“We need to recognize that the business of the arts is not like an automotive assembly line that regularly turns out new homologated “products” for eager consumers. The play is not the thing. The skilled actors, directors, playwrights-in-residence, choreographers, dancers, musicians, designers and technicians of all kinds are the thing and always have been the thing. It is their daily labour that fashions and molds this creative art form we call the theatre.” – AisleSay
Author: Douglas McLennan
John Zorn – Musician Inside The Cracks
Though Zorn has operated almost entirely outside the mainstream, he’s gradually asserted himself as one of the most influential musicians of our time. His projects and endeavors during the past 40-plus years could fill an encyclopedia: from rigorous classical works and radical reimaginations of Ennio Morricone film themes to deep explorations of his Jewish heritage under the Masada banner, whimsical neo-exotica, and sprawling improv excursions, where his sometimes jagged, sometimes supple saxophone playing mingles with the sound worlds of collaborators like Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson. – Rolling Stone
An Opportunity To Restructure How Arts Organizations Are Governed?
For performing arts venues where a high level of public funding is invested, this may be the time to let go of the myth that somehow, a member of the audience of venue A is exclusive to that organisation and not recognised as being a potential participant in all local performing arts. Letting go of protective control over relationships with single customers and integrating sales and marketing functions – including the box office – could yield several hundreds of thousands of pounds in many areas. – Arts Professional
Delivering Songs To Your Home – One House At A Time
Amy Helm: “It’s interesting as a musician to go to so many different places and play for so many different people and have such a direct connection with them. That’s not something you get in a room of a hundred people or several thousand people. It’s nice. And it’s right on time. And then you get a little window into what they’re dealing with.: – NPR
Rupert Murdoch Negotiating To Buy Stake In Art Basel
The event organizer has been badly affected by lockdowns and bans on public gatherings in recent months as governments have tried to restrict the spread of the coronavirus. The MCH group decided to completely cancel its flagship Art Basel show, which was originally scheduled to take place in June, amid worries about health risks and global travel restrictions. – Bloomberg
Broadway Theatres Will Stay Dark Until 2021
The Broadway League said Monday that theater owners and producers will refund or exchange tickets previously purchased for shows through Jan. 3. Given the unpredictability of the coronavirus pandemic that has prompted the shuttering of Broadway, the League said it was not yet ready to specify exactly when shows will reopen. – The New York Times
Who Would Go To A “Herd Immunity” Music Festival This Summer?
A three-day “herd immunity” music festival scheduled to take place in Ringle, Wisconsin, in mid-July is taking this energy to the, uh, extreme. With the exception of drive-in concerts and performances streamed online, live music events have largely been cancelled for the foreseeable future. Health experts have warned concerts could be “superspreaders” of COVID-19 and predicted they wouldn’t be feasible till 2021. – Mic
How To Slow Down Misinformation On Social Media
Without a change in this design, nothing else can change. Moderation is impractical when you have 3 billion users speaking hundreds of languages in dozens of political cultures. AI is hopeless at nuance. And asking society to change itself – by telling people to be more cautious about what they read and repost or adding fact-checks to posts – is like replacing plastic straws to ameliorate environmental catastrophe. It makes for good PR, but the effects are so small as to be inconsequential. – The Guardian
Consequential Writing About Race
Appreciating social movements in hindsight is a complicated endeavor. Leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Harriet Tubman are often whitewashed to appease modern sensibilities. Some, like Bayard Rustin, are almost forgotten entirely. – The New York Times
Teen Who Threw Child Off Tate Modern Sentenced To 15 Years
The Old Bailey heard how Bravery spent more than 15 minutes stalking possible targets at the art gallery viewing platform before fixing on a young visitor who had briefly left his parents’ side. The teenager, who is from Ealing, was said to have “scooped (the victim) up and, without any hesitation, carried him straight to the railings and threw him over”. – Local Guardian (UK)