“The punch lines write themselves, but so do the checks. According to the publisher, 300 million books are in print, and the brand adds about 200 new titles a year. … Most importantly, a Dummies book assumes the reader is starting with zero knowledge on the topic. This is not a universal quality in the how-to world.”
Tag: 04.04.16
Another Country Faces Steep Arts Funding Cuts – Because Lottery Money Is Falling Short
Creative New Zealand, the island nation’s arts funding body, has warned arts organizations to prepare for 10% reductions in grants. “Creative New Zealand receives two-thirds of its annual revenue from Lotto NZ profits, and is set to receive NZ$11 million less this financial year than in 2013-14.”
If Art Has Become A Currency Of The Super-Rich, Do We Need To Regulate It As Such?
“Art has become an instrument for generating wealth and political influence in the interests of an audacious plutocracy. In this sense, we are indeed being ruled by art in a way we have not been before, and its price now comes at a direct social cost. Its commodification has ceased to be a matter merely of cultural debate, as it was for Fry, and should now be subject to political scrutiny in the name of the public interest.”
Vienna Festival Fires Director Of Flagship Opera Production, Two Months Before Opening Night
Charging that he had not provided the production and set designs on time, the management of the Wiener Festwochen dismissed Dmitri Tcherniakov, a 45-year-old Russian known for inventive and sometimes controversial stagings, from a high-profile period-instrument production of Beethoven’s Fidelio at the Theater an der Wien. (in German; Google Translate version here)
Donald Trump And The Arts (Meh)
“A general indifference to the arts in America is not exactly surprising for a man who, before running for president on a platform of jingoism, misogyny, and fear-mongering, was best known to most of the country outside of New York for a reality show where he fired people and a series of commercials for stuffed crust pizza at Pizza Hut.”
America’s First Slavery Museum Opens In A Restored Plantation
“The Whitney Plantation is unlocking the grim story of America’s greatest shame, a tale too often masked by a genteel preservationist approach to plantation history that has pasted romantic Gone With The Wind wallpaper over slavery’s appalling reality.”
DC’s Brilliantly-Restored Howard Theatre Opened With Such Promise. Now That’s Gone
“Four years later, the promise of those ecstatic opening days has faded amid charges of mismanagement and mounting financial problems, according to a number of people closely associated with the Howard who were interviewed for this article.”
Why We’re Drawn To Really Bad Art #Fail
“There are countless blogs devoted to poking fun at paintings and sculptures that otherwise would have been forgotten: The Ugly Renaissance Babies Tumblr is an addicting compendium of paintings featuring babies that look like old men, worms, creepy dolls, and Gollum. Other blogs like All This Shitty Art and The Weirdest, Worst Art pay homage to the myriad amateur artists publishing their work on the Internet (to Tumblr users’ amusement and dismay).”
In Hollywood Pay-To-Audition Has Become Part Of The Gig Economy
“The result is a gig economy in which temporary labor pays to be “taught” by independent contractors, who in many cases are staffing programming for media corporations. Cost-conscious networks and studios offload a burden once held by productions to cast their shows onto the labor market itself. Millions of dollars previously spent on casting have been cut from balance sheets, and tens of thousands of aspiring actors have been stuck with the bill.”
Think Special Effects Are Just For Stunts? Now They Can make Actors Younger, More Beautiful
“Retouched, impossibly enhanced bodies are creating unrealistic new body-image standards — and the effects are so sophisticated and invisible that most audiences aren’t aware of how much they’ve been manipulated.”