Beauty and the Bigotry and more arts stories you might have missed

Here at CBC Arts, you won't just find our original content — we also bring you the best art posts from across the entire CBC network.

These are the week's can't-miss stories:

Boycott of Beauty and the Beast might seem like a joke, but the bigotry underlying it is real (CBC News Opinion)

CBC News columnist Michael Coren took evangelical homophobes to task for their "disgraceful" boycott of Beauty and the Beast, due out in theatres this Friday. After director Bill Condon announced that the movie would feature Disney's first gay character — servant LeFou — there was immediate pushback by some on the religious right, who claimed the film was "pushing the LGBTQ agenda." But Coren didn't mince words in response: "The manic homophobia surrounding Beauty and the Beast is not a joke. It informs and infects what goes on within much of the Christian right: teens being forced into conversation therapy; attempted and completed suicides; bullyings and beatings." Hear, hear.

5 creative Canadians changing the conversation about race (CBC Docs)

In anticipation of last week's premiere of Desmond Cole and Charles Officer's The Skin We're In — a documentary on Canadian racism covered by CBC Arts here and here — CBC Docs celebrated other creatives making important work on the topic, including former Arts subjects Ekow Nimako, d'bi young anitafrika and Kenneth Montague. As Cole explains in the documentary, Canadians like to pretend we don't have a racism problem here — but these black artists' experiences prove otherwise, and their work shines an important light on the truth about what it means to be a person of colour in this country.

For sale: Grey Gardens. Film's caretaker takes us inside $20M mansion (As It Happens)

Want to live in the no-longer-dilapidated mansion at the heart of the 70s documentary Grey Gardens? Well, now you can — for a cool 20 mil. With Big and Little Edie's Hamptons property transformed and on the market, their former groundskeeper Jerry Torre spoke with As It Happens about his memories and what it was like to revisit the house 45 years later. And while the eccentric family was often misunderstood, Torre remembers their time together fondly: "It's a tribute to my friendship with Mrs. Beale and Edie that I can return to that very special mansion and share those emotions."

Grade 4 class writes book to tell Viola Desmond's story to other kids (CBC Nova Scotia)

What were you up to in fourth grade? These Nova Scotia students are now authors — and educators. After learning about Viola Desmond — who made history for challenging segregation at a Nova Scotian theatre — the children were inspired to write a book about her legacy entitled The ABC's of Viola Desmond. Released last week, the book will be distributed to Grade 3 students across the province so that they can achieve the goal summed up succinctly by teacher Beatrice MacDonald: "Every student should know."

Listen to Strombo's International Women's Day Special (CBC Music)

Three hours of kickass ladies making killer music, plus Margaret Atwood? There's nothing we'd rather listen to. The Strombo Show's International Women's Day Special was a non-stop celebration of gamechangers from Björk to Laura Jane Grace, Buffy Sainte-Marie to Michie Mee — plus an exclusive premiere of a new Metric song. International Women's Day doesn't have to be over when you've got this episode.

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