Women, men, and nonbinary people all compete for the same award starting this year at the Berlin Film Festival - and this year's award went to a woman. "While some will argue gender-neutral categories are socially progressive, they will also have unintended consequences. It could, interestingly, lead to a battle between two different factions of equality campaigners." - BBC
When she started her major scholarship, "histories of photography traditionally focused on England, France and the United States. But Dr. Rosenblum’s ... A World History of Photography (1984), provided a true global perspective. The book was translated into several languages and remains a standard text in the field. Her other major work, A History of Women Photographers (1994), traced their accomplishments from the mid-1800s through the late 20th century." - The New York Times
And Elizabeth Ann Macgregor, its director of 22 years, is leaving. "When Macgregor took over in 1999, the MCA was just eight years old and already on the verge of bankruptcy. Fewer than 100,000 people each year were visiting the converted Maritime Services Board art deco pile, which commands an imposing presence overlooking Circular Quay. Today more than 1 million visitors – almost half under the age of 35 – pass through the museum each year." - The Guardian (UK)
Andra Day, who plays Billie Holiday in the new movie The United States Vs. Billie Holiday, explains how she felt when she heard it as a child. "It's in my DNA. It's in our DNA ... I think as a nation. And as a people, as Black people. I remember being very quieted by the song, almost sort of prostrated. All I knew was it made me sad. ... There was such pain there and it stunned me as a child. It really just struck me." - NPR
It's not great. "COVID has led to a sort of existential crisis for me working in journalism. When some of your readers claim that any facts you present that are inconvenient to their personal narrative are proof that you’re embedded in a conspiracy, you can only take so much of that before you start to question whether or not it’s worth it. The predominant emotion here is feeling powerless. ... When I am constantly seeing these sorts of messages and realizing that represents a broader portion of not just our readership, the country, it’s really easy to turn to apathy. We’re just kind of stuck here. And that’s a pretty sad place to be." - Slate
The economics of it are a bit weird. Mulan was $29.99 for a while, even with a Disney Plus subscription. Then Soul was free, starting on Christmas Day. Now Raya and the Dragon is ... also $30? Sure, yes. Why? Well, "entertainment conglomerates are still very much in experimentation mode when it comes to settling the streaming vs. theatrical debate, particularly when it comes to kids’ films. It also underlines just how many kinks still have not been worked out (i.e., with theater chains)."- Fast Company
"I assumed most people knew that Seuss, despite the support he expressed for civil rights, was capable of depicting human beings of other races in demeaning ways. Painting Seuss as a victim of rabid 'wokeness' is like saying police brutality is a recent epidemic that began when people started uploading cellphone footage. No, it’s in the news because some white people just started noticing." - The Atlantic
How to explain this "NFT" thing we're all hearing about in the news? OK, so ... if you buy a unique ID number associated with a certain piece of art, then no one else - in theory - can buy that exact art again. "If I sell Picasso.jpeg to James, I can’t then turn around and sell the same Picasso.jpeg (or an exact digital replica of it) to Robin – the blockchain knows that I already transferred the art (and its NFT) to James, so I can’t sell it to Robin, and will mark the transaction as invalid." Totally clear. - The Guardian (UK)
Zhao, the second woman ever to win a Golden Globe for directing and first Asian woman to win the prize, was at first feted by Chinese outlets - until her old interviews surfaced. Then everything shifted, including toward censorship on the social media platform Weibo, where searches for (hashtag) Nomadland and (hashtag) Nomadland Release Date were blocked. - The New York Times
"A striking feature of our current political landscape is that we disagree not just over values (which is healthy in a democracy), and not just over facts (which is inevitable), but over our very standards for determining what the facts are. Call this knowledge polarization, or polarization over who knows—which experts to trust, and what is rational and what isn’t." - Boston Review
"After much discussion, we developed structures to jointly fundraise and equitably disperse proceeds between us relative to budget size. More importantly, we learned about each other and the audiences we individually serve. We committed to the concept that we could advance arts leadership in this city by sharing knowledge, expertise, and contacts, and that we all want our varied communities to become more deeply connected to other organizations." - Artnet
According to NYU Stern School of Business professor and New York Times best-selling author Scott Galloway, the pandemic has accelerated the progression of trends in all industries, including music, by approximately 10 years. This means that whatever trend affecting a music organization before the pandemic is now ten years ahead of schedule. - Ludwig Van
"Critics no longer have the power to make or break an artist’s career. Rather, art critics depend more and more on maintaining friendly relationships with artists, galleries, and publicists in order to consistently secure paid work. In other words, art critics today seem less “in the middle” between artists, dealers, and public than tailing all three." - Hyperallergic
Now that the bans are reversed, immigration lawyers who work with artists, including Ashley Tucker, director of programs at the Artistic Freedom Initiative in New York, will turn their attention to applications for visas and refugee status by artists who were on their radar but stood no chance during the last four years. - Artnet
