US Senator Raises Questions About Smithsonian Chief's Travel On Monday, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) asked the Smithsonian inspector general for the complete documentation of Clough's travels since 2008, when he became the institution's top official. Grassley, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, said he was concerned that "the Smithsonian may have not learned from previous mistakes" after an online investigative group, JunketSleuth.com, questioned 59 trips.

Washington Post 02/22/12

email this story | Posted 02/22/12@08:12AM

Edmonton Considers A New Performing Arts Centre "The idea, recommended by Mayor Stephen Mandel's arts visioning committee, last fall would see three theatres constructed with a total of 2,800 seats - 400 more than the Jubilee [Auditorium] - orchestra pits, rehearsal space and room in the wings."

Edmonton Journal 02/18/12

email this story | Posted 02/22/12@12:02AM

When Facebook Is Part Of The Message "There is a symbiotic relationship between message and medium, and that medium influences how the message is perceived. If a user posts that he or she just got married on Facebook, they are essentially encouraging all of their friends to accept and react to that status update on Facebook. The medium embodies this message - you are married, on Facebook."

ReadWriteWeb 02/20/12

email this story | Posted 02/21/12@10:14AM

Decline Of The Arts? Really? "Of course decline can be a fairly straightforward descriptive term--in the sense that we say that a person who is old and ill and will probably never entirely recover is "declining." But to speak of "The Decline of the Arts" is to suggest a development with a philosophical or ideological amplitude, to evoke thoughts about the rise and fall of civilizations and cultures, about periodicity, systemic failure, decadence, maybe even the divine retribution that is sometimes woven into arguments about the collapse of civilizations."

The New Republic 02/20/12

email this story | Posted 02/21/12@10:03AM

University Abruptly Cancels Workshop By Tim Miller (Of "NEA Four" Fame) "Villanova University abruptly canceled a weeklong workshop by a gay performance artist whose stage shows are often laced with nudity and simulated sex but who has taught and lectured at numerous colleges, including the nation's largest Catholic university, DePaul, in Chicago."

Philadelphia Inquirer 02/20/12

email this story | Posted 02/21/12@09:17AM

The Problem With Arts CEO Salaries? "The most common refrain is: If we don't pay these salaries, we won't get the best people. But this is rarely true. The people who run the great museums and universities would likely take jobs for half the wage because, actually, they do love museums and universities, and nothing better satisfies their lifelong passion than a top job. Still, if offered a CEO's salary, who is going to turn it down?"

Boston Globe Magazine 02/19/12

email this story | Posted 02/21/12@07:26AM

Is Culture Replacing Class At The Heart Of British Society? Television broadcaster Melvyn Bragg: "Class has not slunk away from these islands. It never will. Too many people have an investment in it. But ... I would argue that we are now a nation of cultures rather than a nation of classes. If we look at the passion with which people describe what they do in their leisure time, you have a truer picture of our society today."

The Telegraph (UK) 02/20/12

email this story | Posted 02/21/12@12:06AM

The Value Of Humor (Really) "More than music, more than sports, more than "personal style," comedy has become essential to how young men view themselves and others, the research showed. Eighty-eight percent of respondents said their sense of humor was crucial to their self-definition, 74 percent said 'funny people are more popular,' and 58 percent said they sent out funny videos to make what might be called a special impression on someone else."

The New York Times 02/19/12

email this story | Posted 02/20/12@08:09AM

Has TED Lost Its Glow? "What began as something spontaneous and unique has today become a parody of itself. What was exceptional and emergent in the realm of ideas has been bottled, packaged, and sold back to us over and over again. The whole TED vibe has come to resemble a sales pitch."

The New Inquiry 02/18/12

email this story | Posted 02/20/12@07:45AM

The Clyfford Still Museum Suddenly Has A Lot Of Money. Why Isn't Admission Free? "It's not about the bottom line, according to [director Dean] Sobel. It's about value, and charging gives a museum an intrinsic worth. Nearly all museums charge, even though ticket revenue tends to be a small percentage of income."

Denver Post 02/19/12

email this story | Posted 02/19/12@09:09PM

Tighten Up On Music Pirates, Says Member Of Britain's Shadow Cabinet "Young people are massively connected with music. They not only want to use the music but they want to actually work in the music industry, many of them. Many of them want a future in the industry. Therefore the industry must have a future. That means public policy action, not just standing back and saying 'we are too busy to do any of this; we're just going to cut the deficit and let the free market rip content off from creators'. Every day they don't act, money is haemorrhaging."

The Independent (UK) 02/20/12

email this story | Posted 02/19/12@09:03PM

Don't Like Your Country's History? Just Leave It Out Of Textbooks "Winners write the history books - which is why the Afghan government's recent decision to eliminate any post-1973 events from its school texts is so worrisome. Since none of the major groups can agree on a basic set of facts, the country's new school books simply leave out the last four decades of events: no Soviet involvement, no brutal years of civil war, no rise of the Taliban, and no U.S. involvement."

The Council on Foreign Relations 02/17/12

email this story | Posted 02/19/12@08:47AM

No-Secrets Art: The Transparency Grenade Want to leak information from private, closed meetings? Ask artist Julian Oliver for help. He's got an explosive design for you.

Wired 02/17/12

email this story | Posted 02/19/12@08:35AM

Who Owns Venezuela's 'El Sistema'? Not Chavez, Critics Say "'A lot of us are upset that Chávez has taken Sistema as his own child, and it's not,' said Gabriela Montero, a Venezuelan pianist with an international career who has written a piece, 'Ex Patria,' denouncing the Chávez government and the fraying of civil society here. 'It's almost like he's stolen something that we lived with for the past 40 years and dirtied it with his presence.'"

The New York Times 02/18/12

email this story | Posted 02/19/12@07:34AM

Libya Turns To Cultural Tourism "Muammar el-Qaddafi disavowed pre-1969 history as colonialist and un-Libyan. Now that he is gone, heritage-conscious Libyans have drafted a plan to preserve the ruins at Cyrene and promote them as a tourist attraction in a rural area where unemployment is high."

The New York Times 02/17/12

email this story | Posted 02/17/12@08:14AM

They They Know What You Want To Buy The reason Target can snoop on our shopping habits is that, over the past two decades, the science of habit formation has become a major field of research in neurology and psychology departments at hundreds of major medical centers and universities, as well as inside extremely well financed corporate labs. "It's like an arms race to hire statisticians nowadays,"

New York Times Magazine 02/19/12

email this story | Posted 02/17/12@07:47AM

Viola Davis On A Well-Meaning Mindset That Cripples Black Actors Responding to discomfort that her widely-praised portrayal in The Help is of a maid: "That very mind-set that you have and that a lot of African-Americans have is absolutely destroying the black artist. The black artist cannot live in a revisionist place. The black artist can only tell the truth about humanity, and humanity is messy. People are messy. Caucasian actors know that."

The New York Times 02/14/12

email this story | Posted 02/17/12@12:07AM

Should We Just Do Away With Black History Month? Documentary filmmaker Shukree Hassan Tilghman (yes, he's African-American) suggests that Black History Month is "a double-edged sword that ghettoizes black stories into the shortest month of the year and discourages further attention on them in the remaining months."

Los Angeles Times 02/16/12

email this story | Posted 02/16/12@11:56PM

Storytelling Lab The Moth Wins Big MacArthur Grant "The Moth, a New York City-based group dedicated to the art of storytelling ... [was] among the 15 organizations in 6 countries to receive the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Leadership ... The money will be used to expand 'The Moth Radio Hour' from 10 episodes a year to a weekly series ... [and to] enable the non-profit group to help preserve its video and audio archive."

The New York Times 02/15/12

email this story | Posted 02/16/12@12:09AM

Cash Hemorrhage At Top Venue In Ireland's Second City "Operating losses at the Cork Opera House almost trebled in 2010/11 to more than €825,000 (£692,000) following a drop of more than a fifth in revenues ... Production volume and audience numbers both fell by nearly a quarter (24%) in the year to the end of March 2011."

The Stage (UK) 02/15/12

email this story | Posted 02/16/12@12:04AM

England Expected To Have £200M Extra Funding For Arts "Arts Council England is expected to have around £160 million of extra funding at its disposal over the next five years, thanks to increased National Lottery ticket sales, culture minister Ed Vaizey has claimed. ... An additional £40 million is also projected to go to the British Film Institute."

The Stage (UK) 02/14/12

email this story | Posted 02/15/12@12:01AM

UK Government To Prepare National Plan For Cultural Education Culture minister Ed Vaizey told a conference of arts professionals that the new plan would include everything from "archaeology to architecture and the built environment, archives, craft, dance, design, digital arts, drama and theatre, film and cinemas, galleries, heritage, libraries, literature, live performance, museums, poetry and the visual arts."

The Guardian (UK) 02/14/12

email this story | Posted 02/15/12@12:00AM

Obama Proposes Five Percent Increase In Arts Funding "Obama aims to boost outlays from $1.501 billion to $1.576 billion, encompassing the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities (NEA and NEH), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Smithsonian Institution, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the National Gallery of Art."

Los Angeles Times 02/014/12

email this story | Posted 02/14/12@08:18AM

Craigslist's Missed Connections Ads Become Mother Lode Of Source Material "A surprising number of writers, poets, comedians and illustrators have come to regard missed-connection classifieds for what they truly are - an inexhaustible treasure chest of heartbreak, longing, obsession and hopefulness, waiting to be ransacked and appropriated."

The Chicago Tribune 02/14/12

email this story | Posted 02/14/12@12:00AM

With Budgets Hurting, How Do Arts Organizations Reach New Audiences? "Some organizations have invited audience members into the creative process. Others have altered their ticket policies, offering more liberal exchanges or hooking up with Groupon. Whatever the case, business as usual has lost its sense of usual."

Chicago Tribune 02/11/12

email this story | Posted 02/13/12@07:48AM

Artists Say Independence For Scotland Would Mean Death For The Arts As Scotland prepares for a vote on independence, some in the arts think a yes vote would be disastrous. Mezzo-soprano Karen Cargill: "For the arts in Scotland, funding is difficult. There is an audience for classical music, but it's very small, and we can't deny that people travel from south of the border to attend. I think we're stronger together."

The Scotsman 02/12/12

email this story | Posted 02/12/12@10:26PM

Protesting Students Halt Filming Of Egyptian TV Show "The students had objected to the 'indecent' clothing ... and 'categorically refused' to let the filming continue unless the wardrobe was changed."

Daily Star (Lebanon) 02/11/12

email this story | Posted 02/12/12@10:08PM

Can The Movies Save The Performing Arts? "More performing arts are finding their way into movie theaters. Ballet and opera, theater and orchestra performances are part of a burgeoning new field that the movie theater industry refers to as 'alternative content.' Yet it may be a little too alternative."

Washington Post 02/10/12

email this story | Posted 02/12/12@09:13PM

The Dinosaurs And Music: Spotify's Exec Meets Music Biz Laywers "The 28-year-old Swedish entrepreneur with a boyish face ... addressed a ballroom full of power attorneys in Brooks Brothers and Armani suits -- essentially schooling them on the brave new world of digital music. Ek boldly predicted that revenue from streaming services such as Spotify will in two years return as much revenue to the industry as iTunes does today."

Los Angeles Times 02/10/12

email this story | Posted 02/12/12@09:55AM

For African American Actors, Little Change On Stage Or Screen "The black middle and upper classes have long fumed that stage and film have rendered them largely invisible -- and are hungry for serious works with rounded characterizations of themselves. This hunger was not satisfied by The Help."

The New York Times 02/11/12

email this story | Posted 02/12/12@09:52AM

Award For The Most Scathing Review "Adam Mars-Jones, the novelist and critic, was last night named the winner at a booze-up held in Soho's Coach and Horses pub, for his wielding of the literary hatchet over By Nightfall by Michael Cunningham. Cunningham, a Pulitzer winner for The Hours, made the error of filling his latest novel, the tale of an art dealer's midlife crisis, with repeated references to earlier, and possibly greater works in the literary canon."

The Independent (UK) 02/08/12

email this story | Posted 02/10/12@07:04AM

Startlingly High Proportion Of British Children Get Little Or No Exposure To Arts "Four in 10 children have never seen the inside of an art gallery, while 17 per cent haven't visited a museum with their parents. The research ... also revealed that a quarter of children haven't been to the theatre, while six in 10 have never heard or been to a classical music concert. ... And half of parents admit they make little effort to educate their children on culture or history, relying on schools to do so."

The Telegraph (UK) 02/09/12

email this story | Posted 02/10/12@12:04AM

Hungarian Government Cracks Down On The Arts "The government, led by Viktor Orban, stands accused of systematically replacing key figures in cultural institutions, staging pro-government exhibitions, rethinking permanent museum displays and replacing historic statues to fit its political agenda."

The Art Newspaper 02/08/12

email this story | Posted 02/09/12@08:12AM

Is Education Really A Public Good? "While higher education is generally regarded as a good (mainly because folks with college degrees make more than folks who lack such degrees), there has been considerable debate in the United States as to whether or not higher education is a public good" (and thus deserving of funding by taxpayers). A look at a few of the arguments pro and con.

The Philosophers' Magazine 02/08/12

email this story | Posted 02/09/12@12:01AM

Ambitious Plans For A For-Profit Cultural Center In Harlem My Image Studios, in the ground floor retail space of a new condominium building on West 116th Street in Manhattan, will combine a restaurant "with three theaters for live entertainment and independent films, as well as post-production studios, all to create a $21 million 'living room' of black and Latino-flavored arts and culture."

The New York Times 02/07/12

email this story | Posted 02/08/12@12:04AM

Barbie, Simpsons Dolls Banned In Iran "The Islamic Republic's morality police, fighting 'Western intoxication' as the dispute over nuclear technology has raised fears of war, last month went on a drive against Barbie," and the country has since banned action figures based on characters from The Simpsons. Yet "Superman and Spiderman were still welcome in Iran - because they do battle for the oppressed."

Reuters 02/06/12

email this story | Posted 02/07/12@11:54PM

Indian Court Orders Google, Facebook, Others To Block Certain Content - And They Do "Facebook and Google say they have complied with an Indian court directive and removed 'objectionable' material. They are among 21 web firms, including Yahoo and Orkut, facing a civil suit in Delhi accusing them of hosting material that may cause communal unrest. A criminal case of similar allegations is due to be heard next month."

BBC 02/06/12

email this story | Posted 02/07/12@12:02AM

Japanese Resort Town Tries Reviving Art Of The Geisha In a program that combines cultural preservation and economic development (i.e., tourism), the seaside city of Shimoda is using public money to train some young ladies in the traditional song, dance and instrumental music in which the city's geishas once specialized.

GlobalPost 02/06/12 (includes video)

email this story | Posted 02/06/12@11:51PM

Mounting Internet Protests Against International Anti-Piracy Deal "European activists who participated in American Internet protests last month learned that there was political power to be harnessed on the Web. Now they are putting that knowledge to use in an effort to defeat new global rules for intellectual property."

The New York Times 02/06/12

email this story | Posted 02/06/12@07:05AM

Report: UK Arts Sector Suffers From Under-Investment In Workers "Many of these barriers are a consequence of the distinctive structure of the creative labour market - the sector is characterised by a prevalence of SMEs [small and medium enterprises], micro-businesses, start-ups, freelancers and project-based work. This structural feature is responsible for an overall market failure in which there is under-investment in human capital, fewer training opportunities, insufficiently structured career progression and unfair access to jobs and opportunities."

TheStage 02/03/12

email this story | Posted 02/06/12@06:55AM