At a moment when museums around the country are shattered, shuttered and bracing for hard times, what could be more shockingly tone-deaf than Holland Cotter’s 3,000-word “manifesto”? – Lee Rosenbaum
Author: Matthew Westphal
Guess who I talked to today?
I am ecstatic to report that I just got off the phone with Mrs. T. It was, of course, a one-way conversation, since she’s intubated, but her nurse informed me that she is now fully conscious, nodding her head vigorously and moving her mouth in response to questions. – Terry Teachout
How Theater In America Handled It Last Time There Was A Pandemic
To find out, you have to go back 102 years to the 1918 influenza epidemic. “Even when people knew in advance the closures were imminent and that deaths were surging, they didn’t relinquish theatregoing easily.” – American Theatre
Museums And Art Handlers Are Giving Their Masks And Gloves To Hospitals
“Art spaces … are doing their part to meet the needs of medical professionals, packing up crates of gloves typically used to protect artworks from oil and dust on the hands of those touching artworks and sending off coveted N95 respirators that protect front-line health care workers from the virus.” – ARTnews
Librarians: If We Can’t Lend Books During Lockdown, Let’s Make Our Buildings And Bookmobiles Wi-Fi Hotspots
“The [American Library Association] urged the FCC to waive E-rate restrictions so libraries could not only offer [free] Wi-Fi access via local libraries, but could also provide broadband service to disconnected communities via bookmobiles and mobile hotspots without running afoul of FCC rules.” – Vice
Albert Uderzo, Co-Creator Of Astérix The Gaul, Dead At 92
“Born colorblind and with six fingers on each hand, [he] became one of the world’s most acclaimed cartoonists, known for drawing characters that ranged from the sword-wielding Astérix — with his winged helmet, bulbous nose and horseshoe mustache — to the roly-poly Obélix, a stonemason who joins Astérix in defending their village from Roman legionaries.” – The Washington Post
What Will America’s Arts Economy Be Like After COVID? How Can Artists Survive? (It’s Not A Pretty Picture)
Zach Finkelstein does not sugar-coat the situation: “The tragic irony of this crisis is that, in the post-COVID era, the person most likely to have a performance career will be the one that can last the longest without performing. … The most effective route to survival in the post-COVID word will require artists to build another set of marketable skills, with training to start immediately.” – The Middle-Class Artist
Yvonne Rainer Creates An At-Home Dance For Coronavirus Quarantine
Brian Seibert: “She calls it Passing and Jostling While Being Confined to a Small Apartment. It’s a dance history exercise [for Seibert’s class at Yale], but it occurred to me that it might double as a diversion for people now cooped up at home; it’s something that anyone can attempt, carefully. Ms. Rainer agreed. So here I can present her first dance for the socially isolated.” – The New York Times
Six Indie Filmmakers, Their New Movies Shelved, Talk About Cinema’s COVID Apocalypse
“Their sentiments run the gamut from hope to doom (‘I’ve been wondering when the next mass extinction event would come. This is it.’) and collectively form an uncertain picture of the future of film.” – Vulture
There Will Be No Spoleto Festival USA This Year
“After spending about $4.5 million that can’t be recovered, [the] Festival now must cope with a projected $756,000 deficit for 2020. (It did manage to avoid spending another $4.5 million that had been budgeted.)” No job cuts or furloughs are planned, and much of this year’s programming will be moved to 2021. – The Post and Courier (Charleston)