Category: issues

The museum chiefs have signed a petition launched by the culture advocacy group Federculture which states that “we have to make Italian culture live, to give it oxygen… the repercussions of the coronavirus crisis on the vast world of cultural enterprise are extreme and could be fatal”. – The Art Newspaper

Chances are the current pandemic has them considering whether a creative life is possible – feasible, affordable, open to someone like themselves – at the very moment when that world began cancelling, shuttering, and laying off the teaching artists who was the first person to say to them “Yes, absolutely, poetry (or choreography or set design) could be yours.”  – Creative Generation

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

“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

The giant annual alterna-conclave doesn’t take place until the end of August, but even so, “the organizers of Burning Man announced on Friday that they will not be assembling 80,000 people in the Nevada desert this summer to build giant works of art and then set them on fire.” – The Guardian

The charity Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS was planning a stream of a November 2019 (remember those halcyon days?) concert that celebrated the 25th anniversary of Disney on Broadway. Problem: While SAG-AFTRA and Actors’ Equity were on board, the American Federation of Musicians was not. The union’s president: “Especially now, with zero employment in the entertainment sector, the content producers should care enough about the welfare of those who originally performed the show to see to it that they are fairly compensated when their work is recorded and streamed throughout the world.” – The New York Times

At least in one West Coast city – though truly, everywhere in the U.S. – “It’s pretty grim. … Everyone is experiencing the worst.” – Oregon Artswatch

No matter how bad the technology may be, actors gonna act; singers gonna sing; and a theatre-loving public may get some benefit from the many performance livestreams. – BBC

HireArtists.org is designed to work similarly to TaskRabbit or Fiverr, websites that link gig workers to employers looking for people to do one-off jobs. It invites photographers, dancers, and website designers, among those in other disciplines, to sell their skills and knowledge to anyone looking for art lessons, or even to buy artworks. It’s free to sign up, and unlike other sites, HireArtists doesn’t collect a fee. – Artnet

GM Artist Hub includes 10 regional arts groups who have banded together to explore opportunities for the area’s mostly-freelance artists and workers. – The Stage