Wall, longtime professor at Rutgers, changed the world of literature. She “championed racial diversity both in the curriculum and the classroom. She encouraged more black students to major in English and pursue postgraduate degrees. And she widened the scope of literary scholarship to include black novelists, poets and nonfiction authors as well as essayists, whom she considered central to the black literary tradition.” – The New York Times
Author: ArtsJournal2
The Stars Of Center Stage Remember What It Was Like Making The Dance Movie
Julie Kent, who played Kathleen: “I do remember talking to Nicholas [Hytner, the film’s director] at the audition about why he wanted to do this movie. . … He said he loved the art form, and the film company had done all this research, and they really felt that this movie was going to speak to an audience of teenage girls and their moms—this was going to be very impactful for a whole generation. Clearly, that was true!” – Dance Spirit
A Traveling Theatre Troupe In Japan, Ground To A Halt By Nothing Ever
Though the troupe has cut back on performances, it’s still going (Japan has encouraged people to stay home, but hasn’t shut down places like theatres – at the time of writing this post): “Gekidan Miyama has been entertaining audiences for over a century, persisting, as Nakamura says, through earthquakes and typhoons, but also managing to come back after a world war.” Can it, will it, survive Covid-19? – Japan Times
A New Apple Family Play, Live, Via Zoom
Richard Nelson introduced the Apples in 2010, and then wrote a whole cycle around them in the early 2000s. He moved on to other families for a while. But “for many who met them at the Public or on tour or on public television, the Apples have come to feel like kin. And in the midst of a pandemic, we could be forgiven for wondering how they were doing. Thoughtfully, Nelson and the Public Theater have arranged a video conference.” – The New York Times
Why Not Learn Some Dance Moves From The Teen You’re Quarantined With?
That’s right: Families that quarantine together are starting to dance together (and record the dancing as well). – CBC
Baltimore Artists Reflect On Freddie Gray’s Death And The Tumultuous Times That Followed
In the protests that followed the death of Freddie Gray, who was in police custody, some artists (of all types) found inspiration and a platform for a country suddenly interested in Baltimore again. Here’s what they’re thinking and the kind of art they’re creating, five years later. – The Baltimore Sun
MGM Has Laid Off 7 Percent Of Its Remaining Workforce
In another Hollywood blow, the studio laid off about 50 of its remaining staff – and made those cuts permanent. “We are reconfiguring certain divisions of the studio to allow MGM to operate more effectively in a changing media landscape, both during this pandemic, and beyond.” (The “and beyond” is the ominous part.) – Los Angeles Times
When Libraries Open Up, They May Quaratine Books Between Checkouts
Logical, right? (Maybe? Who actually knows?) The New York Public Library’s CEO says that “libraries once they reopen may impose a quarantine period on books that lasts as long as scientists determine the coronavirus can survive on the materials.” That is, of course, one of the big questions. – Yahoo Finance
Boston’s Institute Of Contemporary Art Is Using One An Outpost To Feed Local Families
ICA Watershed in East Boston is closed, of course – but then the staff of the ICA learned that East Boston had one of the area’s highest rates of Covid-19 infection and that the people of the area were in some serious need. They organized their regular caterers and a lot of donors to use Watershed as a launching site for boxes of produce and dairy. “‘We know this is just a drop in the bucket of need,’ said ICA director Jill Medvedow. … ‘It is wonderful to use the Watershed as a distribution place for food and to understand the many ways the arts can be in service to our community.'” – Boston Globe
What’s Going To Happen Next For The Art World?
Are blockbusters over? Can galleries survive, and, if they do, will they be more important than museums? And can art-world social media come back from the thirsty ferret tweet? – The Guardian (UK)