The theatre company Slung Low is used to thinking creatively, says its artistic director. This is just a bit different: “Constantly I’m on the phone doing deals. The other day, I swapped a load of tote bags that I got from the university for some face masks, which I split in half and swapped the other half for a lot of cream. It’s constant creative thinking, constant problem solving.” – BBC
Month: May 2020
The Plan To Sell Dot-Org Domains To A Private Equity Firm Is No Longer A Go
The move was widely criticized across the world – and feared by nonprofits. One of them said that “the proposed buyout was an attempt by domain name industry insiders to profit off of thousands of nonprofits and NGOs around the world.” – Vice
A Goodbye Gala Goes Online, Bigger And Better Than Expected
Emily Mann was set to wrap up three decades as the director of McCarter Theater Center in Princeton this spring. Then everything shut down – and her gala went online. “‘I think I liked this better,’ Mann, 68, said by phone later that evening, moved that more than a thousand people had registered to tune in online and looking forward to watching it all again on video.” – The New York Times
Artists Protest The Eviction Of A Founding Member Of A Large Studio Art Complex In Britain
Howard Silverman helped found Bristol’s Spike Island nearly 50 years ago – and now a new board has told him he must pack up his studio and go, in the middle of the coronavirus lockdown. “Fellow studio holders and artists from around the world are backing Silverman’s fight to overturn the decision, with some suggesting the organisation is intent on squeezing out older, established tenants in favour of younger ones.” – The Guardian (UK)
Prolific Producer Zev Buffman, 89
Buffman produced everyone, including Elizabeth Taylor in The Little Foxes (it was a hit) and Muhammed Ali in Buck White (it was a memorable flop). But he “was even busier in Florida than on Broadway. Starting in 1962, he produced shows at the Coconut Grove Playhouse (which he owned) in Miami; the Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale; the Jackie Gleason Performing Arts Center in Miami Beach; the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center in Orlando; and Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater.” – The New York Times
Some Movie Theatres Reopen In Texas
Malls and other retail establishments reopened in the state as well. Movie theatres that reopened were showing older-run movies for $5. In one San Antonio theatre, “in an upscale shopping center called the Rim, business was steady — low for a Saturday in May, but higher than what might be expected in a state still grappling with a coronavirus outbreak that has killed nearly 900 people, 48 of them in Bexar County, which includes San Antonio.” – The New York Times
The Group Singing Of Our Own Dark Age
One of the last songs at this winter’s Youth Traditional Song Weekend emphasized standing together in song. Now, “the act of gathering to sing feels like something for a tenuous tomorrow. One can always sing alone, but social singers relish the exchange. The learning new songs from others, the jumping in with an impromptu harmony, the spontaneity, the shared emotion, the bad puns. (Always, the terrible puns.)” What’s a singer to do? – The Boston Globe
What, At A Bare Minimum, Does An Artist Need In Order To Make Work During A Lockdown?
Let’s start with graph paper (and an emphasis on making work instead of the reception of work). – Hyperallergic
The Art Of Lighted, Locked Down Los Angeles Movie Theatres
“There’s nothing like the Xanadu of a giant screen, air conditioning, darkness, Milk Duds and a big Hollywood movie in a packed theater” – which means that, right now, there’s a very well-lit, beautiful, empty nothing. – Los Angeles Times
Algerian Singer Idir, A Berber Icon, Has Died In Paris At The Age Of 70
Idir trained to be a geologist, but “his life took a twist in 1973 when he was called up as a last-minute replacement on the radio to sing ‘A Vava Inouva.’ It was a lullaby with the ‘rich oral traditions’ of the Berber culture and became a beloved song in the country” – and he continued to give voice to Berber and Kabyle culture from then on. – The Washington Post (AP)