“Hyperallergic reached out to several art schools in California to see how they are planning to address the need for social distancing while maintaining the integrity of their arts curriculums.” The consensus: there’s no telling yet what the rules will be in September, so administrators and faculty are working out multiple scenarios. – Hyperallergic
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London’s Southbank Centre Says It Must Close Until April 2021 Unless It Gets More State Money
“The UK’s largest arts and cultural organisation, the Southbank Centre, has warned that it will have used up its financial reserves by September, forcing its closure until April 2021 unless it gets further government support. The centre, which puts on more than 3,500 events every year” and contains three concert halls, an art gallery, and a library “and is home to eight orchestras, revealed details of the crippling financial pressures it is facing as a result of the coronavirus crisis.” – The Guardian
Salzburg Festival 2020 Will Go Ahead — In Reduced Form
“Bucking the trend of the vast majority of international festivals and opera companies that have been forced to shutter due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Salzburg Festival announced today that it plans to present a modified festival this summer, with fewer performances in shortened formats taking place from August 1 through 30.” No details of the programming were revealed. – Opera News
Frantisek Uhliř’s Welcome New Album
Some time ago, I wrote on Rifftides, “The Czech Frantisek Uhliř is one of the greatest bassists in the world.” Leading his septet on his new release, Story of my life, he is as powerful as when I first heard him in Prague in 1993. – Doug Ramsey
What It’s Like To Go To An Indoor Movie Theatre Right Now
First of all, yikes. However, many of us miss the moviegoing experience, and so a few movie theatres in Texas are trying to “create an early blueprint for all the other theatres that are still trying to figure out how to reopen safely.” – Vice
Netflix Has A New, Shockingly Smart Automatic Cancellation Plan
It’s only shocking because it’s against everything about automatic payments and online sign-ups. “The general imperative of any subscription service is to wring a monthly payment out of you from now until the apocalypse. That’s the whole game. It’s why there are entire services and advice columns devoted to helping you cancel. The business model gets an assist from human nature.” – Wired
Live Performance For 2020 Is Over And Gone
No, theatre and dance and opera and concerts won’t be returning in the autumn. “‘I am 100 percent confident that it is not happening,’ said Nancy Umanoff, Mark Morris’s executive director. For many dance companies, that means giving up on lucrative holiday season performances of The Nutcracker, a crucial best seller that, for example, brings in 45 percent of New York City Ballet’s annual ticket sales.” Here’s what may happen for dance, and all of the other performing arts as well. – The New York Times
The Case For Letting The Restaurant Industry Die
Does this have implications for other systems that aren’t working well for the people who actually do the work? Perhaps. At the least, the industry “offers a very important lens to examine the choices that we make.” – The New Yorker
Clayton With a Period, Full Stop
Clayton Patterson’s importance in general, but especially on the Lower East Side of New York City, comes from his commitment to social and political values for the good of his community. He has put his life on the line to document and preserve it in a way that few are brave enough to do. – Jan Herman
Is It Time To Change The Academy Awards To Recognize Streaming-Only Films?
Not just for this year, when the change makes sense due to the coronavirus, but forever? Well, says one critic, “I believe there’s something sacred in the moviegoing experience that I can’t re-create at home. And relaxing Oscar rules risks chipping away at the institution you and I hold dear: going to see movies in the dark, on the big screen, among crowds, where they hold our undivided attention — as opposed to competing with incoming emails, phone calls and other distractions. But the truth is … the Academy risks irrelevance when it stands in the way.” – Variety