Protest is meant to bring a reality that lurks beyond the sight lines of most people crashing down in front of them. When resistance to the current order arises, citizens are put to the test. We are forced to reveal where our allegiances lie. What are we willing to support, or do, in the pursuit of rightness and justice? – Maclean’s
Category: issues
Has Fan Culture Gotten Out Of Hand? Should They Have So Much Influence On The Art?
The last decade or so has witnessed huge changes in the awareness, perception and tools of fandom. In terms of television and film, the enormous successes of Game of Thrones and the Marvel Cinematic Universe have introduced geek culture – and its brand of participatory fandom – to the mainstream. At the same time, the internet – and more specifically social media – has amplified fans’ voices, while also breaking down the boundaries between them and the artists they love/hate. – BBC
These Two Made Millions On Scamming Online Arts Tickets
Peter Hunter and David Smith tricked selling sites over two-and-a-half years, buying £4m worth of tickets that they sold for £10.8m. They targeted events including Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift gigs and Harry Potter And The Cursed Child, Leeds Crown Court heard. – BBC
Coronavirus Is Devastating The Arts In China
“Movie releases have been canceled in China and symphony tours suspended because of quarantines and fears of contagion. A major art fair [and a performing arts festival] in Hong Kong [were] called off, and important spring art auctions half a world away in New York have been postponed because well-heeled Chinese buyers may find it difficult to travel to them.” – The New York Times
How Bad Is California’s New Freelance Law For Performers? Let Them Tell You
“To learn more about AB5’s effect on artists, The Times asked readers to write in. We received more than 120 responses from artists across California — jazz and classical musicians, directors of arts nonprofits, magicians, costume designers, actors, a burlesque dancer and freelance food stylist, among others.” – Los Angeles Times
Threatened By Gentrification, Berlin’s Nightclubs Seek Same Legal-Cultural Status As Theatres And Opera Houses
“A group dedicated to protecting the German capital’s nightlife took its campaign to parliament on Wednesday, urging more protection as more venues are closed to make way for new-builds and as growing numbers of residents file complaints about noise. About 100 clubs have closed in the past 10 years, and a further 25 are under threat.” – The Guardian
The Problems With Re-Enactments Of Slavery And The Underground Railroad
Over three decades, “millions [of Americans] have undergone an experience that can range from a board game to an immersive nightlong ordeal, complete with horseback-riding paddy rollers and an armed Harriet Tubman. … Do fugitive lives belong to everyone, as models and martyrs of democracy? Or are they victims of appropriation, their stories warped by repetitive reconciliation myths and kitsch entertainment? Can ’embodying’ the past empower the living, or does it trivialize history and traumatize its inheritors?” – The New Yorker
First Major Arts Venue To Make All Its Performances ‘Relaxed’
Starting this month, London’s Battersea Arts Centre is making all its events “relaxed performances” — at which audience members may enter, leave, move around, and sometimes make noise, and first developed for neurodivergent patrons. – The Times (UK)
Entire Hong Kong Arts Festival Is Cancelled Due To Coronavirus Epidemic
“Due to officially open on February 13 with a concert by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the month-long festival was to have featured more than 120 performances of dance, music, theatre and opera. Last year’s festival drew a combined audience of nearly 90,000 people.” – South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)
Media Outlets Calling Antonio Banderas A Person Of Color Are Upsetting People In Europe And The US
Banderas may be a Spanish speaker first, but the actor “is from Málaga, Spain, and does not identify as a person of color. There are nonwhite Spanish people, but this isn’t the case for him.” And whew. Media outlets lumping him in with Cynthia Erivo to give the Oscar acting nominees some diversity are not being accurate. (But many white Spaniards’ responses aren’t great either.) – NPR