I like to say that art is useless. And that’s one of its absolute strengths." - New Statesman
"While the rush to do something about A.I. might feel new, it’s really just a continuation of a yearslong conversation about the unintended consequences and harms of algorithms. A.I. is just the latest 'genie' that won’t go back into the bottle. … There have been many others." - Slate
In the US, Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover, Brecht's Threepenny Opera, Virginia Woolf's Orlando, and Dreyer's Passion of Joan of Arc. In the EU, Canada, and Latin America, works by Dylan Thomas, Django Reinhardt, and Hank Williams. In most of Asia and Africa, everything by Picasso and Tolkien. - The Public Domain Review
Racism at work? Depends on what exactly one means by racism, and where — because the Metro Nashville Arts Commission reversed the new funding model, and the grants allocated under it a month previously, on the advice of its legal department. - The Tennessean (Nashville)
The culture ministry said Thursday it will move away from one-time, small grants distributed to a wide range of artists toward more targeted and impactful support for large-scale projects over the years. - Yonhap News
The €5 charge won't even cover the cost of administering it, let alone discourage or limit wear-and-tear from too much foot traffic. Anna Somers Cocks argues that it should cost at least as much to enter Venice as it does to go to the Uffizi Gallery (€25). - The Art Newspaper
Harvard, the faculty members said, should abandon its practice of taking official positions on political or social issues, as it did during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and, more controversially, in response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. - Boston Globe (MSN)
Everybody hated Prince Harry's memoir, which nevertheless became the fastest-selling book in history. A country hit managed to divide much of America. A rock star kissed his bandmate on stage and got thrown out of a country. Gwyneth Paltrow briefly managed to get most people on her side. - BBC
Preliminary findings from an upcoming report reveal that only a third of responding institutions say audience engagement is back to 2019 levels; for performing arts organizations, the figure is only 15%. 23% of the groups are still at "reduced capacity," down 10 points from last year. - WHYY (Philadelphia)
"Despite positive attendance numbers in the spring and fall, … several of the city’s larger organizations … are in a similar boat — single ticket sales are increasing, but not fast enough to cover the decrease in subscriptions. As an outlier, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust reports robust subscriptions for its Broadway series." - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Having grown from about 4,000 attendees in 1991, the festival now caps attendance at 80,000, many of whom are just too damn rich. Having (barely) managed to clean up this year's mess by the six-week limit in the land use permit, Burners don't expect major changes for 2024. But later? - AP
