Do Arts Organizations Understand The Difference Between Inspiration And Impact?

“On some level, you’ve got to ask your arts organization a really hard question: If there’s no positive impact you can measure, why hang your hat on the idea? After all, inspiring change is not about the “inspiring” — it’s about the “change,” no? When arts nonprofits focus on inspiration — that is, inspiration instead of change — they’re complicit in creating an escape hatch, a counterfeit way to gauge their existence.” – Clyde Fitch Report

Canadian Publishing In 2019: Sales Flat, Some Structural Issues

A recent survey of independent bookstores across Canada by BookNet received responses from a total of 69 stores, with 80 locations. One consequence of this dearth is that online book purchases surpassed purchases in bookstores, with 53% of customers surveyed by BookNet saying that they now primarily ordered books online, a trend that has flipped in Canada in the past two years. – Publishers Weekly

Seattle Artists: Time To Move To Detroit

“Making art takes lots of time, and when time in a city becomes nothing but making that rent, you will not make art or the kind of art that requires (for its greatness) not just productivity but lots of time for leisure. This is the part of artistic production that’s almost always missed by those with practical minds, men and women with middle-class common sense, the judges of contests for art grants. A big part of making poems, paintings, novels, music, films, sculptures involves aristocratic waste or doing stuff unrelated to the direct or obvious act of creativity. Young artists of Seattle must stop smelling the coffee and do something about it. Move to Detroit.” – The Stranger

Met Opera Staffers Protest Placido Domingo’s Continuing Work With The Company

A number of longtime employees at the opera house have told NPR that they are furious that the New York company is continuing its association with Domingo. These staffers believe that their employer has a specific responsibility to take allegations of sexual misconduct seriously after the downfall of James Levine, the Met’s former music director of four decades, who has been publicly accused of sexual abuse by nine men. – NPR

Dance Class Helps A Child-Turned-Adult Movie Star Feel Normal

Keke Palmer came to fame playing Queen Latifah’s niece, and 17 years later, she’s about to become the host for the third hour of Good Morning America (oh, and she plays a part in the new movie Hustlers as well). How does she relax and stay focused? Dance, of course. “Fame is extremely traumatic,” she says, but dancing helps her find friends and just feel like a normal person in the struggle of a challenging class. – The New York Times

How’s That Guardian List Of The Best Plays Of The 21st Century?

It’s “a deranged hodge-podge,” according to Andrzej Lukowski. The list of 50 shows “veers from resolutely mainstream to borderline obscure without a tremendous amount of sense or coherency. All the while, it, notionally, professes to be an authoritative overview of literally all the theatre in the world over the last almost 20 years.” Ouch. – The Stage (UK)