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The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation today announced a major strategic evolution for its organization, prioritizing social justice in all of its grantmaking. The Foundation’s board has resoundingly endorsed a refined mission statement and updated program areas. While Mellon’s strategic shift—under the leadership of Mellon President Elizabeth Alexander— has been two years in the making, current events make the Foundation’s new social justice lens even more relevant to Mellon’s philanthropic efforts supporting the arts and humanities. Since its founding, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has sought to strengthen, promote, and defend the arts and humanities as essential to democratic societies. An...

Ennio Morricone, the Italian composer who wrote the iconic theme tune to The Good, The Bad And The Ugly, has died aged 91. His death was confirmed by his lawyer, Giorgio Assumma, who said he died in a hospital in Rome early on Monday.

Executive Order on Building and Rebuilding Monuments to American Heroes Issued on: July 3, 2020 By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Purpose. America owes its present greatness to its past sacrifices. Because the past is always at risk of being forgotten, monuments will always be needed to honor those who came before. Since the time of our founding, Americans have raised monuments to our greatest citizens. In 1784, the legislature of Virginia commissioned the earliest statue of George...

Count Vlad is doing an alternative version of "Stairway to Heaven" with some unexpected surprises. The song contains a number of unusual musical influences. If you enjoy the music please subscribe to the channel.

Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy have set their sights on creating another expansive sci-fi series. The “Westworld” duo are developing a show at Amazon based on the “Fallout” video game franchise. Their Kilter Films banner is producing the project which has a series commitment penalty attached, meaning it would go directly to series if Amazon execs are on board with the scripts. The “Fallout” series, which began in 1997 with the original game, is set in a world where the future envisioned by Americans in the late 1940s explodes upon itself through a nuclear war in 2077. With their...

The Monthly Fiber Arts Thread is a monthly gathering of people that love yarn and fabric of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first project, to experienced fiber artists and beyond, we would love to hear from you. It is impossible to hijack the Monthly Fiber Arts Thread. Knitting, crochet, quilting, weaving, general crafting - there is no telling where it will go, and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us! Send a Private Message to Diana in Wisconsin if you'd like to be added to our Fiber Arts...

The turmoil coursing through cultural institutions around the country on the subject of race has made its way to the biggest museum of them all: the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A top curator’s Instagram post that seemed critical of the Black Lives Matters movement and protests over monuments — shared on Juneteenth — has ignited objections by staff members, and a larger internal critique. On Tuesday, 15 Met staff members sent a letter urging the museum’s leadership to acknowledge “what we see as the expression of a deeply rooted logic of white supremacy and culture of systemic racism at our...

Not for laughs, but for smiles. Thought we could all use a smile in these otherwise depressing times.

NEW YORK (AP) - Milton Glaser, the groundbreaking graphic designer who adorned Bob Dylan’s silhouette with psychedelic hair and summed up the feelings for his native New York with “I (HEART) NY,” died Friday, his 91st birthday. **SNIP** In posters, logos, advertisements and book covers, Glaser’s ideas captured the spirit of the 1960s with a few simple colors and shapes. He was the designer on the team that founded New York magazine with Clay Felker in the late ’60s. **SNIP** The bold “I (HEART) NY” logo - cleverly using typewriter-style letters as the typeface - was dreamed up as part...

It's raining statues all across America. Artworks that have stood in public places for generations are being defaced or deposed, destroyed or relocated, as Americans confront attitudes on race and stereotyping. Richmond, Va., has been an epicenter of the controversy. Its most prominent city symbols — a procession of sculpted Civil War leaders — just sparked protests for days. The statues stand near the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, where a contemporary sculpture by Kehinde Wiley reminds that Black lives not only matter, they can create powerful, stunning works of art. Wiley, a 43-year-old African American artist, is best known...

June 23 (UPI) -- The Spanish owner of a painting by famed artist Bartolome Esteban Murillo said he paid more than $1,300 to have it restored and the process made a mess of the Virgin Mary's face. The Valencia owner of The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables by baroque artist Bartolome Esteban Murillo said he paid $1,356.69 to have a furniture restorer clean the painting, but the attempt destroyed the face of the Virgin Mary. The owner said the restorer made two attempts to restore the face, and the results left the painting with a cartoon-like visage. The botched restoration...

NASA is about to take to the air on another planet. As part of its next mission to Mars, leaving Earth this summer, the space agency will attempt to do something that has never been done before: fly a helicopter through the rarefied atmosphere of Mars. If it works, the small helicopter, named Ingenuity, will open a new way for future robotic explorers to get a bird’s-eye view of Mars and other worlds in the solar system. “This is very analogous to the Wright brothers moment, but on another planet,” said MiMi Aung, the project manager of the Mars helicopter...

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic has officially claimed another victim. The 49th Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta has been postponed until October 2-10, 2021, which means the 50th event fiesta will now be pushed back until 2022. The decision was made Monday by the all-volunteer Balloon Fiesta board of directors. Matt Guthrie, president of the board, said in a statement, “The safety of our pilots, guests, sponsors, staff and volunteers has always been our top concern and in the wake of COVID-19 and its continued impacts, we must stay dedicated to upholding that commitment.” People who already made reservations...

American Sculpture to Brahm's "Tragic Overture." Follows Lorado Taft's 1903 book, "The History of American Sculpture." Includes William Rush, John Frazee, Horatio Greenough, Hiram Powers, Thomas Crawford, Erastus Dow Palmer, Thomas Ball, Anne Whitney, Randolph Rogers, John Rogers, Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, John Quincy Adams Ward, Augustus Sint Gaudens, Daniel Chester French, Lorado Taft and Gutzon Borgium. Remember that these sculptures aren't just our history, they're our art.

Ian Holm, the versatile actor who played everything from androids to hobbits via Harold Pinter and King Lear, has died in London aged 88, his agent confirmed to the Guardian. “It is with great sadness that the actor Sir Ian Holm CBE passed away this morning at the age of 88,” they said. “He died peacefully in hospital, with his family and carer,” adding that his illness was Parkinson’s related. “Charming, kind and ferociously talented, we will miss him hugely.”

I have a comparison graph of various nations "new cases" of COVID over time I'd like to post on one of Doughty One's update thread. It's just a file on my computer, so it doesn't have a URL. You can't copy and paste images into FR, as far as I know. Can someone explain to me how to do this?

Another Bravo celebrity is being called out over statements they made that show their true colors. Peter Hunziker is the latest reality TV celebrity to be fired over posting remarks that were both sexist and racist. Not only has he been fired from Below Deck Mediterranean, he's being edited out as much as possible in the season that is currently airing. So, what did Peter Hunziker say that put him in this position? Peter Hunziker has been fired from 'Below Deck'. On June 17, Bravo announced they were firing Peter Hunziker from Below Deck, effectively immediately. In a post on...

From the Drinker: "With increasing calls for classic movies and TV shows to be 'altered' to fit our current climate, I want to explain why our entertainment, our art, is not something to be messed with."

Count Vlad is doing Gary Numan's "Are Friends Electric?" He does it in a way that uses Film Noir footage to convey dream states. If you enjoy the music please subscribe to the channel.

Click The Image for the entire Speech Performed Speech 2007 By Eric Ryle - Former Editor of TheSubReport.com 2005-2010. Performed with The Piece An American Elegy in the Background. #TheSubVet 1993 MEMORIAL SERVICE SPEECH by: Written and Spoken By Billy Grieves at Anaheim, CA Entire Speech can be viewed Here Billy Grieves Videos for Historical History are Here The Memorial Speech honors the 52 submarines that were lost in World War II Frank Ticheli's An American Elegy