“Scientists, historians and experts in artificial intelligence across the UK and Europe have announced they are teaming up for a €2.8m project labelled ‘Odeuropa’ to identify and even recreate the aromas that would have assailed noses between the 16th and early 20th centuries.” – The Guardian
Category: issues
How Will We Protect World Treasures Threatened By Climate Change?
Venice is just one example of the challenges of preserving iconic landmarks that are threatened by the effects of climate change, such as rising seas and recurrent, intensifying droughts, storms and wildfires. In my research as a social scientist, I help heritage managers make tough decisions prioritizing which sites to save when funds, time or both are limited. – The Conversation
The Art Of The Trump Goodbye
Is Trump like King Lear, raging naked on the heath and desperately hanging on to the increasingly diminished trappings of power even as they are stripped from him? Or is he more like Bartleby the Scrivener, the inscrutable model of passive resistance who one day declines to do any more work or indeed leave the building, declaring: “I would prefer not to?” – The New York Times
Assessing The Art World’s Performance During Trump
The arts exist as a smaller bubble within the larger bubble of liberal media culture. And doubling down on affirming the sense of enlightened cultural superiority has larger potential negative consequences. – Artnet
Study: Americans Feel Positive About The Arts, But There Are Demographic Differences
“The extensive survey, coordinated by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’s Humanities Indicators project, … [found that] 80% of American adults hold a ‘very favorable’ or ‘somewhat favorable’ view of the arts … but only 11% of them said they visit art museums or attend arts events regularly, while another 29% said they do so ‘sometimes.'” Interestingly, Black and Latinx Americans are far more likely to attend poetry and literary events than are their white compatriots. – Hyperallergic
International Enrollment At US Universities Down 43 Percent
The survey provides a first look at how hard international enrollments have been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey found that one in five international students are studying online from outside the U.S. Ninety percent of responding institutions reported student deferrals, collectively reporting that nearly 40,000 international students have deferred their studies to a future term. – InsideHigherEd
What Are Our National Arts Support Organizations Doing For Equity?
“We look to service organizations like Americans For The Arts to help support us as we support our communities. However, we can no longer wait for them or organizations like them. These requests are not made to hurt the organization, but to serve the people it exists to serve: the entire national arts community.” – Hyperallergic
How Cities Will Change, Permanently, Post-Covid
Abandoned office towers. Empty subway cars. Shuttered cafés. And the absolute gutting of services for urban workers. “Since the remote workers will not all return, North America is liable to see a ‘labour-market Armageddon—the loss of tens of millions of urban service jobs.'” – MacLean’s (Canada)
Sell Tickets Or Raise Money?
People buy tickets because they want to see a performance and rate that transaction by that experience. People donate because they want to manage/share in/support what the company does. Those that choose to donate large amounts to a select few organizations – the right-thinking group described above – gain power in that kind of relationship. – LinkedIn
What Can The Arts Expect From The Biden Presidency?
An improvement, for starters: Biden is not going to submit a budget (let alone four of them in a row) eliminating the NEA and NEH. Reporter Eileen Kinsella spoke to several experts about where things stand now and where they’re likely to go with respect to tax law and the arts, federal cultural funding, tariffs and trade, and (of course) the pandemic. – Artnet