“In almost all the ways that concert promoters measure the success and smooth operation of their events, Woodstock was a failure.” Crowd control. Sanitation. Traffic. Profit. (The producers ended up more than $1 million in debt.) What’s more, “what young fans saw as groovy gatherings, with clothing optional, were viewed by local governments around the country as dangerous and disruptive events that they did not want in their backyards, and they passed laws accordingly.” – The New York Times
Category: AUDIENCE
Can The Man Who Saved Waterstones Turn Around Barnes And Noble?
Britain’s biggest bookstore chain was near bankruptcy when James Daunt became CEO in 2011, and “[he] steered Waterstones out of a death spiral by rethinking every cranny of the company, from small (those shelves) to large (the business model).” Now, as he takes over B&N, which has been contracting for two decades, “his guiding assumption is that the only point of a bookstore is to provide a rich experience in contrast to a quick online transaction. And for now, the experience at Barnes & Noble isn’t good enough.” – The New York Times
Library Of Congress Puts Out A Call For Help Transcribing Suffragist Stories
Nearly 16,000 pages of letters, speeches, newspaper articles and other suffragist documents are now available on By the People, a crowdsourcing platform launched by the library in 2018. The project seeks to make the library’s collections fully word searchable and easier to read, for both scholars and lay historians alike. – Smithsonian
Netflix And Amazon India Are Taking On Material Bollywood Has Never Dared Touch
New features and series from the streaming giants deal frankly with such subjects as corruption, government dysfunction, the drug trade, religious and communal violence, and female sexuality. Says the director of one such series about why online studios can treat topics Bollywood can’t, “It’s a given that movie-watching in India is a family experience, a community experience. Families didn’t sit together to see Sacred Games.” – The Guardian
At Louvre, Reservations Will Be Mandatory By End Of This Year
The world’s most visited museum has become a victim of its own success, with its usual crowd control problems made even worse by the move of the Mona Lisa to a new room. So reservations, which have been available but not required for entrance, will be made mandatory. – France 24 (AFP)
‘I Have Never Seen Such Chaos’: Mona Lisa’s First Days In New Room At Louvre Have Been Rather Messy
That quote comes from a longstanding guide at the museum, who added, “I did not think it was possible to show such amateurism.” Paris’s most visited painting has been moved while its usual room, the Salle des Etats, is being renovated. But the Louvre’s management seems not to have thought through traffic flow and crowd control issues. – Artnet
How The Toronto International Film Festival Needs To Evolve In The Streaming Era
The same challenges apply: What are the films that can work theatrically, that can compel people to come? How can we make that collective experience really rewarding and transformative so that people will still want to come here? I think that’s an ongoing challenge for everyone. – Toronto Star
Libraries Have Become Community Centers. But It’s Still Important To Be About Books
Of course, libraries have never been only about books! But reading and books are more important than ever for contemporary society, and public libraries occupy a unique position as a public reading institution. – The Conversation
PBS To Live-Stream Over Internet For First Time
While PBS has offered on-demand streaming for a number of years, it will stream programming live on YouTube TV. “Based on their markets, 333 member stations will be available to users.” – Ars Technica
“Lion King” Box Office Tops $1 Billion
The movie, which features the voices of Beyonce and Donald Glover, joins Avengers: Endgame, Captain Marvel and Aladdin in Disney’s $1bn class of 2019. – BBC