Basically, it’s tough to plan for anything. “What does our season look like if we start in January of 202? What if there is no theatre for a full season? … What if the government says theatres, sporting events, cinemas just cannot open until 2022? We need to prepare for the worst-case scenarios.” – CBC
Author: ArtsJournal2
More Thoughts On Museums And Their Endowments
Some directors say they’re not truly created for stressful times. “Calling an endowment a ‘rainy day fund’ is ‘grossly inaccurate,’ said Brent Benjamin, Saint Louis Art Museum director and AAMD president. Endowments are not cash reserves that can so easily be tapped. You shouldn’t spend the principal, and unrestricted earnings are typically committed to annual budgets in advance.” – Los Angeles Times
With Cinemas Closed, Movie Pirating Is Booming, But Why?
One illegal downloader: “Just streaming is not enough, I mean, people want to watch those fresh, hot films that are just not on streaming.” – BBC
The Guggenheim’s Lockdown Tomato Crop Is Feeding New Yorkers
Yes, this is real. The cherry tomatoes get snipped once a week, and a hundred pounds at a time are donated to City Harvest. “They were written about in the Southeast Produce Weekly, which was an extremely rare appearance of the Guggenheim in a publication dedicated to fruits and vegetables.” – The New York Times
California Museums Have To Figure Out What Qualifies As ‘Outdoors’ – And What’s Safe Even Then
The Getty won’t open even though it has quite a few outdoor spaces, because those must be access from indoor spaces. But elsewhere: “The Huntington will institute a timed ticketing system, in which guests will pay for reserved slots in advance, so there won’t be any in-person exchange of money. Visitors will be required to wear face coverings, given hand sanitizer and asked to maintain social distance. The Huntington also is tweaking the flow of foot traffic so pathways don’t become congested.” – Los Angeles Times
How Ballet Dancers Are Staying In Dance Shape At Home
Ballet dancers don’t know when they’ll perform again, or even when they can dance with others again (aside from those in their own homes). One advantage to online classes: Dancers can join them from anywhere. Two Pacific Northwest Ballet dancers “have enjoyed taking classes taught by dancers they know in other companies. ‘It’s cool how we can connect with friends that we wouldn’t be able to see in our normal jobs,’ Ryan said, calling it a ‘silver lining.'” – Seattle Times
The Horrific Ecstasy Of Burning Your Own Writing
Or, more usually, why writers instruct others to do it after their deaths. “The elemental annihilation of destruction by fire is so absolute, and this is where the horror lies for me. If writing is slow, quiet, creative work, burning pages is quick, loud, and flagrantly destructive. Where once there was something, afterward there is nothing. There’s something irresistibly dramatic about the act of applying a naked flame to the corner of a page and watching the paper disappear in a sheath of fire.” – LitHub
What Are Exhibition Catalogues For?
Or maybe … exhibition catalogues are created for whom, exactly? “Most catalogues, however, no matter how good they may be, are fairly formulaic: introduction, essays, works shown, works described — that sort of thing. But some are not.” – Hyperallergic
Fred Willard, The Master Of Comic Cluelessness, Has Died At 86
His collaborations with Christopher Guest and Guest’s mockumentary ensemble were epic. “He played an Air Force colonel in This Is Spinal Tap (1984), then was travel agent/amateur actor Ron Albertson in Waiting for Guffman (1996); dunderheaded announcer Buck Laughlin in Best in Show (2000); Mike LaFontaine, blond-haired manager of the New Main Street Singers, in A Mighty Wind (2003); and smarmy newsmagazine host Chuck Porter (supposedly modeled on Billy Bush) in For Your Consideration (2006).” But that was far from all; his IMDb credit list runs to over 300 appearances, many of them as “self.” – The Hollywood Reporter
How Two Film Productions Have Begun Again
Carefully, with medical staff on set and stringent guidelines, and in one case, by essentially taking over a small town in Australia. “For Foster, who said that the extra precautions added at least 20 percent to the initial $10 million budget of his indie film, the most crucial decision he made was to house his entire cast and crew together, including the guardians for more than 25 child actors. He even quarantined an actor’s dog.” – The New York Times