The Authors Guild said its members had lost on average 43% of their regular income since the start of the crisis. The Freelancers union said over 80% of its members were reporting loss of income and work opportunities because of the crisis, and are depending on government relief in record numbers. – Los Angeles Times
Blog
Disabled Performers On Their Place In The Arts Business
“Social movements like #OscarsSoWhite and #MeToo have started important conversations about an industry with entrenched disparities. With that in mind, we asked entertainers” — actors Ali Stroker, Marlee Matlin, Micah Fowler, and Lauren Potter, and Leroy F. Brown Jr. of Krip-Hop Nation — “how they have navigated their careers, and where their hopes lie for the future of their industry.” – The New York Times
NPR’s Broken Business Model
For decades, the P in NPR stood for “public,” as in publicly supported, noncommercial radio and digital news. Yet with its growing dependence on corporate advertising, NPR has found itself on equally troubled footing as its for-profit competitors, all of them reliant on the same pool of advertising dollars that have dried up during the coronavirus pandemic. – Washington Post
Backstage Workers In Britain Are Being Asked To Pay Theatres Back For What They Got While Furloughed
“The repayment clauses could stipulate that the amount employers have paid towards furlough contributions is subtracted from workers’ wages when shows resume, and if workers do not return to the show they could be required to pay back the furlough contributions in full.” – The Stage
How To Improve The Livability Of Our Cities
If there’s one lesson to be learned from the pandemic, it’s the benefits of flexibility. In a matter of months, we’ve converted parking spaces into cafés, restaurants into food pantries, closets into broadcast centers, parks into hospitals, hotels into homeless shelters, porches into concert stages, and laptops into schools. Surely, in the coming years, we can figure out how to recycle empty storefronts for needs we didn’t know we had. – New York Magazine
Zizi Jeanmaire, Ballerina Who Became Famous Actress And Cabaret Legend, Dead At 96
Trained at the Paris Opera Ballet, she became an international star in the title role of Carmen by her husband, choreographer Roland Petit (for whom she continued to dance for decades, sometimes with the likes of Nureyev and Baryshnikov as partners). She went to Hollywood and starred alongside Bing Crosby in Anything Goes. Back in Paris, where she and Petit were the toast of high society, she became queen of the city’s music hall scene, decked out in resplendent feathers for her signature tune, a lewd little number called “Mon Truc en plumes.” – The Washington Post
Bill Charlap Was Scared That Playing A Live Gig Last Weekend Was Dangerous. Here’s Why He Played It Anyway.
As COVID-19 rages on, the star jazz pianist was more than a little nervous about performing indoors in a small venue, even one as out of the way as the Deer Head Inn in Delaware Water Gap, Pa. He went ahead and did it because his first-ever performance at this unlikely jazz spot, more than 25 years ago, is arguably what made his career. Journalist John Marchese reports on how Charlap’s return went. – The New York Times
Alvin Ailey Company Fires Director Of Ailey II For Sexual Harassment
“Troy Powell, the 51-year-old artistic director of Ailey’s junior touring company and a teacher at The Ailey School in New York City, was dismissed following an investigation commissioned by the school … [which] concluded that Powell had ‘engaged in inappropriate communications with adults enrolled in the School.'” A TikTok video posted on social media last month said “When you wanna be in Ailey 2 … But guys gotta sleep with Troy Powell.” – CNN
Frick Collection Will Open In Former Met Breuer/Whitney Museum Building In 2021
“Dubbed Frick Madison, the space will serve as a temporary home for the historic collection while the grounds of the Henry Clay Frick House on Manhattan’s Upper East Side undergo an extensive renovation and expansion.” As for displaying the art from the grand old mansion in Marcel Breuer’s 20th-century hulk, Frick director Ian Wardropper said, “We’ve learned that you can’t fight Brutalism.” – Artnet
Richard Tucker Music Foundation Ousts Tucker’s Son From Board Over, Um, Intemperate Comments
It all played out over the weekend on Julia Bullock’s Facebook page, where David Tucker began a spat with a couple of hostile comments about the protesters detained by Federal agents in Portland. When tenor Russell Thomas observed that the Tucker Foundation has given its top award to only one Black singer in more than 40 years, David Tucker replied that “pulling the race card is another convenient excuse to modify excellent standards of vocal artistry.” Among the many people calling for Tucker’s removal from the Foundation’s board by Monday were former Tucker Award winners Stephanie Blythe, Lisette Oropesa, and Joyce DiDonato, who said she’d quit the board herself if Tucker remained. – The New York Times