Author: Matthew Westphal

Six-Year-Old Thrown Off Tate Modern Balcony Last Summer Can Sit Up And Speak

“The French tourist, who was visiting London with his parents, was pushed from the gallery’s 10th floor viewing platform by a teenager with a history of mental health problems. … The boy has now gained the ability to sit up on his own, and he is able to feed himself soft foods with his right hand. He is still working on the coordination of his left side but is making small advances.” – Artnet

The Choreography Of Social Distancing

“In this time of confinement, we have been given one immeasurable gift — the freedom to go outside. In exchange, we must abide by a simple rule: Stay six feet away from others. As choreographic intentions go, that’s not remotely vague. Yet during my runs and walks in Brooklyn over the past few days, I’ve noticed that six feet doesn’t mean the same thing to everybody.” Gia Kourlas looks at how (and why) social distancing plays out as it does — and gives instructions to the more oblivious among us. – The New York Times

Attendance At Public Events May Not Recover Post-Pandemic: Study

“In a survey of 1,000 consumers in the U.S., 44% of respondents said they would attend fewer large public events, even once they are cleared by the CDC, with 38% saying they’d attend about the same number … And 47% agreed that the idea of going to a major public event ‘will scare me for a long time.'” (They’re most leery of theme parks and indoor concert and sports venues.) – Variety

Playwrights Talk About How Their Dystopian Scripts Look Now That We’re Amidst A Plague

Alexis Soloski: “You could fill a shelf with plays of the past several decades that have dreamed bleak outcomes for humanity. And then, in a pinch, you could burn that shelf and those plays for warmth. Recently, I spoke with several playwrights — via telephone and email — about what it is like to first imagine a cataclysm and then live through one.” (And then there’s this playwright, who picked the wrong time to premiere her play about the Spanish flu.) – The New York Times

Philadelphia Orchestra Gets Pay Cuts But No Job Losses

“Players voted last week to approve an across-the-board 20% reduction in compensation starting April 1 and lasting through the middle of September. ​Pay cuts have also been instituted for orchestra staff on a sliding scale up to 20% depending on salary level, and music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin will give up at least 20% of his paycheck.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer

A Week After Getting A $25 Million Grant, Kennedy Center Lays Off 250 Staffers

The five-week furloughs, announced days after all National Symphony musicians were laid off with a week’s notice, cover administrative employees in education, marketing, and development as well as the NSO and Washington National Opera. Said CEO Deborah Rutter, “My hope is that we won’t have to do too many more.” – The Washington Post

Kennedy Center Defends Its $25 Million Bailout Amid Major Layoffs

Facing serious criticism for the furloughs — one congressman introduced a bill to rescind the $25 million, saying “if an organization is receiving assistance from the federal government, we expect them to take care of their workers” — management offered a breakdown of how the grant would be spent and said that, even with the extra money, the Center could run out of cash by July. – The New York Times

Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Canceled For First Time Ever

In addition to calling off all events in the June 24-August 30 festival, Jacob’s Pillow administration is making staffing and salary cuts. However, said director Pamela Tatge, “[if] people are able to congregate again in August, we will make every effort to try to bring audiences together in keeping with the public safety guidelines in effect at that time.” – The Berkshire Eagle