Humanities chairs—anxious about increasing political interference, declining enrollments and students’ skepticism toward the value of humanities degrees—are largely pessimistic about the future of their departments, according to a new report from the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. - InsideHigherEd
“Cuyahoga County, home to Cleveland, is thought to be the only place in the country where a tax on cigarettes goes to arts organizations. … The innovative model has been so successful, raising money by making cigarettes more expensive, that it threatened its own demise.” - The New York Times
“As researchers who study artists, cultural work and public policy, we evaluated this (New York State) program to see whether it achieved its stated goals. Our main finding was simple: Artists did not stop working. Instead, they changed the kind of work they did.” - The Conversation
“Amid the cultural shift away from longer-form food writing and criticism toward stylized, 30-second reaction videos on FoodTok, does carefully composed, sense-based storytelling still matter? What do we collectively lose, and maybe gain, as sound effects and hyperbole subsume rich, descriptive text?” - Slate
“Perhaps the crucial thing to recall is that the basic structure of the biennale that we recognise today was conceived in the 1930s, under Mussolini, becoming, said Ricci, ‘a focus for propaganda and positioned as the peak of Italian culture.’” - The Guardian (UK)
She says no: “Dua Lipa has filed a $15 million lawsuit against Samsung, alleging that the electronics manufacturer used her likeness to sell TVs without paying her and without permission.” - Variety
This seems fine: “The message from attackers ‘urged schools included on the affected list to consult with a cyber advisory firm and contact the group privately to negotiate a settlement before the end of the day on May 12.’” - Wired
“Mixed in the flour that bakes digital technology sit two original sins pervading most gadgets, apps and platforms alike: surveillance and prediction; more specifically, surveillance at the service of prediction. Both lead to social control.” - Aeon
“Without this much needed arts tax reform, including indexing it to inflation, we risk losing the very institutions that make Portland vibrant, and we also risk losing the next generation of arts lovers by failing to sustain arts education in our schools.” - KATU
A little over a year later, after the Department of Government Efficiency eliminated more than half of the NEH staff and tried to terminate 97 percent of its grants, Trump fired all but four members of the 26-person advisory board, called the National Council on the Humanities. - Chronicle of Higher Education
“The Trump administration’s cancellation of more than $100 million in humanities grants to scholars, writers, research groups and other organizations was unconstitutional, and the Department of Government Efficiency had no authority to end the funding, a federal judge in New York ruled on Thursday.” - AP
What is the Ministry of Awe? “Is it an art gallery?” she asked rhetorically. “Is it a theater? Is a museum? Is it a dream? It’s none of those and all of those and it doesn’t matter exactly what it is because there’s no one right way to experience it.” - The New York Times
This despite the fact that the San Diego County government is facing a budget cliff of its own, just as the city is. - The San Diego Union-Tribune (MSN)
“The Holocaust Museum LA, the first survivor-founded and oldest Holocaust museum in the United States, will reopen after a 10-month closure as part of the new Goldrich Cultural Center — a $70-million campus expansion set to debut June 14 in Pan Pacific Park (near downtown).” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
