And the museum’s new director will have to decide what to return to the former colonies, as well as giving the museum a new direction. (One might wonder why these tasks are given to “the first director of indigenous descent to lead a major French museum,” if one were thinking about structural racism.) – The New York Times
Blog
Composer Shaina Taub Pulled Off Her Stoop And Arrested By NYPD
Taub, a composer who has written music for the Public’s Twelfth Night and As You Like It, was cheering on a peaceful protest on her street, from her own stoop, when she and her husband were arrested. – Vulture
BookExpo Online Was Surprisingly Good
No huge crush at the Javits Center and no real timeline for rescheduling a live event meant one of publishing’s biggest events had to move, at least partially, online – in this case, to Facebook Live. “The result was a shadow of the usual spectacle, but it reached a lot of people and offered lessons for the industry as future prospects for mass gatherings remain clouded.” – The New York Times
Be Gay, Do Film Reviews, And See What Changes Over Three Decades
What’s happened in the movie industry during the time David Rooney has been reviewing for THR? A little, and a lot. “The sheer multiplicity of themes and styles, of representations across the queer identity spectrum in the past 20 years, is staggering to a critic who still remembers the long drought of near-invisibility, when even a brief appearance by a gay neighbor in a lame comedy would make me sit up with a misplaced sense of gratitude. Things are far from perfect; gay-panic humor still gets a pass way too often, especially in studio bro-coms.” – The Hollywood Reporter
Second City Owner Andrew Alexander Resigns After Twitter Accounts Of Racism
The theatre group tweeted out something that said Black Lives Matter. Then former SCT employee and actor Dwayne Perkins weighed in, sparking a series of tweets from Black actors and other actors of color about many Chicago theatres. In Alexander’s resignation letter, he said, “On stage, we dealt with the absurdity of the equal opportunity narrative that society uses to oppress BIPOC. We dealt with the double standard that rationalizes violence against people of color. We dealt with the cynicism of the liberal pact with capitalism. Offstage, it’s been a different story.” – Chicago Tribune
The Musicians’ Union In Britain Calls For A Relaxation Of Coronavirus-Related Rules
For musicians, that is. Two meters (roughly the USian-advised 6 feet) of distance is just too far to be practical for performing musicians, according to Musicians’ Union leader Horace Trubridge. “Many musicians had been earning £20,000 a year or less even before coronavirus, and some were missing out on furlough payments and loans, he said, adding: ‘I can’t see anything really significant happening this year to help them out of this hole.'”- BBC
California Film Production May Restart This Week
Different counties may recommend different start dates, with Los Angeles County being one of the hardest-hit by the virus, but June 12 is the first day filming may resume in the state, with strict guidelines in place, including a Covid-19 compliance officer on each shoot. “Shooting costs could increase by 10% to 20% per day, JP Morgan media analyst Alexia Quadrani wrote in a Thursday note to clients” – and shoots on soundstages will return sooner than those on location. – Los Angeles Times
Where Have All The Grand Projects Gone?
In the 20th century, thousands of people worked together on large projects with a vision of a better future. What’s our vision now? “In the hands of technology entrepreneurs, driven by the imperatives of shareholder value and richer even than the robber barons of a century ago, the future has been displaced into the soma of fantasy, colonised by people who want you to pay a subscription for an app that helps you sleep, a delivery service that allows you to stay indoors when it’s wet out, or a phone that switches on the heated seats in your car before you leave home. This is a future of sorts, but it’s a business school version.” – Aeon
Sending Support To Dancers Speaking Out Against A System That Takes Brutal Advantage Of Them
Eva Yaa Asantewaa, senior director at the Gibney Dance Company, and expert writer about dance, says, “We’ve gone too long doing a lot for very little, and now we’re all completely screwed. I’m in New York where the issue is not so much can a queer arts worker catch a break? It’s can a queer arts worker pay the rent? Can anybody? How can we make this life, in which we give so much of our hearts, truly sustainable? Artists are workers.” – Hyperallergic
Mark Gatiss Says Regional Theatre Is The Lifeblood Of The Industry In The UK
The actor – known to American audiences as a Sherlock and Doctor Who writer, and Mycroft Holmes on Sherlock – says, “There’s always a debate about how London-centric theatre is,” but adds that regional theatres have been “part of the ecosystem forever.” They’re in deep peril now, thanks to the Covid-19 shutdown and uncertainty about the future. – BBC