Culture secretary Angus Robertson predicted the new funding for culture earmarked for the coming financial year would be 'transformational" for the arts industry. Finance secretary Shona Robison said that she aims to allocate an additional £20 million for the following fiscal year. - The Scotsman
"One thing voting for awards has taught me is that virtually every outside assumption about how the process works is wrong, (especially) any attempt to extract an overarching meaning from the results. … Fortunately, there’s an easy way to explain the process. … All you have to do is watch Conclave." - Slate (MSN)
"Nearly 500 journalists are on strike at The Guardian and its sister paper, the Sunday-only Observer, to protest the planned sale of The Observer to a small digital startup. … Says (star reporter) Carole Cadwalladr, 'The sale of The Observer to a loss-making startup is potentially the death of this historic brand." - NPR
To survive the next four years, to make sense of where all this could be going, we need to understand barbarism as a living, ever-present force tending always to cruelty and destruction. And more important: We need to understand how culture pushes back against it. - Washington Post (MSN)
According to UK Theatre, the majority of tickets sold in regional theatres cost under £35, with 99.9% priced below £100. Even in commercial venues, 65% of all tickets sold for less than £45. Furthermore, since 2019, the average ticket price at UK Theatre venues has decreased by 5%. - The Stage
So far, Masterworks has been buying up works and selling shares in the asset, often with delayed payment terms, giving time for the Masterworks team to aggressively sell the shares to retail investors. In 2022 it had reportedly bought up $475m worth of art. - The Critic
A nonprofit called CulturalDC bought the Source Theatre in 2006 so it could remain a performance space. Now, however, CulturalDC's board wants to sell the building by the end of the year and is asking for $5.8 million. The company using the Source has offered to buy it, but not at that price. - Washingtonian (MSN)
There’s a loosely defined term of art for things that are prized and embedded in a culture but not necessarily architectural landmarks: intangible heritage. - The New York Times
Regulators also cited a disabled woman in a wheelchair being “treated in a condescending manner by able-bodied people,” and talking animals being “persecuted in a fantastical society,” as additional reasons for the content warning and PG rating. - The Daily Beast
The lives of the writers are being told in a musical, a feature movie and a memoir. There is even a fashion line themed around them, with sweatshirts riddled with bullet holes to symbolize their killings. - The New York Times
"Diego Vega Solorza does not want people to think of him as a visual artist. He is certainly not a sculptor, he insists, nor a photographer or videographer — even though he will exhibit that kind of work ... at this year’s Art Basel Miami Beach." - The New York Times
As AI-powered publishing balloons, the sheer market volume may make it difficult for these publishers to stand out. They’ll have to adapt. - Fast Company
Benson’s path to success was fraught with challenges. Early in SCR’s history, Benson experienced literal starvation for his art, competing with seagulls for morsels of dumpster food near the beach. He survived esophageal and prostate cancer, clinical depression, and the shattering grief of his first wife’s suicide. - CultureOC
One can carp about the sad history of direct public arts funding in the United States and many do. But one might also argue that there were consequences far more dire for champions of the idea of government dollars for the arts. - Nightingale Sonata
"(He) was both observer and narrator during a more than seven-decade career that included books and memoirs, more than 20 years with a coveted back-page column in Time, and, later, time as a contributing writer to outlets such as The Wall Street Journal." - The Washington Post (MSN)
