Author: Matthew Westphal

As The World Shuts Down, Yale School Of Music Takes Care Of Its Students

“In a March 31st letter to alumni, Dean Robert Blocker outlined an ambitious plan to provide aid, including ‘a one-time stipend of $500’ to all students to assist with travel and expenses; full pay, despite social distancing, for all student employees through May 1st, 2020; and relocation of all international students who could not return home to University housing.” – The Middleclass Artist

Jazz Patriarch Ellis Marsalis Dead Of COVID At 85

“[A] pianist and educator, [he] became the guiding force behind a late-20th-century resurgence in jazz. … Photogenic, erudite and fabulously talented, Mr. Marsalis’s children and many other young jazz musicians he had taught — including Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison Jr., Harry Connick Jr. and Nicholas Payton — became the leaders in a burgeoning traditionalist movement, loosely referred to as the Young Lions.” – The New York Times

It Took Only Four Days For Berlin To Distribute €500 Million In Emergency Funds For Freelancers

“Imagine you are a small businessperson or freelancer suffering a deep financial loss as a result of your city’s lockdown. You apply for a grant from the government on a Friday, submitting nothing more than your mailing address, a tax number, banking details, and a legal form with your company’s name. On Tuesday, you wake up to find €5,000 has been wired into your account.” – Artnet

Edinburgh Festivals — All Of Them — Canceled

The Edinburgh International Festival, the Fringe, Book Festival, Art Festival, and Military Tattoo, which transform Scotland’s capital for the month of August, have been called off for 2020. No one knows what the coronavirus situation will be by late summer, but preparations are so large, lengthy and expensive that, the authorities agreed, the decision had to be made now. – The Guardian

How Can A Director Shoot A Thriller While Maintaining Social Distancing? Put The Lead Actor Inside A Video Game

“Timur Bekmambetov, best known outside Russia for making the Angelina Jolie thriller Wanted, was midway through filming his second world war fighter-ace film V2: Escape from Hell when the coronavirus pandemic broke. So [he] sanitised his shooting schedule and, last week, pulled off what he believes was a cinematic first: a feature-film scene shot entirely inside a live video game.” – The Guardian

Ask

I’ve also been watching with great interest the number of arts organizations making content available online, providing virtual experiences to help us get through this. At the same time, I wonder if a myopia inherent in our industry might get in the way of doing even greater good. – Doug Borwick

Chloe Aaron, Who Molded PBS Into A National Network, Dead At 81

She helped create the series Live From Lincoln Center, Dance in America, and Live From the Metropolitan Opera. And in 4½ years as PBS’s senior vice president for programming in the late 1970s (she was then the highest-ranking woman in American television), she convinced the various local member stations to carry the same prime-time programming for four evenings a week — giving PBS a national identity as a network for the first time. – The New York Times