I've been staring at this screen for several days (weeks, actually, if I'm being honest) trying to write about what the pandemic and the lockdown means for the arts. It's not that I don't have anything to say -- it's the opposite. Anything I begin to write seems reductive. There's too much to say and where to start? So this is maybe the start of a series of pieces on the topic. When everything … [Read more...]
Killing NEA, NEH And PBS Is Just Collateral Damage In The Commodification Of American Values
So it begins. A report in The Hill, then picked up in the Washington Post, says that the Trump administration intends to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities and sell off PBS. It's part of a plan to cut some $10.5 trillion over the next decade. Zeroing out the culture budgets isn't about money; together, the NEA, NEH and PBS account for … [Read more...]
Some Of Our Orchestras Seem To Be Thriving – Is This A New Trend?
There's been a change in the news coming out of symphony orchestras over the past summer. Usually there's a background drumbeat of struggle as orchestras fight to stay alive. But for months now, the beat has shifted, and we're hearing about orchestras that are not only surviving but thriving. Yes, Fort Worth Symphony musicians are on strike, the Pittsburgh Symphony is in the middle of … [Read more...]