“There’s a lot more work, but it’s a lot harder to make money on anything. It’s one of the reasons the unions are up in arms right now. For low-end workers, the people on the tail of those big productions, it’s a lot harder to get by. And that’s true for middle-class actors and writers, too.” – The New York Times
Author: Douglas McLennan
How “Hamilton” Changed The Broadway Touring Business
The 2018-19 touring season that just ended set records in box office ($1.6 billion) and attendance (18.5 million). “Hamilton” had a clear hand: There are now four productions beyond New York, up from three the previous season. The total number of “Hamilton” weeks on the road sprang from 121 to 177, according to Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League. – Washington Post
That Google-Docs Arts Workers Salary Spreadsheet: A Seattle Analysis
“There’s often a claim that there’s simply not enough to provide its most essential staff a living wage, and I think because people love working for these institutions they’ve been willing to take on that weight for long periods of time, sometimes years, but at this point folks just aren’t buying it anymore.” – Crosscut
New York City Opera Scales Back Plans, With Do A 10-Performance Season
General director Michael Capasso’s original plan when the company emerged from bankruptcy in January 2016 called for 72 performances of 13 operas in 2018-19 to mark the company’s 75th anniversary. – Washington Post (AP)
A Theatre Critic Reviews Presidential Candidates’ Performances
Peter Marks: “Political campaigns are all about seducing audiences. So why shouldn’t someone like me be out here, reviewing the art — or artlessness — of the seduction? Presidential contenders do not win merely by trumpeting their achievements and policies. No, their instrument has to resound with some other, ineffable qualities.” – Washington Post
The Decline Of New York City’s Iconic Newsstands (Once There Were 1500 Of Them)
Today, the city has a little more than three hundred newsstands. They are required by law to sell printed material. But Max Bookman, a lawyer who represents the New York City Newsstand Operators Association, told me, “I talk to newsstand operators who feel lucky if they sell fifty newspapers a day.” – The New Yorker
Historian And Curator Peter Selz, 100, Founder Of Berkeley Art Museum
“Over the course of his tenure as our founding director, Peter transformed BAMPFA from a modest university art collection into the internationally renowned art and film institution it is today. Generations of Bay Area art lovers have benefited from his insight, knowledge, independence, and boundless energy, and his legacy will reverberate across and beyond our museum for decades to come.” – ARTnews
Why The Audio Quality Of Your Music Player Sucks
Leaving people’s personal abilities to distinguish high sonic quality from low sonic quality out of this conversation, there is a virtually insurmountable issue with mass adoption of hi-res audio: acoustic environment. – Shelly Palmer
UK Arts Orgs Get Together To Reduce Their Carbon Footprints
Baseline carbon emissions measurements are now being produced at major institutions including the National Theatre, Royal Opera House and Serpentine Galleries with an eye to creating “ambitious but achievable” targets and more sustainable infrastructures by 2023. – Arts Professional
The Pointlessness Of Discussing Things Today?
“When I talk with Brexiteers, I certainly do not assume that what Habermas calls the “power of the better argument” will be irresistible. And I am certainly very far from assuming that an indefinite discussion conducted under ideal circumstances would eventually free them from the cognitive and moral distortions from which they suffer, and in the end lead to a consensus between them and me.” – The Point