“For the first time in its 73-year history, the Edinburgh Fringe will not take place as an official live event in 2020. But this has not deterred companies and venues from developing creative online solutions. They speak to David Pollock about adapting to the pandemic, crowdfunding and the appetite for change in the sector.” – The Stage
Blog
Beirut Explosion Wrecks Galleries And Museums
“The damage rocked an already fragile Beirut to its core and wreaked havoc on the city’s renowned art scene. Major art galleries, including Marfa Gallery, located close to Beirut’s Port, and Galerie Tanit were completely destroyed. … The Sursock Museum, once the centre of Beirut’s cultural life in the 1960s and which was reopened in 2015 following a costly restoration, was severely damaged.” – The Art Newspaper
Theatre’s Overlooked Casualties Of The Pandemic: Publicists
Says the co-director of one London theatrical PR firm, “At the end of the day, we are not the people putting on the shows, but we make a crucial contribution. What we do is bespoke, skilled and comes with specialised knowledge often honed over many years. We are the translators between the artists, the journalists and the people on the street.” – The Stage
Journalist Sues Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Golden Globes)
Kjersti Flaa, a Norwegian journalist living in Los Angeles, filed a complaint Monday in California federal court alleging that the HFPA has adopted membership rules that exclude qualified applicants who compete with existing members. The suit alleges that applicants must pledge not to write for any rival publication claimed by an HFPA member and that foreign markets are allocated among the membership. – Los Angeles Times
Princeton’s Existential Crisis
Groups of students have variously described the composition of Princeton’s faculty and its “institutional culture” as “pillars of its oppressive past,” declared that their education failed to prepare them to vanquish racism, and urged a “comprehensive transformation” of curriculum, programming, and faculty. More notable, roughly 350 faculty members and staff signed an open letter, published on July 4, that set forth nearly 50 demands. – The Atlantic
San Francisco Opera Costume Shop Repurposed: Sews 10,000 Masks
Since April, more than 20 members of the opera’s costume crew have been toiling away sewing face coverings which the opera is donating to firefighters, social service agencies and front line medical staff. – NBC San Francisco
New AI Browser Extension Factchecks What You’re Seeing
Beyond just matching up bogus claims with evidence to the contrary, the startup treats the fact-checking process like an assembly line, with an algorithm prioritizing and doling out tasks. As a basic example, one step might involve finding the source of a rumor, while another might involve researching the claim. Logically’s system can handle some of these tasks automatically, but it can also hand out assignments to human fact-checkers based on their area of expertise. – Fast Company
How To Think About Leadership Transitions
“I mentioned that I work in real estate. When a listing is advertised with the line, “First time on market after 40 years of family ownership,” it almost always includes the phrase, “Bring your contractor and architect!” The work of restructuring an outmoded organization is not as physical as renovating a building, but the perils of deferred maintenance are just as dangerous. You can’t allow your house to fall into disrepair. You must keep up with changing codes, modern tastes, new ways of addressing sustainability.” – American Theatre
Understanding The Charismatic Leader
David Bell argues that charismatic leaders were a key product of the age of Revolution, which created the ideal political and cultural conditions for a new kind of civic heroism to emerge. It flourished initially in response to the development of print technologies, and the radical Enlightenment’s belief that governments should be founded not on the divine right of kings, but on the principles of secularism and popular sovereignty. It then proliferated with the overthrow of monarchies and the founding of republics, the escalation of warfare on a titanic scale, as well as the cultivation of romantic sensibilities, which encouraged citizens to embrace powerful emotions about their leaders – feelings of admiration, devotion and even love. – Times Literary Supplement
The Muppeteers Need To Concentrate On Some Other, Any Other, Couple Than Kermit And Miss Piggy
Never mind the enormous catalogue of their incompatibilities and the exhausting ups-and-downs of their relationship. “The Muppeteers’ obsession with Piggy and Kermit has come at the expense of nearly every other character. Sure, Fozzie briefly dated a human. But we know so little about, say, the long-term love of Gonzo and Camilla the chicken, or Janice’s romances with various members of Electric Mayhem, or what is actually the deal with Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker. Share the spotlight a little, you attention hog (and attention frog)!” – Slate