He wrote on Facebook that when his shows across Europe were cancelled on 7 May, it was in the belief that fans would receive a refund. While this was the case in the other countries the singer had been scheduled to visit, a decree passed by the Italian government offered only vouchers for scrapped music events. – The Guardian
Blog
After A Century Of History, Audio Drama Is Thriving Again
“Just as the coronavirus crisis has stimulated a surge of digital theatre on our screens, it has also sparked a wave of theatre via our headphones, the latest, unexpected development in an audio drama landscape already undergoing seismic shifts.” – The Stage
Live Video Theatre: What It Is, What It Is Not
Peter J. Kuo of ACT: “With the ability to gather in person on freeze, many of us in the theatre industry collectively held our breaths, waiting to exhale. Now, we find ourselves gasping for air. … I believe, with the community’s support, live video theatre can pump the oxygen into our respiratory systems. Not simply sustaining us through this pandemic, but growing our field into the future. The investment in this art form requires a mental shift among creators on how we define theatre, but the product and process will be strangely familiar and satisfying for artists and audiences of both theatre and film.” – HowlRound
Here’s Who Will Be Hurt If Philadelphia Eliminates All City Arts Funding
“The vast majority of the 349 recipient groups from the 2020 fiscal year are small, their audiences mostly neighborhood audiences who often see themselves reflected on the stages or in the galleries. More than a quarter have annual budgets under $50,000, and more than 60% are under $400,000, according to city records. … Here, eight recipient groups describe the impact of the [funding] on their organizations and their communities.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
‘The Simpsons’ Wins Peabody Awards’ Top Honor
The long-running cartoon series was given the Peabodys’ Institutional Award along with (less of a surprise here) the PBS documentary series Frontline, while actor Cicely Tyson, 95, receives the Peabody Career Achievement Award. Among this years’ honorees were entertainment series Succession, Fleabag, Ramy, Stranger Things, and Chernobyl; documentaries Apollo 11, Hale County This Morning This Evening, Surviving R. Kelly, and four programs from PBS’s POV; the children’s animated series Molly of Denali; and the WNYC podcast Dolly Parton’s America. – Variety
Poetry Foundation Leadership Resigns Following Demands And Criticism
Just a few days after a letter, written by 30 prominent poets and now co-signed by roughly 2,100 people, called for the resignation of the $250 million foundation’s president and board chair and a detailed plan for the organization to hire from and support the work of marginalized groups and to “eradicate institutional racism,” president Henry Bienen and board chair Willard Bunn have stepped down. – Chicago Magazine
Banksy’s Bataclan Mural, Stolen From Paris, Found In Italian Farmhouse
The memorial to the victims of the 2015 terrorist attack at the Paris rock club was painted at the venue in 2018 and was stolen by thieves using angle grinders the following year. French and Italian law enforcement recovered the mural during a raid in Italy’s Abruzzo region. – ARTnews
Vienna Philharmonic Back In Concert Hall For First Time Since Pandemic
“[The orchestra’s] 2,854-seat Musikverein, considered by many the world’s most beautiful concert hall, was filled with only 100 people Friday for the first of three days of programs with Daniel Barenboim.” The AP’s Ronald Blum reports on the safety measures the Philharmoniker are taking and how they expect performances and audience sizes to ramp up over the next few months. – Yahoo! (AP)
Are Young Dancers Specializing Too Soon?
In sports medicine, a growing body of research suggests that specializing in one form of training increases the risk of injury and burnout in young athletes. Not all sports medicine research is analogous to dance, but some dance-medicine practitioners, and dancers, say it might be best for students to mix it up. – Dance Magazine
#100DaysofPractice: Musicians Put Their Practicing Online
The accounts are a way for musicians to hold themselves accountable for consistent, productive practice and to receive feedback from other musicians. They are also an archival tool, a way to track progress over time. Practicing, long an activity completed in solitude, with only a metronome and tuner as company, has now become its own sort of performance. Playing to a virtual audience has become one of the few remaining incentives for musicians who are otherwise holed up at home, away from their schools, orchestras, and teachers. – The New Yorker