Category: issues

Ticketmaster has been working on a framework for post-pandemic fan safety that uses smart phones to verify fans’ vaccination status or whether they’ve tested negative for the coronavirus within a 24 to 72 hour window. – Billboard

“SHAMILTON. A rap-inspired musical drawn partly from the pages of The Art of the Deal, this show celebrates the creation of a new nation by a small group of wealthy landowners and hyper-successful businessmen through the adoption of an economic funnel that sucks money out of the pockets of the poor and middle classes and into the bank accounts of the rich. Its hit tunes My Way or the Highway and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break are hailed as chart-toppers, although there are mutterings inside the music industry that the numbers are manipulated and Payola is involved.” – Oregon ArtsWatch

“The European Parliament and the European Council have finally agreed on an ambitious long-term recovery plan for its 27 member nations. The historic €1.8 trillion ($2.1 trillion) agreement, which was announced on November 11, will include a provision of €2.8 billion ($3.3 billion) to support the cultural field.” – Artnet

“The vast majority of characters with disabilities, whether they’re played by actors with disabilities or not, continue to represent the same outdated tropes.” – The Conversation

“Centuries-old practices and traditions across communities worldwide that might be lost forever — from bee keeping in Kenya to creating the Dalai Lama’s clothes — are being quietly supported and documented online through the British Museum’s Endangered Material Knowledge Programme (EMKP).” – The Art Newspaper

The Save Our Stages legislation, introduced by Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), would allow Small Business Administration grants equaling 45% of a venue’s 2019 revenue or $12 million, whichever is less. Venue operators also would be eligible for a second grant equal to 50% of the first award. Save Our Stages was introduced as a $10-billion program to help venues such as live concert halls. It was later expanded to $15 billion in order to include movie theater operators. – Los Angeles Times

“Indeed, a case can be made for greater government intervention in much of our cultural landscape. … Like it or not, public funding must come with public accountability. But defending the government’s right to interfere in the arts and museums becomes much harder when government funding keeps declining. Minority shareholders don’t get to tell a chief executive how to run their business.” – The Art Newspaper

Hackers threaten the Vatican’s digital holdings at a rate of more than three a day, the library says. “The library, founded in 1451 by Pope Nicholas V, is one of the world’s most important research institutions, containing one of the finest collections of manuscripts, books, images, coins and medals in the world. The digitisation of 41 million pages is intended to ‘preserve the content of historical treasures without causing damage to the fragile originals.”’ – The Observer (UK)

“In essence, the California state legislature has made it mandatory for the nearly 500,000 students in the Cal State system to take the classes that student activists and others fought for universities to implement decades ago. While these classes are not without controversy, as a scholar who studies racial dynamics on college campuses, I argue their benefits outweigh their liabilities.” – The Conversation