They’re tired of tokenism and ready for actual progress, so they’re joining together to become a stronger force. “Often the only Black people on the boards of major museums, these trustees are pooling their efforts to help institutions identify new talent and insist on diverse perspectives to better reflect the communities they serve.” – The New York Times
Author: ArtsJournal2
So, How’s It Going With The Attempt To Restart Film And TV Production In The U.K.?
Like the virus in the rest of the country, the perhaps too-soon begun production restart is not going well. “As the threat of new COVID-19 restrictions looms large, the industry is rushing to crank out film and TV productions this fall, in what could be the last gasp for production in 2020.” – Variety
What Louise Gluck’s Poetry Tells Us About Beginnings
The new Nobel laureate’s themes remain all too relevant. “Glück examines the human compulsion to retell stories and reimagine scenes; in the face of grief, sadness, and destruction, she asks, how can belief in new beginnings possibly still persist?” – The Atlantic
A Texas Grand Jury Indicts Netflix Over ‘Cuties,’ Showing No Understanding Of The First Amendment
That’s because Texas is, of course, special (in terms of its own laws), but also, perhaps the grand jury didn’t watch the actual film? “The Miller test says that works are protected by the First Amendment if they have what could be characterized as ‘serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value’ when the works were each ‘taken as a whole.'” With Cuties, it would be hard to argue otherwise. – Slate
What ‘Angels In America’ Means During The New Pandemic
The play means something different now than it did a year ago. “The light of Covid-19 turns out to be especially harsh and revealing, turning the play, so concerned with prophecy, into a prophet itself. How, it now seems to ask, can we have squandered in just a few months the decades’ worth of suffering and organizing and scientific advances invested in the struggle against AIDS?” – The New York Times
Portland’s Elk Wasn’t Targeted By BLM Protesters, And Other Public Art Discussions That Matter
Portland’s Barry Johnson has some musings about the Elk, statues of Robert E. Lee, and all of art history. “Art is emancipatory. … It can lead me almost anywhere, even to thoughts about the intent of the artist, the times the artist lived in, the artist’s relationship to those times, the times and art and artists that followed and preceded the art+artist+times I’m focusing on.” – Oregon ArtsWatch
Duncan Grant’s Recently Rediscovered Erotic Art Is ‘A Blast Of Joy’ In Tough Times For The Arts
“What images they are: defiantly subversive and explicit multiracial homoerotica, bursting with passion, flesh, joy, love, freedom and everything else gay people were legally barred from experiencing and expressing at the time. The underlying message of Grant’s paintings is still uplifting in 2020: art will always find a way, whatever the obstacles, hardships and dangers.” – The Guardian (UK)
Europe’s First Drive-In And Bike-In Opera
The cars get, let’s say, preferential treatment at the new La Bohème. “The unintended genius of English National Opera’s modern-day, 90-minute staging of Puccini’s opera is to spread the class politics from stage to audience.” – The Guardian (UK)
The Fight Over The Fight Over Digital Privacy
California tried to legislate digital privacy, but it was a rushed legislative process, and the massive loopholes left during that process haven’t been fixed. But can a ballot initiative, Prop 24, fix them? Some say nope. “Privacy advocates resisting a privacy initiative is less intuitive.” – Wired
A Dutch Museum Lets You See Everything It Owns, If You Have The Time
150,000 exhibits? Art in a pretty warehouse? All of the art owned by a particular museum? Yes. All of it, on display, all of the time: “Sjarel Ex, the Boijmans’ director, is wearing the look of a man who can’t quite believe it’s finally happening. ‘A treasure chest, no?’ he exclaims, gesturing towards a dizzying lattice of glass stairwells above our heads. ‘Every single thing we have will be on display.'” – The Guardian (UK)