Massachusetts Cultural Council executive director Michael Bobbitt is "convinced the crisis presents an opportunity to restructure arts funding, transforming the sector into one that is more affluent, inclusive, easier to navigate, and higher profile than it ever was before." - MSN (The Boston Globe)
"Despite being seemingly worlds apart, comedy and porn have always been linked in some form or another. From the goofy humor of X-rated spoofs to … edgy comics who live to shock the prude out of us, both styles of entertainment require a certain level of fearlessness." - Yahoo! (Los Angeles Times)
The program will cover two thousand arts and culture workers for a span of three years. The government has earmarked €25 million ($28.3 million) for the plan, which is expected to go into force later this winter. - ArtForum
These visionary entrepreneurs, who represent some of the continent’s best talent in professions ranging from architecture to finance, are creating new models of preserving and showcasing art, history and culture. From Lagos to Luanda, they are building local museums, archives, libraries, arts spaces, and cultural centers. - Hyperallergic
The program, launched by the city government and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts last March, provides $1,000 a month, no strings attached, to 130 participants (chosen from 25,000 applicants). Here's a look at how two of them, a choreographer and a writer/teacher, are doing. - San Francisco Chronicle
“Things like disease, disability, death, the processes of scientific experimentation and discovery, they don’t happen in a vacuum. They take place in the context of human experience — so these things are always in discourse with each other." - Hyperallergic
"The renaissance of traditions spans everything from new museum exhibits to artisans integrating old crafts into modern furniture and designers selling handmade jewelry, bags and shoes online." (Not to forget, of course, belly dancing.) "There's also the redevelopment of buildings to champion Egyptian identity." - Bloomberg CityLab
"The charity Queer Britain has taken on the ground floor of the Art Fund building in (King's Cross) for the museum but hopes to eventually find a permanent home." - London Evening Standard
Over the past few months, arts administrators across the city have become increasingly distressed by the significant delays they’ve experienced while trying to get the money they were promised—and by the confusing communications they’re getting from the city's granting organization itself. - KQED
The EU special representative for human rights says, "I’m alarmed by reports of alleged torture and incommunicado detention of author . He remains in detention without trial, despite a court order for his unconditional release." - LitHub
But why? DirecTV, for one, is tight-lipped. And "the pay TV providers who dropped OAN and Newsmax make the case that it’s not politics that drove their decisions, but the upended economics of their business." (Lawsuits also might be making a difference.) - Los Angeles Times
The book changed stereotypes when it came out in 1967, but Jane Campion's movie - bruited for at least one Oscar - has some issues. "What is, after all, so surprising about a queer cowboy? We live in a time after 'Old Town Road,' after Brokeback Mountain." - The Atlantic
The past few months have been exceptionally tough for arts events because audiences ‘are prioritising seeing family and friends, or wanting to reduce the risks of exposure in the lead up to events like weddings, family reunions and long-awaited holidays. - ArtsHub
The CEO of Live Performance Australia says the Omicron variant has dashed hopes of a live arts sector bounce back in 2022, and that while various State government schemes are providing much needed support for local productions, a national insurance framework is desperately needed. - ArtsHub
She explained that her job will be less about individual programming decisions, which will remain the prerogative of those programs’ leaders, and more about providing overarching vision and making the arts a vital part of the broader university. - San Francisco Chronicle
