Tensions can run high this time of the year. The Spring brings an active calendar that keeps on delivering events, conversations, and all-day symposiums that can have you running all over town like a maniac. This week is no different - we've got a full list of things to read and go see. Like supporting Art F City at their goth themed benefit and engaging in discussions around gender challenges and exploring the notion of post-truth in the era of the new administration. Our weekly reads include our first feature of an NEA-funded organization, Alice James Books, tactics for finding the assertive balance in the work place, and a look at the history of gender representation in classical music. Rounding it out is a few features for those on the job hunt! - Take a deep breath and find your zen. We've got you covered.

“My biggest fear is that we, as a nation, are agreeing, collectively, to turn our backs on the arts, to say art has no place in our country, our hearts, our minds. That we’re saying our words and stories play no central role, have no benefit to others.”

— Carey Salerno, Alice James Books from "Oh, The Places the Funding Will Go"

Reads and Feeds: Words That Lingered

Artists’ Answer to a Changing Market? Become a Brand, Anna Louie Sussman, Artsy; Five takeaways like Artists Are Brands Now. Deal With It, from the Nasher Sculpture Center's panel “New Pitches: Reframing Artists for a Changing Market” at the Dallas Art Fair last week.

5 Signs It's Time to Ask for a Raise, Jen Hubley Luckwaldt, Business Insider; This topic always seems to be coming up in conversations with colleagues. So we love these five factors to consider before moving that conversation forward.

What Du Yun's Pulitzer Win Means for Women in Classical Music, William Robin, New Yorker; discusses how the eighth woman to win a Pulitzer Prize in Music since its founding in 1943, is a sign that gender imbalance within contemporary music could be on the cusp once again.

Oh, The Places the Funding Will Go: The NEA & Alice James Books, Jacque Donaldson, ypanyc.com; An interview with independent poetry publishing house Alice James Books, an organization that has been receiving NEA funds since its founding in 1975. This is the first instalment in a series looking at how the NEA supports communities and programs throughout the country.

How to Be More Assertive at Work (Without Being a Jerk), Melody Wilding The Muse; This guide works towards finding the win-win in every office situation by giving real-case scenarios of applying assertiveness in the work place.

This Week Around Town

MONDAY, APRIL 17
Truth and Power in the Trump Era
To help us understand this “post-truth” era, a panel of experts will examine the interplay of media and politics in contemporary America on the basis of their experience both here and internationally.
6:30pm - 8:30pm; CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue; Free

TUESDAY, APRIL 18
Dancing In the Dark: The Art F City Goth Benefit
Dress in black and head to Art F City's annual benefit which this year features a set of goth opera by the insanely talented, Joseph Keckler. (Watch one of our favorite pieces of his here.)
6:00pm - 10:00pm; Collapsable Hole, 55 Bethune Street, New York, NY; Ticket prices vary.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 19
In Focus: Where Women Stand–The First 100 Days of the New Administration
Leading voices from journalism, advocacy, law and politics will discuss the critical challenges facing women and girls today.
6:00pm - 8:00pm; Kimmel Center (NYU); 60 Washington Square South; Free

THURSDAY, ARPIL 20
Launch a Creative Career: Expert Business Tactics for Artists - A Talk with Amy Whitaker, Author of “Art Thinking”
Amy Whitaker, sat on our panel last Fall, Art & Worth: Establishing Pay Equity in the Arts, where she dished out strategies for navigating the art business world. On Thursday, she'll be discussing her new book, Art Thinking and the value of learning to apply the mindset of art and the tools of business at the same time.
6:30pm - 8:30pm; General Assembly; 902 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10010; Free

FRIDAY, APRIL 21 & SATURDAY, APRIL 22
A Symposium on the History of Art
The Frick Collection hosts a two-day symposium for art historians, museum staff and grad students. Highlights include a look at Lewis Baltz in the impactful, New Topographics photography exhibition and a discussion on “Velázquez as a painter and curator.
Friday, 2:30pm - 6:00pm (reservations required); Saturday, 9:00am - 6:00pm; T he Frick Collection, 1 East 70th Street, New York; Free.

FOR THE HOMEBODY
Art Work Podcast On Cultural Equity
The sixth episode of FABNYC's Art Work podcast discusses the NYC Cultural plan and tries to unpack the term “Culturally Specific Organizations.”