For more than 20 years he sang the lyric baritone repertory at the world’s top opera companies, with Mozart’s Don Giovanni a specialty. But, before the lockdown, he had been canceling appearances frequently, and he continued to do so as opera production restarted in Europe this summer and fall. Now he has revealed that, due to persistent back problems, he has ended his performing career and been named artistic director at the opera house in Wrocław, Poland. – OperaWire
Blog
Renovations Could Close Pompidou Center In Paris For Three Years
“[The museum] could fully close for three years, beginning in 2023, or close partially for seven years, in order for necessary repairs to be made to the iconic 1970s building. … [Except for the external escalators,] no major work [has] been done on the structure since it opened in 1977.” – Artforum
Frick Will Show Its Collection In The Old Whitney Museum
The Frick’s two-year tenure in the Breuer — the 1966 Brutalist building owned by the Whitney Museum of American Art and recently occupied by the Metropolitan Museum of Art — will allow the Frick to continue exhibitions while its 1914 Gilded Age mansion on Fifth Avenue undergoes renovation. – The New York Times
PBS Is About To Turn 50
These resources are especially crucial to families without access to broadband internet, and it has been a huge boon during the Covid quarantines. It’s not too much to say that PBS was “built for the pandemic,” as the documentary filmmaker Ken Burns put it in a phone interview last week. “We had the materials. We had the relationships. We didn’t have to retool.” – The New York Times
Study: Walking Together Builds Community
Many metaphors for conflict and resolution seem to revolve around walking or moving together. But maybe we shouldn’t be so surprised by this – research shows that moving in time together with another person can result in positive social consequences. – The Conversation
A Manifesto To Activate Creative Workers
Americans for the Arts: “The next Administration must boldly activate the nation’s 5.1 million arts and cultural workers to address critical infrastructure, community development, innovation, and public health needs. Creative workers, and the hundreds of thousands of creative businesses they drive, have been devastated by Coronavirus more than almost any other sector —one study pegs the creative worker unemployment rate at 63% and a collective income loss of over $60 billion but stand ready to heal, strengthen, rebuild, and reimagine our communities.” – Americans for the Arts
Germany Announces $19 Million Aid To Commercial Galleries
As a part of its “New Start Culture” program, the country’s culture ministry will provide support to commercial galleries across the country in the form of grants that range between €5,000 ($5,837) and €35,000 ($41,000) for its early 2021 programs. In a statement to the press, culture minister Monika Grütters says her aim is to help “stabilize the art market,” citing its importance both to culture and the economy. – Artnet
A Justification For A New LACMA?
LACMA’s buildings from the 1960s were pedestrian, vertical, confining, the mid-1980s addition looking from Wilshire Boulevard like a giant mausoleum. Zumthor and Govan are clearly attempting to place the art-going experience on a higher, newer plane, one that forsakes the normal strategies. Yes, the risks are great, but so are the possibilities. – Los Angeles Times
Sofiane Sylve Had Just Started Jobs Leading Two Ballet Companies When The Pandemic Hit
“Departing her post as a principal dancer at San Francisco Ballet, she embarked on a multifaceted, bicontinental career as ballet master and principal dancer at Dresden Semperoper Ballett, and artistic advisor and school director at Ballet San Antonio — and then COVID-19 hit, sidelining performances and administrative plans at both companies. But ballet dancers are nothing if not resilient. In her new leadership roles, Sylve is determined to help shepherd ballet through this challenging time — and transform it for the better.” – Pointe Magazine
Trust
Crazy-making. So much so that, of course, it’s hard to concentrate on issues around community engagement. Even so, occasionally something bubbles up that returns me to my CE thinking. One such instance was a New York Times article, “How to Actually Talk to Anti-Maskers.” – Doug Borwick