Not Funding The Arts Puts A Drag On The Economy

“The NEA estimates that, on average, its grantees raise $9 for every $1 of federal funding they are awarded. The power of that money, cumulatively, is extraordinary; arts organizations revive the fortunes of inner cities and small rural towns; arts programming improves academic outcomes for children; art therapy treats veterans suffering from PTSD. And those programs are the kinds that NEA grants fund, in addition to the things you might think of when you hear of the arts.”

Here’s How The Internet Is Now Saving Culture…

“In the last few years, and with greater intensity in the last 12 months, people started paying for online content. They are doing so at an accelerating pace, and on a dependable, recurring schedule, often through subscriptions. And they’re paying for everything. You’ve already heard about the rise of subscription-based media platforms — things like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Spotify and Apple Music. But people are also paying for smaller-audience and less-mainstream-friendly content. They are subscribing to podcasters, comedians, zany YouTube stars, novelists and comic book artists. They are even paying for news.”

The Robot-Librarian Apocalypse Is Coming To The Emirates

“Later this year, Dubai-based education technology firm ATLAB will release into classrooms across the United Arab Emirates a swarm of cutesy robots with cartoon eyelashes, penguin-arms, and robustly apportioned 3D cameras and infrared sensors … The platform, called TeachAssist, will function as a sort of in-class librarian, helping students locate and check out books, responding to questions, and pulling research materials from the cloud.” (Anyone else think it reminds them of the Jetsons’ robot maid, Rosie?)

The New Yorker Has A New Poetry Editor

“Paul Muldoon, who for a decade has served as the poetry editor of The New Yorker, will step down, the magazine announced on Wednesday. His successor will be Kevin Young, who moved to New York from Atlanta last year to become the director of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.”