ISSUES

Art Is Good For Your Health? Can’t We Do Better?

In other words, the key sell for engaging with art in this case is that there is science – a real expertise! – backing it up, to reassure those on the fence that it’s not all a clanging, nebulous waste of time. - The Guardian

Other U.S. Cities Are Boosting Arts Funding, But Chicago’s Will Remain Flat

“The Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events is set to receive about $62.5 million next year in the proposed budget. That’s up less than 1% from the arts budget that passed City Council last year.” - WBEZ (Chicago)

Arts Education Incubator “The Crucible” Shuts Down In Oakland

The layoffs deepen the uncertainty surrounding the 27-year-old nonprofit, which closed its 56,000-square-foot West Oakland facility Oct. 25 and canceled classes and events. The board has said it cannot yet say when, or whether, the organization will reopen. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)

How Canada Is Benefitting From Trump’s American Brain Drain

For Canada, Trump’s war on facts presents a window of opportunity. “As other countries constrain academic freedoms and undermine cutting-edge research, Canada is investing in—and doubling down on—science,” Industry Minister Mélanie Joly said when announcing the initiative in December 2025. - The Walrus

New NEA Data On Americans’ Arts Participation

The dataset now spans 2003–2025 and includes newly added data from 2024 and 2025. It is available through the NADAC website for free download and online analysis. - NEA

How American History Became Divisive

Under this rigid order, there’s no room to interrogate our rocky history, let alone change it for the better. There’s just one nation, under God, indivisible—now, always, and forever. - Mother Jones

Google Says It Will Shut Off Search For Schools That Reject AI

A.I. features are now a standard part of Google’s commercially available search engine. “Search and A.I. are deeply integrated.” If a school has banned A.I., he added, students “will not have access to search, and they’ll see a message from their school that indicates it’s not available.” - The New York Times

Objects Removed By New Right-Wing Government From Colombia’s National Museum Are Reinstalled

“On the evening of 28 October, César Enrique Osorio Ortiz — a judge at Bogotá’s 24th Family Court — ordered Colombia’s cultural ministry and the museum to return the works to their original locations within 48 hours. The ministry complied with the order on Friday (30 October).” - The Art Newspaper

Austin May Be Able To Boost Arts Funding, Thanks To Its New “Airbnb Tax”

“With the Austin Convention Center closed for reconstruction until 2029, the city faces years of diminished convention business and the hotel tax revenue it generates, portions of which fund programs supporting the arts. … But a surge in hotel taxes collected from short-term rentals is providing a financial cushion.” - KUT (Austin)

Kennedy Center Leaders Threatened Payroll Over Trump Naming, Lawmaker Alleges

Kennedy Center leaders jeopardized the institution’s operations by tying millions of dollarsin funding to keeping President Donald Trump’s name on its building, a Democratic congresswoman who serves on its board alleges in a court brief filed Friday. - Washington Post

Anti-Trans Political Rhetoric Is Harming Nonbinary And Trans Actors Too

Even actors like Elliot Page and Asia Kate Dillon have said it's harder to find work in a world where roles for them are, according to them, vanishing. - CBC

AI Isn’t Just Cooking Our Water Supply And Our Writing, But Also Our Food

"Most of those bowls and sandwiches available in the lunchtime hours are sold by fast-casual chains, the kind of establishments that give private equity investors wet dreams thanks to their sky-high margins, low labor costs, and simplistic, trend-driven menus." - Ravenous

Solidarity Mural In Iowa, Covered By Blue Tarp In Advance Of Trump Visit, Ordered By The City To Be Uncovered

A spokesperson from the building's management company: "The goal of the White House in covering the mural was to provide exterior branding and put up a U.S. flag." But the city had not authorized any exterior modifications. - Des Moines Register (MSN)

You Don’t Know What The Algorithms Are Doing To Us Until You Walk Away

"Here’s the thing about spending a month off grid and overseas: ... You are more relaxed than you have ever been, and you have forgotten the way nearly every news story of the past decade grabs hold of your heart and squeezes, twists, strangles. That constant, low-level dread." - Slate

As AI Infiltrates Scholarly Writing, The Value Of A Journal Article Is Collapsing

"Unfortunately, the scholars submitting papers aren’t the only ones using AI. So are many of their peer reviewers. One recent peer review that my journal received—from a senior scholar—read like an unedited cut-and-paste job from an LLM." - The Atlantic

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