“Before Martha Stewart and Marie Kondo were giving advice on household design, before Julia Child was teaching the art of French cooking on television, there was Terence Conran. … He took his ideas around the world and once owned an empire of 90 stores with annual revenue of more than $2 billion. Calling himself a ‘hard-working hedonist,’ he opened more than 50 restaurants, wrote more than 40 books, ran a design studio and later an architecture and urban planning firm. All of it was built on the simple idea that good design leads to better living.” – The Washington Post
Author: Matthew Westphal
Time To Stop Apologizing For Online Performances And Start Turning Them Into A New Genre
Peter Dobrin: “We should think of this as a research-and-development phase long overdue. Online performances won’t sink or swim based on how well they replicate live ones. … More important … is the question of whether a new breed of production designers and directors can give viewer-listeners something different from live performance.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
How Do London’s Theatre Workers Feel About Reopening Before The Virus Is Contained?
Relieved. Worried. Excited. Frustrated. In short, ambivalent. “Performers are constantly living on the edge, even without COVID so now there’s even more pressure than ever to get back to work.” – The Guardian
London’s West End Starts Announcing Reopenings, Even As COVID Cases Rise
The theatrical corporation Nimax announced that it would open the doors of six of its West End theatres, restarting such shows as Six (the pop musical about Henry VIII’s wives), The Play That Goes Wrong, and Magic Goes Wrong at roughly half the usual seating capacity. – The New York Times
Boston Symphony Musicians Accept 37% Pay Cut In New Contract
“In ratifying a new contract guaranteeing their jobs through August of 2023, BSO players have agreed to pay cuts averaging 37% … to mitigate a $50 million loss of ticket and rental revenue from the organization’s $100 million annual budget. If and when monies re-materialize, the contract provides for tiered, and possibly retroactive, restoration of the cuts. … Under the plan, no player shall receive less than $120,000, and many will continue to benefit from seniority bumpups and overscale compensation.” – The Boston Musical Intelligencer
Incoming Director Of Chicago Public Radio Withdraws Over ‘Turmoil’ At Her Previous Station
“[Andi] McDaniel, 39, a [Chicago-area] native who spent the last five years as chief content officer at WAMU-FM, Washington’s NPR station, was set to take the helm at WBEZ Sept. 28. … During the interim, her former station was rocked by allegations of sexual harassment by a former reporter, and complaints about the station’s workplace culture.” – MSN (Chicago Tribune)
Dvořák and the American Experience of Race — An Antidote to “Checkbox Diversity”
Dvořák’s “New World” Symphony may not have been the work of a Black composer. But Dvořák embraced the African-American experience to a degree that would be controversial today. – Joseph Horowitz
“Porgy” and Race — continued
On “the Porgy Exchange,” in which an ordinary woman changed, on the spot, the opinion of two prominent Black opera singers that white baritones should be able to take on the lead role in Gershwin’s opera. – Joseph Horowitz
New York’s Ice Dancing Company Takes To The Concrete
“So what happens when there’s no ice and the rinks are closed? During the coronavirus pandemic, the figure skaters of Ice Theater of New York have found their flow by trading ice for concrete and blades for wheels. They’ve taken to the streets — and parks and playgrounds and basketball courts — with inline skates.” Gia Kourlas reports. – The New York Times
The ‘Gentrification Font’ (There’s Really A Typeface For Rich People Taking Over Poor Neighborhoods?)
“‘Gentrification font’ applies to any stylish sans serif that decorates houses and real estate developments, especially in changing areas. Users replying to the viral Twitter thread pegged it as anything from Avenir to Futura to Century Gothic, which look identical to an untrained eye.” But the font most identified with gentrification is Neutraface, most familiar from the restaurant chain Shake Shack. Here’s a deep dive into how this phenomenon developed. – Vice