For his recent collection Common Practice, pianist and composer Ethan Iverson has put together a quartet with bassist Ben Street, drummer Eric McPherson, and trupmeter Tom Harrell at a peak of imagination and inventiveness remarkable even by his high standards. – Doug Ramsey
Blog
The Arts Helped Build The Berkshires’ New Economy. Now It’s Gone
For a region whose economy was rebuilt on the most hopeful of things — a social economy, based on the gathering of people — the level of cruelty feels almost farcical. Mass MoCA sees around 300,000 annual visitors, which it says generates about $52 million every year to the local economy. – Boston Globe
After Two Weeks, Photographer Peter Beard Still Missing
The 82-year-old, suffering from dementia, was last seen on March 31, walking the grounds of his cliffside oceanfront property near the eastern tip of Long Island. – The New York Times
How To Reopen Museums – Quickly And Safely
Andras Szanto: “Museums could offer people who have experienced weeks of isolation a safe place to go, or a reprieve from cramped quarters. Their opening would signal the beginnings of a return to normalcy. What’s more, once the public is back, museums can serve as hubs of education, information-sharing, and collective reflection as we work together to surmount this crisis.” – Artnet
Here’s To The Workers Disinfecting The World’s Great Historic Sites
“While non-essential workers are still housebound, pictures from around the world show surreal scenes of Tyvek suit-wearing workers spraying down eerily empty spaces like Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo,” the Great Pyramids of Giza, the Leaning Tower of Pisa and the Great Mosque of Mecca. – Artnet
How Small Non-Profit Arts Organizations Are Slipping Through Cracks
“In this country we don’t have national infrastructure that supports individual artists the way that would be effective in a crisis.” said Laura Zabel. “That said, every disaster is local,” noted Cerf+ Executive Director Cornelia Carey. – Hyperallergic
Teaching Choreography Lessons Over Zoom (It Can Be Done)
Marina Harss writes about Jessica Lang teaching principles of dance composition to participants — all socially isolating at home — in David Hallberg’s ABT Incubator program. – Dance Magazine
How Fear Has Shaped (And Built) New York
Justin Davidson: “New York has been a scary place for most of the past 400 years. Fire, flood, attack, crime, rebellion, drugs, and disease have shaped it. I find that an oddly reassuring thought, because all through its litany of misfortunes and bouts of exodus, the city’s magnetic force field has strengthened. Fear and pain are crucial human responses — without them, we die. At every desperate juncture, New York has grown and transformed as it healed.” – New York Magazine
Rio Lights Up Christ The Redeemer Statue To Honor Healthcare Workers Treating Coronavirus
“The striking scene included messages of thanks in many languages, along with images of nurses and doctors smiling in protective gear. The word ‘hope’ was also projected onto the statue, along with the Portuguese phrase Fique Em Casa or ‘Stay at Home’.” – NPR
Disney-On-Broadway Coronavirus Benefit On Again After Musicians’ Union Relents
A benefit concert from last November, in which 79 stage performers did songs from Disney musicals, was going to be streamed online to benefit the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund — until, less than a day ahead of time, the international president of the American Federation of Musicians demanded that the pit band be paid extra for streaming rights. (Equity and SAG-AFTRA had waived such payments.) On Sunday, the musicians involved, backed by the union’s New York local, said publicly that they didn’t want the additional money; in less than 24 hours, the AFM president changed his position. – The New York Times