CAA News Today

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

In Detroit, a Case of Selling Art and Selling Out

These days, the message screens above the main ticket desk at the Detroit Institute of Arts regularly flash the phrase “Thank You Voters.” Unusual as it may seem among announcements about exhibitions and events at this world-class museum, it belongs there. On August 7, 2012, the citizens of the three counties that contain and surround Detroit—Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb—voted in favor of a ten-year commitment to a small increase in real-estate taxes that would guarantee the institute $23 million a year, roughly two-thirds of its annual operating budget. (Read more in the New York Times.)

Sunday Dialogue: Sell Masterpieces to Help Save a City

The choice being debated in Detroit—whether to sell works from the Detroit Institute of Arts to help pay the city’s debts—is agonizing. How can we equate a few pieces of canvas with paint on them with the pensions of thousands of firefighters, nurses, police officers, teachers, and other civil servants? (Read more in the New York Times.)

More Humanities PhDs

New doctoral enrollments in the arts and humanities have been going up modestly—an average of 1 percent annually—for a decade. But data being released by the Council of Graduate Schools show that in fall 2012, arts and humanities doctoral programs saw a 7.7 percent increase—a surprising jump given the difficulty many new PhDs in those fields have in finding jobs. (Read more from Inside Higher Ed.)

Insider Tips from the Art World’s Social-Media Pros (Part Three)

To get a better sense of how museums and art organizations are adapting to and embracing the increasing centrality of social media to their missions, Blouin Artinfo spoke to the experts: the people behind some of the art world’s richest and most rewarding social-media accounts. For this third and final installment in a three-part series, we put some questions to the Contemporary Jewish Museum, the public-relations firm Fitz & Co, the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, and Creative Time. (Read more from Blouin Artinfo.)

Help Desk: Padding the Résumé

Artists are routinely asked to donate work toward the benefit of an organization. I have reached the point where I am not sure how my participation ranks along with my overall exhibition history. What is a suitable way (if any) to list auctions, charitable donations, or benefit shows on my CV? Furthermore, when panels or curators view résumés, do they view these things as positive qualities or simply as résumé padding? (Read more in Daily Serving.)

Know the Vital Players in Your Career: The Chair

In a series of essays starting with this one, I will look at the crucial professional players—found in every academic department, no matter the discipline or the institution—who can profoundly affect the progress (or lack thereof) of your career. The most crucial dyad for a new faculty member is usually you and your department head. The chair (a catchall title I will use here for ease of reference) might be the person who has the greatest sway over you from the start: in hiring, through the promotion-and-tenure stage, and beyond. (Read more in the Chronicle of Higher Education.)

Keeping Students Engaged in the Online Classroom

As an online instructor, I can fulfill the minimum requirements of the university regarding interacting with students, or I can create a learning environment that facilitates student engagement in the classroom. Students enroll in online classes because of scheduling flexibility, work-life-school balance, costs, and convenience. Although online learning holds many advantages, the potential drawbacks revolve around the lack of personal interaction between the instructor and student, as well as the student-to-student contact. Keeping students engaged in the course is a vital function of an effective instructor. (Read more from Faculty Focus.)

“If You Want to Be My Student”

Like any good graduate adviser, Chris Blattman expects a lot from his students. But just how he’s expressing those expectations has generated a fair amount of discussion at Columbia University, where he is an assistant professor of political science and international and public affairs, as well as some talk outside its walls. Blattman, who is known for his frank approach to decoding college and graduate school for students on his blog, outlines protocol for would-be advisees in a new post called “If you want to be my student.” (Read more from Inside Higher Ed.)