ICA Watershed in East Boston is closed, of course – but then the staff of the ICA learned that East Boston had one of the area’s highest rates of Covid-19 infection and that the people of the area were in some serious need. They organized their regular caterers and a lot of donors to use Watershed as a launching site for boxes of produce and dairy. “‘We know this is just a drop in the bucket of need,’ said ICA director Jill Medvedow. … ‘It is wonderful to use the Watershed as a distribution place for food and to understand the many ways the arts can be in service to our community.'” – Boston Globe
Blog
Why We Have The Makeover Urge From Quarantine
No one has actually studied mass makeovers during a prolonged global pandemic—we’re in uncharted territory here—but people like Christopher Oldstone-Moore think there’s much to glean from personal expressions of the past. – Wired
New Data On Impact Of The Pandemic On Artists
About 11,000 of the Artist Relief applicants completed a survey co-sponsored by the nonprofit advocacy group Americans for the Arts. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said they are now unemployed (a number that rose to 67% for California respondents), and 80% do not yet have a plan for how to recover from the crisis. On average, these artists estimated that their annual income will decline by more than $27,000. – Los Angeles Times
Movie Studios Rethink Their Business Models
While stuck indoors under lockdown, consumer have grown even more accustomed to streaming movies from the comfort of their home. Executives suggest those habits could make moviegoers more unwilling to buy tickets to midlevel films in the future. – Variety
Rehearsals Over Zoom? Really? On The Other Hand…
“I’m not going to say this new online platform replaces theatre, I just think that temporarily it is a really interesting form of storytelling.” – American Theatre
LA’s Most Devoted Museum-Goer Finally Takes A Break
For eight years the retired architect, who immigrated to Los Angeles from the Philippines in 1969, had been visiting a different art museum, gallery or public art installation every day of the week, rarely, if ever, deviating from his routine. – Los Angeles Times
This Year’s Emmys To Be Streamed
“We’re giving it a try to be creative. Yes, it would have been easier just to post a press release, but the board, especially for our chapter, decided to see if we could come up with something. We’re going to give it a shot and see how people like it.” – Variety
How Dancing African Pallbearers Became A Worldwide Meme (And Why They’re Partying Like It’s 1349)
No, it’s not a traditional practice, but there are pallbearers in Ghana who (at the bereaved’s request) will execute some slick moves while toting the coffin on their shoulders. The social mediaverse, as it’s wont to do, has turned images of these dancers into a meme — first to make fun of epic fails, now to express coronavirus dread and warn people to stay home and wear masks when out. Writer Dan Schindel makes the case that the choreographed casket carriers are just a 21st-century variant of a meme that goes back to medieval Europe. – Hyperallergic
4’33” In Midtown Manhattan: Exploring How Coronavirus Has Changed The Sound Of The City
Karissa Krenz: “Perhaps the coronavirus is forcing us to have an extended performance of John Cage’s … groundbreaking 1952 work that epitomized his every-sound-can-be-music philosophy. … I’ve been taking some of this time to listen anew, experiencing the sonic composition of a paused city. … Hearing it now, slowed to a relative calm, it speaks volumes about what comprises the whole.” – WQXR (New York City)
How Locked-Away Artists Are Expressing Themselves
Practical concerns aside, it can be difficult to keep creating during a pandemic that has already killed more than 180,000 people worldwide. Even so, people who need to express themselves through their art are finding new ways. – The New York Times