The corporate world lives

In 2001, I became the last newspaper staff art/architecture critic on the west coast of Florida. And like the sunshine state’s wild fires, the rash of firings has spread to newsrooms countrywide.

Today, another daily newspaper is zapping its arts critics. Minnesota’s Star Tribune is doing it to a classical music critic and a part-time architecture critic.
Which means that while the arts make news a lot, little commentary about it gets written. A survey conducted by the National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University indicates that only 27 percent of art critics express judgments. Giving opinions ranked last on their list of priorities. Buildings, exhibits, concerts are noted without discussion. It’s called saving space. The corporate world lives.