Canadian Government Initiates A Review Of Museum Policies On Indigenous Culture

Canadian museums have not done a good job including indigenous culture in their collections or on their walls. Now a new federal government initiative aims to make a review of museum policies across the country to “ensure they line up with the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) and to make recommendations for best practices going forward.” – CBC

Ugly Spending Battle And Insubordination Mean Another State Public TV Network May Split With Its Supporting Nonprofit

A legal dispute between Oklahoma’s network of PBS affiliates and the foundation through which viewers support it just ended (and so did the foundation). Similar discord in Arkansas is even worse: the CEO of both the network and the foundation spent foundation money on a payment the board explicitly forbid her to make, she fired the COO/development director when the latter told the board about it, so the foundation board fired the CEO (who remains in place at the network). – Current

Notre Dame’s Organ Survived. Hear The Last Recording Before The Fire

Organist organist Olivier Latry made the recording in January. This week he posted an update on the instrument on Facebook: “Despite all the damage in the Cathedral, the organ miraculously escaped the flames, as well as the water supposed to extinguish them. It is very dusty, but will continue to enjoy us as soon as the building will be restored. When? No one knows yet.” – CBC

Turns Out Walt Whitman Was Pretty Racist — Should He Be #Cancelled? (No, Here’s A Better Idea)

“Like many white intellectuals, Whitman seems to have been seduced by the proliferation of racist pseudo-science in the post-Civil War era, … [and his] racism was not limited to black people, but also extended to Native Americans, Hispanics, and Asians.” So should we put Whitman’s writing back on the shelf? Lavelle Porter argues that “there is no better place to look for nuanced critical engagement with Whitman’s complicated legacy than in the work of black intellectuals who have talked back to Whitman.” – JSTOR Daily

Who’s Funding Culture In The EU? Eastern European Nations (And The UK Is Way Behind)

Overall, the report finds total government expenditure in 2017 across the 28 EU member states was 38% higher in 2017 than in 2004 (using current prices), driven by the 11 post-communist countries. As part of this group’s increase in overall expenditure, spending on culture rose from €1.8bn in 2004 to €4.4bn in 2017. – Arts Professional