Dispatches

Six Things I Learned from the Pandemic

Museum professional and founder of OF/BY/FOR ALL Nina Simon shares her learnings gained over the last year through the COVID-19 pandemic and how they can benefit the museums sector post-pandemic. (Museum 2.0)

Let’s Talk About this Systemic Fracture in the Museum Field

Diane Drubay, curator and founder of We Are Museums, reflects on the COVID-19 pandemic and its push to remedy systemic fractures in the museum realm, and museums’ shift from a collection-driven strategy to a community-driven vision. (Medium) 

Rezoning Plan Will Destroy What Made Soho an Artists’ Neighborhood

The plan also raises questions about the fate of the now elderly generation that built a world-famous arts community and the survival of live-work spaces in general. (Hyperallergic)

How a Kid from Smoketown (Louisville, KY) Who Wanted to be a Doctor Became CEO of Fund for the Arts

AEA Senior Associate Andre Kimo Stone Guess writes about his 20+ years in the service of arts and culture and his journey to becoming the CEO of Fund for the Arts, where he is responsible in “foster[ing] a culture of collaboration centered on the healing and transformative power of the arts.” (Courier Journal) 

Michael Sheen is Right – There is a Class Crisis in the Arts

“Our research found that a complex blend of social inequalities, labour market failures, and outright discrimination are making these jobs so exclusive and keeping talented working-class people from making it.” (The Conversation) 

An Absence that Makes the Art Boulder: Interview with Khaled Barakeh

Berlin-based Syrian artist Khaled Barakeh and the founder of coculture, which aims to initiate and develop artistic and social projects for displaced artists, speaks about creating community and his approach to making art about violence and oppression. (ArtAsiaPacific)

Why Are Top Jobs in Chinese Museums Going to White Men?

Local professionals continue to be overlooked for highly paid leading roles. What can be done to support Chinese museum staffers hoping to rise through the ranks? (The Art Newspaper)

Toolkit on Environmental Sustainability in the Museum Practice

This toolkit produced by contributions of Board members of the International Committee of Museums and Collections of Modern Art, aims to help contemporary art museum professionals start implementing the necessary changes to become carbon neutral. (CiMAM)

COVID: Can the Arts Lead the Green Recovery from the Pandemic?

As the arts and culture sector attempts to recover from the devastating impact of the pandemic, some creatives are making eye-catching attempts to prevent another crisis - this one environmental. (BBC)

Updating UAE Copyright Laws Empowers Artists

Manal Ataya, Director General of Sharjah Museums Authority, writes about how the UAE can update copyright laws to better protect artists’ rights. (The National)

We Can Fund the Arts in Better Ways Than from Taxpayers

Baron Vaizey of Didcot and former Royal Academician Yinka Shonibare propose a Smart Fund as a partnership between creators, technology companies and government that would manage a levy, taken via manufacturers from the sale of the electronic devices they build, to invest back into communities and the creative industry which produces content used on these devices. (Evening Standard) 

The Ancient Days of NFT

The Whitworth at the University of Manchester will launch the first UK Museum collection NFT to be made available for sale on 28 July. The Ancient Days of NFT will form part of the Whitworth’s socially driven project, Economics the Blockbuster, which looks at alternative ways of living together in the world. All income from sales will be directed to a new Whitworth community fund, to be used in socially beneficial projects. View a recent webinar about the project. (Vastari)

In Real Life: Mapping Digital Cultural Engagement in the First Decades of the 21^st Century

This report conducted through a partnership between the Australia Council for the Arts and the National Arts Council, Singapore explores ways to conceptualise arts and cultural participation in an environment increasingly influenced by digital technology. (Australia Council for the Arts)

The Thief Cannot Prescribe: On Barnaby Phillips’s “Loot: Britain and the Benin Bronzes”

Nii Ayikwei Parkes reviews Barnaby Phillips’s Loot, commending the deft interweaving of the narratives behind individual Benin artefacts with the overarching historical facts of the sacking of the Royal Palace and the Edo Kingdom. (LA Review of Books)

National Museums Scotland Not in a Hurry to Restitute Looted African Artefacts

A closer reading of the restitution policy of the National Museums Scotland, published last week, finds that the stringent criteria for restitution requests to be considered prevents any timely restitution of contested objects. (Modern Ghana)

Budget for Ministry of Tourism Was Never Enough

The Former Ghanaian Deputy Minister for Arts and Culture Dzifa Gomashi has said that the main problems she encountered whilst working for the ministry is the lack of inadequate funding for operations. Ghana has massive potential particularly post-COVID, and there needs to be a reconsideration of how much is invested into Ghana’s cultural products. (My Joy Online)

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