Education
fromThe Nation
3 hours agoDiminished Lives: an Assault on the Humanities
Students are increasingly trained for corporate jobs at the expense of arts and humanities education.
Drivers were delivering packages in deadly heat with no air conditioning; part-time employees, the majority of UPS' workforce, have been unable to receive benefits. Wages aren't rising at the same rate as the cost of living.
"Brooklyn has always been a place where movement is part of daily life. But today, Brooklynites, like all New Yorkers, are moving less, feeling more isolated and dealing with elevated rates of chronic diseases."
The inaugural edition of a new Art Basel fair opened in natural gas-rich Qatar in February with a novel artist-curated format consisting of 87 dealers presenting focused, biennial-style displays by individual artists. The ruling Al Thani family, worth $200bn, toured the fair before it opened and reserved numerous works, leaving dealers to spend the next few days wondering if and when those reserves would convert into sales.
We can find a middle ground. PSU could reduce the size of its planned theater to between 800 and 1,200 seats, clearing the way for the Keller to be remodeled as a mid-size 1,500 to 1,800 seat venue.
A socioeconomic duty on public bodies was included in 2010's Equality Act, but has never been enacted. Now Class Ceiling, a review from Manchester University, co-chaired by the former chief prosecutor Nazir Afzal, is calling for change. It wants class to be made a legally protected characteristic like race and sex (and several others), to address the class crisis in the arts not just in the north-west but across the UK.
In response to the recent closing of California College of the Arts and the uncertain future of the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, SOMArts Cultural Center is hosting a forum on February 13 discussing how to bolster the arts community in San Francisco. [SOMArts/Eventbrite] A suspected explosive device was recovered from a lake at Sonoma State University by the sheriff's department bomb squad Thursday evening after the device was spotted by a person who was fishing for metal objects with a magnet. [KRON4]
Art Collaboration Kyoto will have a new leadership structure starting April 1: a seven-person committee, with each member is a director with a different focus, like gallery relations, VIP relations, or education. Yukako Yamashita, the fair's director since 2022, is stepping down this month to become chairperson of ACK Ambassadors, which the fair bills as 'an intimate, global network of established and next-generation collectors and cultural leaders.'
What began as a passion for collecting became a responsibility. She not only believes in the artistic genius of women, but she wants society in general to hold men and women artists in equal esteem-and to place the same monetary value on their work.
These cuts threaten shovel-ready projects, major employers, and rural and urban communities across the state. And they come at a time when [Oregon] arts funding is already among the lowest in the nation. Legislators had been considering cutting nearly $900,000 in arts and culture funding when the session started on Feb. 2.
As if demolishing the East Wing, gutting arts agencies, and slapping his name and face on several federal buildings weren't enough, the US president now wants to do away with a DC building known as the "Sistine Chapel of New Deal art." This week, we reported on a burgeoning campaign to save the Wilbur J. Cohen Federal Building, which houses murals by Ben Shahn, Philip Guston, Seymour Fogel, and other major American artists. We will continue to follow this story.
It's impossible to imagine New York City without art, or contemporary art without New York City. This is where you come to see the best of the best, or to take part in making it. This country's international standing is down in the gutter, thanks to Trump, but this city is still a living, rolling dream. Right now, we're waiting to see who's going to be Mayor Mamdani's pick for cultural affairs commissioner. It's an important role that determines where the city's budget priorities will lie and who'll get a seat at the table. Gonzalo Casals, who served as culture commissioner under Mayor de Blasio, and Mauricio Delfín, who co-directs the Culture & Arts Policy Institute with Casals, have some urgent thoughts on the matter. It's a must-read not just for Zohran (send him a link if you're on texting terms), but for everyone who cares about art in this city.
Both of those ideas were torpedoed when I read this article about Daniel Lurie's's 31 hand-picked avatars meant to reshape San Francisco's charter (and we all know that his picks never result in any blunders). I looked at this 31-faced cavalcade of (mostly) capitalists and thought it only slightly less oligarch-ish than his onboarding team from last year. Sure, this one doesn't have Sam Altman, but this one's so nakedly appealing to business interests that it doesn't need Altman.
Artists make California vibrant, innovative and culturally rich, yet our state ranks 35th nationally in per capita arts funding. When the state budget allocates just 53 cents per person to the arts, it's clear how little we're investing in the creative workers who shape the state's identity and economy. California's artists are delivering extraordinary value with minimal investment. Imagine what a stronger commitment to the arts could do for our communities, our economy and our future.
The day after Whitelaw testified, the state economist said that Oregon now has about $300 million more to spend than previously expected. The new revenue forecast does not mean the budget is in the black, however. There are new demands for the available dollars, including $600 million in upgrades to the Moda Center to retain the Portland Trail Blazers, a recently announced $50 million shortfall in Portland Public School funding,