When Allen was alive, critics categorized his funding, at times, as based on whims. Some local artists and nonprofits still have flashbacks from 2014, when the foundation’s giving suddenly stopped without explanation. - Crosscut
"With the overwhelming approval of Proposition 28, California will now lead the nation in funding for the arts in every classroom. ... The passage of the proposition guarantees as much as $1 billion every school year for arts education taken from the state budget without raising taxes." - KPBS (San Diego)
New Prime Minister Rishi Sunak inherits the nation’s shrunken, crumbling pie, desperately searching for easy bits to scrape off. And the arts—international and outward-looking, promoting critical thinking and structural questioning—are hardly the current government’s flavor of the month. - Van
Viewing the process as a zero-sum game pits different parts of the country against one another. This approach also glosses over the underlying politics of arts funding beyond the number crunching and broader questions of what it’s actually for. - The Conversation
The museum, whose collection documents CIA history from circa World War II to the present, is at the agency's headquarters in Langley, Virginia and only open to officers and selected officials from elsewhere in government. But the collection is being digitized and much of it gradually posted online. - Atlas Obscura
It’s unclear whether this upward shift is unique to UC Berkeley or an indication of a national trend. Arizona State University (ASU) reported a 17% increase in arts and humanities majors between 2017 and 2019, and over 4,000 undergraduate students majored in spring semester 2021. - Hyperallergic
As government health and welfare services shut down or struggled to adapt to the crisis, cultural organisations stepped in to provide vital support – including, in some cases, fundamentals of food and heating – to their networks of participants and audiences whose usual care was falling short. - The Conversation
Yes, that means — for now — no Tchaikovsky or Tolstoy, no Shostakovich or Chekhov or Pushkin. "The context for this rejection has to be understood, though: Ukrainians are emerging from a history in which the Russian empire, and then the Soviet Union, actively and often violently suppressed Ukrainian art." - The Guardian
By attacking a famous and high-value cultural target like Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring — it even starred in its own movie — the protesters are asking us to examine our values. - The Conversation
Art is now viewed as a pretext for collective discourse, raising “issues” that provide the raw material for op-eds, Twitter threads, college seminars, and conference panels, not to mention (dreaded word) post-performance “talkbacks.” But not just any kind of collective discourse. - Salmagundi
Hours after the victim went to the station "to report that Moonves had sexually assaulted her in the 1980s ... LAPD Capt. Cory Palka called a CBS executive to alert him to the existence of the report." - Los Angeles Times
When she was on The Babysitter's Club, the Latina teen got a ton of online hate from people who expected a blonde, blue-eyed character. So she battled back with her own slightly devious, but fun, social media plan. - Los Angeles Times
"Both spots — the 'South Monument site' and the 'Tidal Basin site' — are extremely problematic, would lead to unnecessary expense, and would force architectural and design compromises that would diminish the potential beauty and functionality of the buildings." - Washington Post
Unless something goes viral (probably for the wrong reason), it's difficult for arts writing to get traction - and Twitter was, until two weeks ago, a good way to find an audience. But what now? The L.A. Times' arts and culture writers have thoughts. - Los Angeles Times
"Theodore Farnsworth, the former CEO of parent company Helios & Matheson, and Mitchell Lowe, the former CEO of MoviePass," were charged with deceiving investors about the business model and sustainability of the service. - Variety
