Author: Douglas McLennan

What Was The Point Of Blackout Tuesday?

“I don’t understand the point of asking people who were already posting non-stop about George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and protests and racism and police brutality and links to financial and community resources and anti-racist reading guides to pause all of that just to fill their timelines with…black squares. And now our “protest” is the same protest as the San Fran Fucking 49ers’s protest? If the point of the campaign was to do literally the opposite of what it was intended to do, mission accomplished.” – The Root

What Happens To Literary Life In Isolation

The absence of a tactile literary culture—one that happens in real time rather than on a screen—meant an uncomfortable cultural silence. And yet, during early morning walks through an empty city in April, paying attention in a wholly new way, I became acutely aware of being surrounded by literature, of how it manifests on many of Washington’s streets in the places where writers once wrote and lived, their words etched in stone. – VQR

A Plan To Insure Media Production In Canada

“Without the availability of insurance policies to cover future COVID-19 risks, most production in Canada will not resume. A government-backstopped insurance program will provide confidence to the marketplace, encouraging insurers to offer COVID-19 coverage, allowing producers to purchase policies, and ultimately allowing Canada’s production sector to re-open, once it is safe to do so.” – Variety

Music, Social Media, Go Dark On Blackout Tuesday

Instagram and Twitter accounts, from top record label to everyday people, were full of black squares posted in response to the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor. Most of the captions were blank, though some posted #TheShowMustBePaused, black heart emojis or encouraged people to vote Tuesday with seven states and the District of Columbia are hosting the largest slate of presidential primary elections in almost three months. – Washington Post

Crowd-Based Opera Postpones Reopening

Crowds are essential to this moment — and, really, to opera as an art form. Choruses fill the stage; musicians cram into the orchestra pit; thousands of people sit shoulder to shoulder in the theater. The Metropolitan Opera, one of the world’s largest houses, seats an audience of nearly 4,000. And it would probably have been packed for the season’s opening night on Sept. 21, the premiere of a new “Aida” production. – The New York Times

Arts Organizations Look To Draw Down Their Endowments During Crisis

The Chicago Lyric Opera plans to spend $23 million from its $173 million endowment this year, almost triple what it typically takes. It canceled its season in March, furloughed staff and cut salaries, but is still facing a huge deficit. “This is an unprecedented situation,” said Anthony Freud, the Lyric’s general director. The Los Angeles Philharmonic is drawing down $37 million from its endowment, more than twice what it would normally take. – The New York Times