Arts & Culture
Here we cover the latest and most uplifting exhibitions, creative movements, and imaginative design to keep you inspired throughout your day.
This museum features a gallery curated by the people they represent
While museums and historical collections can offer us some information and insight into different cultures and people, on the whole, we are realizing that much of what is presented to us does not represent these communities in an accurate or respectful way. This is because many of the things we see Read More...
A brief history of Groundhog Day
In honor of Groundhog Day 2023, The Optimist Daily shares some background knowledge on this centuries-old American tradition. The first Groundhog Day Groundhog Day was commemorated for the first time on February 2, 1887, at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, thanks to a "rodent Read More...
22 reasons for optimism in 2022 (part II)
Here are eleven more good things that happened in 2022 that gave us cause to hope and celebrate. If you haven’t read part I yet, click here to check it out. Wordlemania hit hard In 2022, the number everyone was begging to hear was your Wordle score. Though the game where you try to predict a Read More...
22 reasons for optimism in 2022 (part I)
Here are eleven good things that happened in 2022 that gave us cause to hope and celebrate. Ukraine still stands Russian President Vladimir Putin and most others expected Ukraine to succumb to Russian control within days of his late February invasion. Few foresaw the force of the Ukrainian Read More...
Italian fisherman uses underwater sculptures to stop trawling
Italian fisherman Paolo Fanciulli had been fishing the waters of the Maremma coastline for almost 40 years. These sea habitats near Tuscany, and Fanciulli’s livelihood, came under threat, however, in the form of illegal trawling, dragging huge nets through the water to catch large amounts of Read More...
French record label brings forgotten women composers into the spotlight
A new record label is helping to bring classical music's unsung heroines into the spotlight. Héloïse Luzzati, a French cellist, established this revolutionary record label, La Boîte à Pépites (The Jewel Box). It expands on the “Elles - Women Composers” festival and YouTube channel Read More...
European cities get funding to transform streets with art
A number of European communities will soon have the opportunity to give their roads a little creative flair. The Asphalt Art Initiative Nineteen European cities will each get a grant of $25,000 from the Asphalt Art Initiative, a project that aims to increase pedestrian safety by painting Read More...
Psychiatrists in Brussels trial free museum visits to treat anxiety and stress
In Brussels, those who are struggling with mental health issues such as stress, depression, or anxiety will be offered an unorthodox and innovative treatment: museum prescriptions. Now through the end of the month, psychiatrists at one of the city's main hospitals can prescribe patients a trip Read More...
A new understanding of an old story—part IV of True American, a mini series
"Only by learning to live in harmony with your contradictions can you keep it all afloat." - Audre Lorde Over the course of the True American mini-series, we’ve deconstructed symbols that we think of as “typically American.” In the process, we’ve gained a more nuanced understanding of Read More...
The birth of the banjo— part III of True American, a mini-series
The banjo, widely considered a quintessential symbol of the United States (along with square dancing), is an instrument that tends to conjure up images of white rural life in the Appalachian mountains, or memories of the dueling banjos from the 1972 film "Deliverance" or TV shows like "The Beverly Read More...