CAA News Today

Each week CAA News summarizes eight articles, published around the web, that CAA members may find interesting and useful in their professional and creative lives.

Popular Domestic Programs Face Ax under First Trump Budget

The White House budget office has drafted a hit list of programs that President Trump could eliminate to trim domestic spending, including longstanding conservative targets like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Legal Services Corporation, AmeriCorps, and the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities. (Read more from the New York Times.)

Can Only Rich Kids Afford to Work in the Art World?

Two years ago, Naiomy Guerrero left her job in the art world. She hasn’t lost her passion for art and still blogs about it at GalleryGirl.nyc, but as the daughter of two immigrant parents she chose financial stability. Guerrero now works as a financial aid counselor, earning over 50 percent more than she did at her most recent art-related job. (Read more from Artsy.)

Habitat: Moonlighting—Artists’ Side Jobs

Most artists, unless they are selling a lot of work, need a good side job. For some, it’s just a way to pay the rent; for others, it’s a parallel passion. But whether they consider it a temporary solution or a career, a boon to their art or something entirely separate from it, the artists ARTnews interviewed all seem to find satisfaction in what they do for money. (Read more from ARTnews.)

“Our Women Have Always Carved”

On the West Coast, in the rich and diverse world of First Nations art, the master carvers responsible for the totem poles and myriad other monumental works are usually men. There are exceptions. And two exceptional women—trailblazing female First Nations artists who have carved their way into Canadian cultural history—are getting their due in two new exhibitions. (Read more from the Globe and Mail.)

The Red of Painters

For the most part, painters have always loved red, from the Paleolithic period to the most contemporary. Red’s palette offers a variety of shades and favors more diverse and subtle chromatic play than any other color. In red, artists found a means to construct pictorial space, distinguish areas and planes, create accents, produce effects of rhythm and movement, and highlight one figure or another. (Read more from the Paris Review.)

Academic Ethics: Rethinking the Justification of Tenure

Tenure for professors has been under pressure, and even the subject of outright attacks, for a long time. But the pace of the assault has accelerated lately, and there is no more significant canary in the coal mine than events in Wisconsin over the past two years. (Read more from Vitae.)

The Changing Monograph Market

The market for original humanities monographs may be shrinking, according to a report on the output of university presses. After remaining stable from 2009 to 2011, the number of original works in the humanities published by university presses fell both in 2012 and 2013, according to estimates from the two publishing consultants who wrote the report. (Read more from Inside Higher Ed.)

An Activity That Promotes Engagement with Required Readings, Even in Large Classes

Encouraging students to complete the course readings is an age-old problem. On the first day of class, I often say something like this to my students: “Nothing floats my boat more than great discussion. Nothing promotes great discussion like having completed the readings. And nothing promotes completing the readings like having points attached to it.” (Read more from Faculty Focus.)