Author: Matthew Westphal

London’s Southbank Centre Will Lay Off Up To Two-Thirds Of Its Staff

“The job losses are expected to affect all areas of the organisation, which comprises venues including the Hayward Gallery and Royal Festival Hall, as well as being home to eight orchestras, the National Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection. The [Centre] has furloughed the majority of its 600 employees, and in May predicted it could face a £5.1m deficit for the 2020-21 financial year.” – The Guardian

Yes, Enjoy Quibi Schadenfreude And Do Not Feel Guilty

Kate Knibbs: “Occasionally, circumstances arise where someone or something so high and mighty takes such a ludicrous tumble that the pratfall practically begs for a gleeful response, even from the most generous of spirits. Case in point: the disastrous debut of Quibi, a lavishly funded new streaming service that may currently have more jokes made at its expense than loyal subscribers. … [And laughing is] not sinful. In fact, there’s something akin to virtue in recognizing why Quibi deserves a ribbing.” – Wired

No Sooner Does ‘The Great Gatsby’ Come Out Of Copyright Than —

— a prequel is hitting the shelves. Fitzgerald’s novel enters the public domain next New Year’s Day, and on January 5 Little, Brown is releasing Michael Farris Smith’s Nick. “The publishers say Nick Carraway will ‘step out of the shadows and into the spotlight’, with the story focusing on his life before his meeting with the enigmatic millionaire Jay Gatsby.” – The Guardian

How A Group Of Students Convinced The Fokine Estate To Get Rid Of The Blackface Moor In ‘Petrouchka’

The character as passed down from the Diaghilev Ballets Russes original is not only painted in outlandish blackface makeup, he is, as Wendy Perron puts it, “mean and aggressive [and] prodigiously stupid.” In the ’90s, the Oakland and then San Francisco Ballets decided to make the character’s face blue (“the Avatar solution”), and both Perron and Michel Fokine’s granddaughter (and Petrouchka rights holder) Isabelle had thought that was an excellent solution. But Perron’s dance history students at Juilliard last semester would not have it: they found the character grotesque, offensive and irredeemable. Perron and the class reached out to Isabelle, and Perron tells us how things came out. – Dance Magazine

Toward An Anti-Racist American Theatre

“This moment and movement did not come out of nowhere but emerges from longstanding frustration among BIPOC theatremakers … [who] have never truly felt welcome in an industry geared toward and run by white theatremakers and audiences, into which they have only fitfully been invited to do work, and even then under terms that have been variously exploitive, unequal, and harmful.” – American Theatre

The Detroit Institute Of Arts Borrowed An El Greco From The Director’s Father-In-Law. Ethics Violation?

Because the display of a painting in a prestigious museum can increase its value, the loan can be seen as breaking conflict-of-interest and self-dealing rules and a complaint was filed with the IRS and the Michigan attorney general. The director says that all procedures were properly followed, being shown at the museum wouldn’t really affect the value of an Old Master, and, basically, if you can get the long-term loan of an El Greco, why wouldn’t you? – The New York Times

Joanna Cole, Author Of ‘Magic School Bus’ Series, Dead At 75

“She originally created The Magic School Bus in 1986 with illustrator Bruce Degen. The core idea of a sweet and nerdy crew of schoolchildren taking field trips into scientific concepts, bodily parts, into space and back to the age of dinosaurs — and always led by their teacher, the intrepid Ms. Frizzle — eventually spun out into dozens of tie-ins and more than 93 million copies in print, plus a beloved television show that aired for 18 years in more than 100 countries.” – NPR

When COVID Hit, Arts Groups Put Loads Of Free Content Online. Has It Connected With People?

“Concerts, conversations, classes, collages, child-friendly shorts and more filled arts websites and social media channels daily as institutions and individuals worked to preserve relationships and remind audiences of the arts’ societal importance. Was anybody watching?” Jeremy Reynolds checked in with the performing organizations in Pittsburgh and reports that “not all content is created equal.” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette