Is art school merely supposed to broaden your horizons and mold your skill as an artist, or should it also prepare you to make a decent living in your chosen field? The question is more than academic at the Ontario College of Art & Design, which is being accused by some of its current and former students of becoming more a job factory than an art school.
Tag: 05.02.07
Mag Awards Snub Frequent Faves
“Perhaps more surprising than who won this year’s National Magazine Awards was who didn’t. The New Yorker, which has traditionally dominated the awards, left empty-handed last night, losing in all nine categories in which it was nominated. The Atlantic Monthly, also a frequent favorite, was shut out as well. The big winner: New York magazine, which was nominated for seven awards and took home five.”
Book Reviews Aren’t Dying – They’ve Just Moved
The long, slow death of the newspaper book review is causing no small amount of alarm within both the publishing and arts criticism worlds. “But some publishers and literary bloggers — not surprisingly — see it as an inevitable transition toward a new, more democratic literary landscape where anyone can comment on books. In recent years, dozens of sites… have been offering a mix of book news, debates, interviews and reviews, often on subjects not generally covered by newspaper book sections.”
Respecting Tradition, But Looking Forward
As the Philadelphia Orchestra’s departing principal violist, Roberto Diaz, feels his way as the new leader of the city’s renowned Curtis Institute of Music, one colleague says that his job will be to “sweep away the cobwebs” in the notoriously tradition-bound school, but to do so without losing the qualities that make Curtis unique (and uniquely successful) in the music world.
Tony Blair’s Arts Legacy
The arts have had enormous expansion in the past ten years under Tony Blair’s Labour government. But “sceptics maintain that little of enduring value has been created in the arts under Blair. Rather, they suggest, Labour has funded smoke and mirrors from the public purse.”