The debate over statues—and the wider debates around the Black Lives Matter movement—have thrust the issue of our relationship to history into public consciousness. We should seize this moment to think more deeply about the complexities of the past that have shaped the present. – New York Review of Books
Author: Douglas McLennan
Times Are Grim. So Why Hasn’t Comedy Rallied On TV?
It’s just striking to me that at a time shrouded in so much darkness, the aggressive joke-per-minute efforts of a Veep-like show, for example, haven’t found their way to air, specifically because the environment is begging for it. – The Daily Beast
Thoughts On Art, Justice And Interpretation
Just as authors and composers must be free to write about any world they can imagine, so must interpreters be allowed to play and sing any roles for which they are held to be more qualified than their competitors—provided they agree to the creators’ terms and conditions. – Conrad Osborne
How The Big Museum Audiences Have Changed Since Reopening
For the Met, long-haul travel is typically responsible for most of their visitors, who come from abroad. But with international plane travel halted, there’s a new focus on New Yorkers, which now make up over 90 percent of entrants. – Washington Post
How A Washington State Choir Changed The Course Of COVID Research
Along with new data at the time on the virus’s potential for asymptomatic spread—cases when infected people are less likely to spew heavy droplets through coughing—the report out of Skagit Valley further intensified the transmission discourse: If COVID-19 could spread so thoroughly and quickly through a choir, did that mean the coronavirus was airborne? And if the primary route for the disease’s spread was through the air, had our initial response been woefully misguided? – Slate
An Initiative To Rebuild America’s Arts
Some actions within the 15-point plan could be achieved in one day through executive orders, such as directing federal departments to employ creative workers or completing the authorisation and funding of an ArtistCorps within AmeriCorps. Others involve the development and passage of new laws and policies in conjunction with Congress—for example, making permanent the ability of gig workers and independent contractors to access federal unemployment benefits, or taking up and passing legislation that would adjust existing federal policies to be more inclusive of creative workforce projects. – The Art Newspaper
Festival-Free Edinburgh Lost 2 Million Tourists In August
The Edinburgh Hotels Association said the average occupancy was down to just 50 per cent in August – at a time when they would normally be almost full. – The Scotsman
What The Uk’s Music Organizations Are Learning About Streaming
“What we know is that the donation only model works well for the first two events that you do, and then it tails off dramatically, so our view is that the more sustainable model is pay-per-view.” – Bachtrack
Rethink: Time To End Playwright Submission Fees
It is exceptionally unusual to find a theatre that charges playwrights to read their script through conventional submissions. But look around at contests, competitions, workshops, residencies and more, and you’ll spot submission charges without having to look too hard. – The Stage
Team Digitally Recreating Venice To Preserve It
They have used a LiDAR (light-detection and ranging) scanner, which sends out a pulsed laser light towards the target object and measures the time it takes the laser to return. It calculates the distance the light has travelled, and plots that point in a digital 3D space. The LiDAR has recorded inscriptions so high up they cannot be read from the ground. – The Art Newspaper