“To continue offering dance despite the pandemic,” Melissa Turnage, a dance artist in residence at several hospitals in Birmingham, Alabama, “[has] made DVDs for each of the units she works with, and has left a ‘dance mobility toolkit’ — a box of scarves, ribbon sticks, balls, streamers and other props — so that hospital staff can lead classes.” – Dance Magazine
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London’s West End Theatres Will Remain Closed At Least Through Late June
“Cancellations [due to the pandemic] have now been extended from 31 May to 28 June. ‘This does not mean theatres will reopen on 29 June,’ [the Society of London Theatres] stressed in its statement. ‘If further cancellations are necessary they will continue to be announced on a rolling basis.'” – The Guardian
Violinist Offers Free Lessons Online Culminating In A Big Virtual Concert. 800 Take Her Up On It
Nicola Benedetti already offered online music classes through her own Benedetti Foundation. But the lockdown made her wonder whether they could reach an even wider audience on social media platforms. Although the sessions are free, donations are welcome. Nearly 800 people have signed up so far to teach or play, including fellow musicians The Ayoub Sisters. – BBC
Lessons From A Crisis: We Make New Institutions
The art world we return to—if there is one to return to at all—will be formed in this moment. This is the time to build our own institutions. Our shelter-in-place orders and the masses of workers, including art workers, who were fired when the economy came to an abrupt stop constitute a general strike, leaving us only to declare it. For the art world this could be a massive moment of reorientation. – Artnet
To Survive, The Arts Are Going To Have To Reframe Their Value
“We have the power to decide to value art and culture in ways that support the kind of lives we want to be living. But to do that, we need more skin in the game—a greater shared commitment among a wider pool of stakeholders to recognize, articulate, and collectively wield the power art and culture already has, and to ensure it’s doing the civic, political, and social work we value the most. ” – Artnet
Museums Are Rich. But Cash-Poor. So Now The Inevitable Debate…
For those governing and supporting museums, the old standards about the use and disposal of collections and endowments are rapidly risking obsolescence. Museums are, of course, property-rich in a manner unlike any individual, or a company with a profit motive. Works of art and endowment funds (typically cash and investments held to generate income, not to be spent) are both, in the eyes of the law, the property of museums, but there are critical distinctions. Art collections generally do not appear on balance sheets but endowments do. The basic organisational question of which property is an asset that can be legally used to cover liabilities is unique to cultural institutions. Museums on either side of the Atlantic come at this challenge from slightly different starting points. – Apollo
The Intellectual Contradictions In Thinking Post-Pandemic
What makes it hard to maintain our intellectual integrity in such times is that crises can expose some political truths, though we have to struggle to see straight and recognize the limits of what they expose. – The New Yorker
OMG! How I Got Obsessed With Oil Painting
“By the time the eight-week course was over, I was the wretch I am now: an unhinged woman vehemently obsessed with oil painting who wrestles with it like a feral person for hours every day. I had earth-moving revelations as I graduated from using makeup brushes to real sable, and switched from canvas to linen panels. My formerly adorable kitchen now looks as though Francis Bacon had assaulted a pope in it. I know things about linseed oil its own mother doesn’t know.” – New York Review of Books
Disney Company’s Massive Size Was Always A Strength — Until The Pandemic Hit
“After a decade of spectacular growth, the entertainment conglomerate has been devastated by the coronavirus pandemic. Its 14 theme parks (annual attendance: 157 million) delivered record profits in 2019. They’re now padlocked. Its movie studios (there are eight) controlled a staggering 40 percent of the domestic box office last year. Now, they’re sitting at a near standstill.” – The New York Times
Washington Attorney General Is Investigating Brown Paper Tickets
Until recently, BPT had enjoyed a good reputation, sometimes called the David to Ticketmaster’s Goliath. One unpaid client, the Taste of Philadelphia Food Tour, had been doing business with the company for 10 years, but is now waiting on $2,782 in bounced checks from events as far back as December 2019 (the checks weren’t deposited until March 16), plus $207 for March events canceled by coronavirus lockdowns. – Seattle Times
