"Activists targeted an asset manager that invests much less in fossil fuels than most of its peers. They succeeded in reducing funding for literary festivals, not fossil fuels or arms companies. The whole arts sector is already struggling. ... If Baillie Gifford isn’t clean enough to fill the gap, who exactly is?" - Financial Times
"(The school), which shut down suddenly earlier this month, does not appear to have enough money to pay its employees the minimum it owes them under federal law. The news came out of the first negotiating session that (administrators and attorneys) held with the school’s staff unions." - The Philadelphia Inquirer (MSN)
Like many nonprofit arts organizations, BAM has struggled financially since the pandemic, and its annual operating budget dropped. It has also been buffeted by leadership churn in recent years after decades of stability in its senior leadership ranks. - The New York Times
While there are concerns that some districts are illegally using the new money to pay for existing teachers, schools around the state are adding different kinds of instruction — in Santa Cruz County, for instance, ukulele lessons, tin-embossing classes and hip-hop dance workshops. - PBS SoCal
"In a 10-page analysis …, (former schools superintendent Austin) Beutner's coalition — which includes the labor representatives of most district employees — documented alleged misspending at 14 schools and suggested their research represents a small sample of what they believe is widespread misuse of the arts funding." - Los Angeles Times (Yahoo!)
Key findings by the City include that Greater Sydney has the largest creative workforce in the country, but the number of artists who live in the local area decreased by 11% from 2011 to 2021. - ArtsHub
The historically lamentable lack of government support for the arts in the U.S. is taking another turn for the worse. California and San Francisco are facing large deficits, and meager support for the arts here is certain to decline further. - San Francisco Classical Voice
The Musée du Fromage, opening this weekend on Île Saint-Louis in central Paris, will feature demonstrations of how several different varieties (out of hundreds in France) are made, how to "read" the milk, the importance of bacteria, and the big effects that small details can have. - The Guardian
We are in a feedback loop in which social media edifies and dictates taste. In a time of strained attention, where every next post in the feed threatens to be a succession plan for what came before it, content makers are looking to land on the grid and stick there. - Artnet
"Texas A&M University has extended an offer to students affected by the surprise closure of the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, allowing them to apply for transfer for the fall semester. … The school has 20 to 30 spots in its performance and visual studies programs that it could confidently fill." - Artnet
The Governor vetoed $32 million in grants that would have supported 663 arts and culture organizations around the State of Florida through the Division of Arts and Culture. Less than 10 years ago, Florida ranked third in the United States for arts funding. The FY25 budget puts Florida squarely at the bottom. - Broward Arts Calendar
The story “began with a brazen plot that made international headlines in May: Naussany Investments, a company that did not seem to exist, run by people who did not seem to exist, had filed a claim seeking control of Graceland over what they alleged was an unpaid debt.” - NBC News
Both, “when they worked as journalists in London two decades ago, used fraudulently obtained phone and company records in newspaper articles, according to a former colleague, a published account of a private investigator and an analysis of newspaper archives.” Seems fine; no notes. - The New York Times
A lot of people heading to Disney theme parks go into significant debt for the trip, especially parents with kids under 18 - who mostly say they have no regrets. - Los Angeles Times (MSN)
That sentence is for sexual assault of his godson in 2021 - after which Dominque Boutonnat “was re-upped by the French government in 2022 in spite of the fact that he had been indicted on sexual assault charge.” - Variety
