Reputation is part of national security, and the U.S. has historically enhanced its reputation by building relationships through cultural tools. - The Conversation
Look to this year’s “Summer Stipends.” These are small grants given to scholars to support new research, and the NEH typically gives out close to 100 such micro-grants each year, at $6,000 a pop. This year, the grant amount has been bumped up to $8,000, but only 18 grants have been approved. - Artnet
Rome was always an enormous shapeshifting laboratory of experiments in governance, administration, and interregional trade. Crucially, the military troubles punctuating the third century taught emperors to move away from the isolated centre of the Italian peninsula and closer to where things actually happened. - History Today
Under Mayor Daniel Lurie’s budget proposal, Grants for the Arts, the San Francisco Arts Commission and the San Francisco Film Commission will operate side-by-side under a new umbrella agency with a single director. No current grants will be affected. - San Francisco Chronicle (MSN)
Michael Kimmelman: “By far most promising aspect of the plan is to open the park up to a neighborhood it has long walled off. It aims to rectify an approach to city building from the bad old days of urban renewal.” - The New York Times
“While organizations of all kinds were impacted, it is the small and midsized institutions that lack endowments, prominent donors, and broad outreach whose futures are particularly in jeopardy.” - The Guardian
The State Senate’s Finance Committee decided against eliminating the NH State Council for the Arts. Instead, by a 5-3 vote, the committee gave the Council a budget of $1 and suggested raising funds in the private sector. - InDepthNH
In an era when Wisconsin has consistently ranked near the bottom in per capita arts spending nationwide — and with ticket sales declining since the COVID-19 pandemic — infighting over this funding has become more intense. - WUWM
“The current mood is one of dreadful anticipation of further hostility toward arts and culture, in general, and toward any institution or organization — nonprofit or otherwise — whose values do not align with the goals of this presidency.” - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo)
When done well, lectures can be utterly illuminating, when you are listening to a brilliant speaker discuss a topic about which they have more knowledge than anyone else in the world. Why wouldn’t a student who has signed up to study with such an expert want to hear them speak. - The Critic
“In 2023, the government began an initiative called the Culture Canon, with two streams: an ‘experts’’ canon and a ‘people’s canon,’ (each with) 100 items that have played a key role in shaping Swedish culture. … Yet even the suggestion of such a definitive list is dividing opinion in Sweden.” - The New York Times
If this legislation has the effect of granting law enforcement a means of bypassing encrypted communications, we may as well bid farewell to the very concept of digital privacy. - Slate
Advocates argue that the recommended $45 million baseline raise, while historic, is not enough to address the millions that have been lost federal grant funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), and the Institute for Museums and Library Services (IMLS). - Hyperallergic
This shift has led to changes in how people interact socially, both online and offline. The convenience and accessibility of gaming platforms, including platforms like a Canadian online casino, have allowed players to connect with others across vast distances, creating virtual communities that transcend geographical boundaries. - The Walrus
Daniele Cipriani, a dance impresario well-known in Italy, has been nominated by the minister of culture to be artistic director of the Spoleto Festival; he will succeed incumbent Monique Veaute following this summer’s event. As Cipriani is a dance specialist, there may be separate directors for the festival’s music and theater. - Gramilano (Milan)
