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
Tag: 04.03.20
GE Moore Was A Superstar Philosopher In His Day. Why Did He Disappear?
The Bloomsbury Group revered him. But today he is pretty much forgotten. So why do some who achieve fame endure but others – some of the biggest – fade from history? – Prospect
A New Non-Toxic, Natural Blue Pigment Made From (Of All Things) Beets
“No matter how much people enjoy looking at it, blue is a difficult color to harness from nature. … Plants seldom produce blue hues. When they do, their pigments rarely remain stable after extraction.” (There’s indigo, of course, but any friction on the fabric causes it to fade.) Molecular chemist Erick Leite Bastos writes about how he and colleagues found a way to derive the pigment he named BeetBlue from the red root vegetable. – The Conversation
Even More Jobs And Money Lost: Whitney Museum Lays Off 76 Employees
“Projecting a shortfall in revenue of at least $7 million by the end of this fiscal year, New York City’s Whitney Museum has laid off 76 staff members. In an email sent Thursday afternoon, museum director Adam Weinberg told staff that all of the affected employees have been at the Whitney for two years or less and would receive five to six weeks’ pay dating from the museum’s closure.” – Hyperallergic
Safety, Solvency, Service
These past few weeks, a whole world of arts organizations have been searching for, revisiting, or assembling-on-the-fly their emergency readiness plans as the pandemic turns that world upside down. Many are finding that “pandemic” wasn’t among the expected disasters in their plans, so they’re diving into action as best they can. – Andrew Taylor
Joy in the afternoon
This is, first of all, an expression of profound gratitude for the innumerable messages of sympathy I have received. I thought you might like to read about Hilary’s last good day. – Terry Teachout
Margaret Atwood Says We Are All In The ‘Better Than Nothing’ Era Now
The writer prompted the National Arts Center of Canada to launch virtual book tours for authors with new books out during the pandemic shutdown. Authors are “‘really pinched,’ Atwood said in an interview the day before she launched the authors’ series. ‘People are scrambling around, improvising and trying to get the word out there.'” – The New York Times
Why The Limitations Of Our Homebound Lives Work For Online Choreography And Dance
“You’re a pony; you’re a firecracker; you’re a shape-shifter; you’re using your bookshelf as a stabilizer for butt wiggling. Given humanity’s terminal uncertainty now, I feel particularly malleable to existential suggestions. You romp to all corners available to you. There’s no more space after that.” – The Cut
If Books Are Proving Too Long For A Pandemic Attention Span, Try Poetry
Why not? It’s National Poetry Month, after all, and poems can refocus the mind, bringing it gently back to focus. You might even try memorizing a poem or two. – The Atlantic
Actor Turned Biographer Patricia Bosworth Has Died At 86
Bosworth, who was part of the Actors Studio with Marlon Brando and Marilyn Monroes, gave up acting to write instead – and write she did, about Diane Arbus, Jane Fonda, Montgomery Clift, Marlon Brando, and herself. – The New York Times