They’re Giving British Cops Special Training In How To Handle Protests Against Controversial Art

“The advice pack – put together by Index on Censorship and Arts Council England – hopes to create a more cohesive approach to policing across different forces, with an emphasis on avoiding censorship. Its publication follows protests in recent years against performances at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and the Barbican Centre, which resulted in the cancellation of both shows.”

Beach Reading For Classical Music Fans: Anne Midgette’s Crowdsourced Guide

When she asked followers on social media to suggest works of fiction that did a good job of treating classical music, Midgette “got back a veritable flood of titles: short stories and novels, popular fiction and Nobel Prize-winners, and many books I’d never even heard of. So here you go: your summer fiction reading list, suggested and annotated by several dozen people.”

Philosophy Doesn’t Value Oral Cultures. Here’s Why

“The freezing in text of dialectical reasoning, with a heavy admixture (however impure or problematic) of poetry, aphorism and myth, became the model for what, in the European tradition, was thought of as ‘philosophy’ for the next few millennia. Why are these historical reflections important today? Because what is at stake is nothing less than our understanding of the scope and nature of philosophical enquiry.”

San Francisco Arts And Homeless Organizations Join Forces

“Although the city’s arts and homeless communities intersect frequently in the present tough economic climate — with increasing numbers of artists and arts organizations being displaced from their homes and workplaces, artists creating art about living on the streets, and homeless services organizations offering arts activities to people in shelters — the collaboration is certainly unusual.”

Why Crowdfunding Is Not A Good Model For Funding The Arts

“Art and content are not the same. Content is produced with a specific, marketable goal in mind. Patreon turns artists into content-makers whose creativity is moderated by their patrons. Patrons with more money have more clout, and the ability to withhold funding shapes what creators make. In this sense, Patreon reproduces key elements of the old patronage model, in which the power to commission and influence artists rests in the hands of those who can pay.”