“Disney has taken an especially hard hit from the pandemic, with its theme parks shuttered, movies postponed and ESPN cable channel without live sports to televise. But the company on Wednesday offered an upbeat update on its newest business — one that may as well have been built for home quarantining.” – The New York Times
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NEA Releases Guidelines For Distributing Its $75 Million In Coronavirus Relief To Arts Organizations
“A wide variety of non-profit organizations can apply for a share of the money, including ‘arts organizations, local arts agencies, statewide assemblies of local arts agencies, arts service organizations, units of state or local government (and) federally recognized tribal communities or tribes.’ But all applicants … must be previous NEA award recipients from the past four years.” – Chicago Tribune
Explosion And Fire: Latest Snafu To Beset Construction Of Berlin’s Humboldt Forum
Two pots of hot tar took flame at an entrance to the old palace that’s being rebuilt to house the ethnographic collections of Berlin’s various museums. The incident sent black smoke through the city, but actual damage was limited to discoloring of the building’s façade. The $700 million project has been bedeviled by schedule and cost overruns as well as controversy over the contents of its collection, which includes a number of the Benin Bronzes. – Artnet
L.A. Phil Cancels Rest Of Regular Season, Cuts Musicians’ And Staffers’ Pay
“Payroll reductions of 35% in the aggregate will include the layoffs of 94 part-time employees and pay cuts of more than 35% for the leadership team, the orchestra said. Orchestra members will receive 65% of their weekly minimum scale beginning April 20.” Music director Gustavo Dudamel will forgo his salary. The Philharmonic will maintain health insurance for all full-time employees. – Los Angeles Times
‘Akin To The Cancellation Of The Olympics’: ABT Calls Off Its New York Spring Season At The Met
“The company estimates that loss of the Met season, along with previously canceled tour performances — in Chicago, Detroit, Durham, N.C., and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates — will cost it $18 million in revenue.” – The New York Times
Broadway Theatres Will Remain Closed At Least Through June 7
“Even though the [Broadway] League has extended the shut down, many Broadway insiders don’t expect performances to resume until July at the earliest, with some predicting that theaters will stay dark into September. The extended closure will likely mean that more shows that were eyeing limited runs will instead opt not to open at all, a fate that has already befallen the likes of Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen and a revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? with Laurie Metcalf.” – Variety
The University As Intellectual Factory (We’ve Been Warned)
The transformation of the university into a capital-intensive, bureaucratically organised enterprise was not simply an effect of academic specialisation. More than a century earlier, Adam Smith and Immanuel Kant had observed how some universities had begun to function as factories and organise themselves around the division of intellectual labour. – Aeon
Broadway’s Obie Awards Go Virtual
The annual celebration of stage work was originally scheduled to be held at Terminal 5 in Manhattan on May 18. Instead it will be postponed until a later, as yet unannounced, date. In an interview with Variety, Heather Hitchens, president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing, one of the organizations behind the awards, said the show will include some form of performances, but cautioned that details are still being worked out. – Variety
When The Music Stops – Your Life On The Road Scrambles To A Halt
Lara Downes: “Two weeks of dates cancelled, and then before we knew it, two months. Every single concert, opera, festival, club date–our calendars were wiped clean. When it happened, some of us were out on the road, and we made our way home in confusion and panic. Some of us were getting ready to head out on tour, and we cancelled flights, unpacked suitcases. We were all stunned. It was surreal and impossible.” – I Care if you Listen
Rehearsals Move Online – To Practice And For Community
“Physical distancing is the antithesis of what a community chorus is all about. We rehearse for four months before our performances twice a year. The community we form as we breathe, learn the music, and sing together is a vital component of who we are. Who are we in times of physical isolation?” – San Francisco Classical Voice