“The future will be very different, and I am convinced that it will no longer be possible for a theater to be passive, waiting for the public, even with a great program. So in the future I see two aspects that are not contradictory but actually complementary.” – The New York Times
Blog
Alvin Ailey’s Robert Battle On How Dance Will Have Changed After The Pandemic
“I can’t imagine that once we’re back doing live performance that some of the things we’ve learned about filming dance and embracing that as a thing unto itself rather than only a response to not being able to be in the theater, but to go into the art of filming dance – and I think that’s what’s wonderful about what we did with ‘Revelations’.” – NPR
The Organist Who Bought A Nova Scotia Church So He Could Practice
“In my childhood, it was quite difficult to go practice in some churches in Europe because we always have to [get] dressed up to go to the church, ask for the key from the priest or the minister, or we have to argue with some old Catholic nuns who were responsible for the church. They always said, ‘Oh you play the organ so loud, we can’t live here’. So now I’m alone and I can play as loud as I like…. Sometimes I play in pyjamas, of course.” – CBC
Painter Buys $65,000 Worth Of Work Of Struggling Artists
Guy Stanley Philoche, 43, has dedicated himself to seeking out artists from around the world who are unable to make ends meet and has so far purchased more than 150 artworks for up to $500 each. His own pieces sell for up to $120,000, according to Cavalier Galleries. – CNN
San Francisco Pays Artists To Promote Community Health
“A partnership between the San Francisco mayor’s office, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Office of Economic and Workforce Development, and the San Francisco Parks Alliance, the program launched last month. It employs 30 performing artists to encourage mask wearing and other best practices and 30 visual artists to paint murals about public health on boarded-up storefronts.” – San Francisco Chronicle
Universal Music Buys Entire Bob Dylan Catalog In Blockbuster Deal
The price was not disclosed, but is estimated at more than $300 million. – The New York Times
Artist Sues The City of Los Angeles For Throwing His Work Away
David Lew, aka Shark Toof, created a piece for the Chinese American Museum in 2018. “Eighty-eight empty canvas sacks were adorned with hand-applied gold leaf paint and suspended on burlap twine with wooden clothespins. It was meant to evoke the history of Chinese immigrants in the laundry business.” Maintenance workers took them down and threw them away. – Los Angeles Times
A Dutch Investigation Finds That Its Art Restitution Panel Sides Too Often With Museums
Not only does the panel side with the already powerful institutions too much, the investigators found, but there’s little empathy for the victims of Nazis. “The findings were provocative enough that two of the panel’s seven members, including its chairman, immediately resigned.” – The New York Times
Stop Trying To Understand Contemporary Poetry
Critic Ron Charles says the key is simply to read it – perhaps out loud – and enjoy. “Gradually poets I’d once considered impenetrable filled me with awe instead of bafflement. Rather than trying to manufacture some strait-laced summary, I followed their twisting ironies and witty observations.” – Washington Post
The Not-So-Hidden Literary Heritage Of Harriet The Spy
An ode to Dorothy Sayers’ Harriet Vane? You bet. But also, “Harriet is a writer devoted to routine. She loves her tomato sandwiches, her egg creams, and her spy route and notebook both because they give her a lot of pleasure and because they ground her. Like a working artist, she doesn’t want to think about the mundane details. That’s what a parent—and later, a partner—is for: somebody who can deal with practical things so an artist doesn’t have to. When Harriet’s routines are disrupted, all hell breaks loose. A thousand more writers would call that realistic.” – LitHub