Most are shut down, though in places such as Albania and Sweden where museums remain open, they’re seeing increases in visitors. Closed museums report an 80 percent loss of income. Many are increasing digital content and there is a spike in visitors there. – Arts Professional
Author: Douglas McLennan
How Artists Bear Witness To Events Of Their Time
Conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler chose one way, conducting in Nazi Germany through World War II. Dmitry Shostakovich chose another in deep Soviet Russia. Joseph Horowitz contrasts the two in this podcast. – The American Interest
33 Years Ago, This Novel About A Pandemic In 2020 Got A Lot Right
In 1987 Israeli science fiction writer Hamutal Shabtai wrote a book about a mysterious virus that engulfed the world in 2020. The scary part is that she got many of the details of what is now happening, right. – Ha’aretz
Theatre Has Moved Online. Maybe Not All Of It Should Have
Peter Marks: “The good news is, you can now access plays and musicals of every style online, from every part of the country and many other places around the globe, a lot of itfree. The bad news is, you can access plays and musicals of every style online.” – Washington Post
A New Online Job Market For Artists
HireArtists.org is designed to work similarly to TaskRabbit or Fiverr, websites that link gig workers to employers looking for people to do one-off jobs. It invites photographers, dancers, and website designers, among those in other disciplines, to sell their skills and knowledge to anyone looking for art lessons, or even to buy artworks. It’s free to sign up, and unlike other sites, HireArtists doesn’t collect a fee. – Artnet
In The Movies AI Is Helpful… Until It Turns On You
“Artificial intelligence, and the desire to smooth out the rough edges of human biology through it, has frequently made its way into the movies. But while the most intriguing of films that dabble in the subject tell entertaining stories, they warn of the complications of relying too much on technology to solve problems. Will a smart machine bring salvation or destruction?” – The New York Times
A Third Of French Art Galleries Could Go Out Of Business This Year
In 1995 46 percent of France’s galleries had to close after the art market crash. Estimates now are that one third of French galleries will go out of business due to the pandemic. – The Art Newspaper
How The Last Pandemic Crept Into Literature
Elizabeth Outka: “I have spent the last five years writing a book about how the sensory and affective climate of the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic infuses interwar literature, often in ways we have not recognized. My new awareness of the traces of that pandemic shifts my perception of this one, as if the sights and sounds from a century ago have re-emerged, becoming timely in ways I both feared and never wanted.” – The Paris Review
Manchester Arts Groups Team Up To Help Artists
GM Artist Hub includes 10 regional arts groups who have banded together to explore opportunities for the area’s mostly-freelance artists and workers. – The Stage
Amazon Bumps Some Sellers To The Back Of The Line. Book Sellers Are Furious
Amazon was overwhelmed by orders once retail closed and Jeff Bezos announced that all third-party merchants who sell non-essential items could no longer use Amazon’s warehouses or shipping. That includes books. Now writers are struggling to get their books sold. – The Times (UK)