Author: Matthew Westphal

‘Darkness Residencies’: Four Writers Spend Hours In Completely Blacked-Out Rooms

Artist Sam Winston, as part of his project A Delicate Sight, invited Bernardine Evaristo (co-winner of last year’s Booker Prize), Raymond Antrobus (winner of last year’s Folio Prize for poetry), Don Paterson, and Max Porter, “to spend hours in blackout before writing something inspired by heightened senses, identity, imagination, sensory reduction and rest.” – The Guardian

How Did The Last Pandemic Affect Music In The U.S.? Not That Much

“The [Spanish] flu did not transform the American cultural scene, as the new coronavirus threatens to; when the outbreak eased, in 1919, musical life returned swiftly to normal. A columnist … estimated that the financial damage to music from the influenza outbreak amounted to around $5 million nationwide, the equivalent of approximately $85.5 million today. In 2020, the Met alone stands to lose that much, or more.” – The New York Times

How Do You Play A 45-Foot-Long String Instrument? Like This

“Flanked by 20 strings on each side, her fingers coated in rosin, [Ellen] Fullman, 62, walks a central aisle while rubbing the strings lengthwise, conjuring thrumming minimalist drones and quickly shifting overtones. … A typical performance requires four or five days of laborious installation and tuning to adjust to spaces that have included a Romanesque cathedral in Cologne and a museum in Tasmania.” – The New York Times

How ‘Sesame Street’ Has Reflected 50 Years Of American Society Back To Itself

Jill Lepore traces the history (and prehistory) of “the most extensively researched television program [ever made]” — from the educational and social ideals of its creators (and the entertaining arguments over the show’s name) to the ways the show has responded to criticism (and how important those critics thought Sesame Street was) to the long slide into commercialism that began in the Reagan years. – The New Yorker

Before Petipa Became A Great Choreographer, He Was Ballet’s Cecil B. DeMille

“Decades before Cecil B. DeMille sent horse-drawn chariots thundering through the desert, the world’s most famous ballet choreographer created an epic version of Egypt for the stage, and paraded live camels, monkeys and lions through a glitzy Russian opera house. With that ballet — titled The Pharoah’s Daughter — Marius Petipa was just getting started.” – The Washington Post

Philippine Government Orders Country’s Largest Broadcast Network Off The Air

ABS-CBN, for years a target of President Rodrigo Duterte for its reporting, was shut down on May 5 as its broadcast license expired. The network’s application to renew, which must be renewed by the Philippine Congress (dominated by Duterte’s allies, and not currently in session due to the pandemic), has been held up for months, and regulators refused to issue an extension until Congress reconvenes. – The Guardian

Arts Groups File Business Interruption Insurance Claims, And Insurers Are Refusing To Pay

“The claims filed by arts groups, from movie theaters to concert halls, have become a particularly intense battleground, in part because the virus ended a primary source of revenue — ticket sales — and in part because so many were financially vulnerable before the crisis hit. In response, insurance companies have issued a torrent of denials, prompting lawsuits across the country and legislative efforts on the state and federal levels to force insurers to make payments.” – The New York Times

This Dance Teacher Is On A Mission To Bring More Dance To Hospitals — Even In A Pandemic

“To continue offering dance despite the pandemic,” Melissa Turnage, a dance artist in residence at several hospitals in Birmingham, Alabama, “[has] made DVDs for each of the units she works with, and has left a ‘dance mobility toolkit’ — a box of scarves, ribbon sticks, balls, streamers and other props — so that hospital staff can lead classes.” – Dance Magazine