Christine Walevska got her one-eighth-size 1834 Bernardel cello when she was eight years old, and even as she went on to study with Gregor Piatigorsky, win a first prize at the Paris Conservatoire and pursue an international career, she remained attached to her childhood instrument. In 1976, it was stolen. Reporter Stacy Perman tells the story of how the little cello ultimately found its way back to Walevska — and a gifted young protégée came along with it. – Los Angeles Times
Author: Matthew Westphal
How I Got Audiences To Pay More For Streamed Performances Than I Would Have Asked Them To
Kahlil Ashanti began his performing career as part of an elite U.S. Air Force unit that did shows for servicepeople at military bases and in battle zones all over the globe. One thing he heard over and over from audience members, both soldiers and civilians (in his post-Air Force life), was “I would have gladly paid more for that.” Here’s how he got them to actually do it. – Arts Professional
Spread-Out And Sanitized: The Future Of Dance In The Age Of COVID
“In conversations about the future with 14 dance professionals, feelings of anguish, hope, fear and resolve emerged, along with ideas about adaptation and innovation. … Here are some glimpses of what might lie ahead.” – San Francisco Chronicle
No More Dead Guys On Horses: Reimagining The Entire Idea Of Public Monuments In The U.S.
Historically, the purpose of monuments, says Ken Lum of Monument Lab in Philadelphia, “has been to activate or even sustain a certain narrative of memory which people of influence have deemed worthy or important to maintain. They are mnemonic devices.” And, traditionally, they’ve usually been large sculptures of men. (If they were of women, those women were usually fictional or allegorical figures rather than actual people.) But that has changed over the past few decades, with the standard-bearer being Maya Lin’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Now that a whole slew of old-style monuments is being removed, Carolina Miranda looks at what might be replacing them. – Los Angeles Times
Refugee Who Wrote Award-Winning Memoir Via Texts Sent From Internment Camp Granted Asylum
“Behrouz Boochani, the Kurdish Iranian exile and journalist who became the voice of those incarcerated on Manus Island” — an island off the coast of Papua New Guinea where Australia maintains a camp for refugees who try to reach the country by sea — “has had his refugee status formally recognised by New Zealand, and granted a visa to live there.” – The Guardian
Every Artwork At The Whitney Is Being Covered With Plywood
Online, that is. “Every day at sunset, Artist — an anonymous conceptualist who legally changed their name to question the biases built into the phrase ‘American Artist’ — will replace every image of an artwork on the Whitney Museum’s website with a picture of plywood, effectively boarding up the pages. The site’s unassuming white background will be turned black, obscuring all text in the process. Titled Looted, the work calls into question what is being stolen and through what means.” – Artnet
New Project Aims To Get More Black Theater Professionals Backstage As Well As Onstage
“Career opportunity on Broadway doesn’t begin at the box office, but in the front office. And that’s where T. Oliver Reid, Warren Adams and their fellow advocates have set their sights in a campaign to massively increase black employment in the theater business. Their effort — under the banner of a new organization, the Black Theatre Coalition — is already making an impact.” – The Washington Post
TikTok Will Spend $200 Million On Creators (How And On Which Creators? Good Question)
“TikTok is launching a program to fund its most popular creators directly for their videos — with an initial $200 million earmarked for the U.S. … How much individual creators will be eligible to earn — and what specific criteria those payments will be based on — isn’t fully clear.” But you can apply starting in August. – Variety
Kennedy Center Will Reopen Its Large Theaters Next January
Pandemic permitting, the Center and its resident companies, the National Symphony Orchestra and Washington National Opera, plan to present performances for full audiences n its three large venues early in the New Year, with a few socially distanced, small-scale or outdoor performances before then. The big Broadway touring shows won’t be back until May. – The Washington Post
Andrew Lloyd Webber Tries Putting On A Socially Distanced West End Show
It was a one-time pilot project, performed in front of 640 people spread out through the Palladium, one of London’s biggest theatres. The program: one singer, Beverley Knight, doing two half-hour sets separated by an intermission. Alex Marshall reports on how it went. (ALW’s reaction on seeing the “full” house: “I’ve got to say this is a rather sad sight.”) – The New York Times