“Who knows if the paintings I donated hold beauty in the harsh, isolated world of incarcerated people? I never ask these viewers directly; in prison, this question can beg answers like, “Your paintings? I love them. Get me out of here!” I wasn’t doing research, and didn’t need to know. The paintings just became part of the prison. It wasn’t until after teaching there that I got any sense of the paintings’ meanings in their context.” – Broad Street Review
Tag: 04.14.20
Good News? Will COVID Kill Influencer Culture?
Social media influencers have had increasing… er… influence in recent years for their ability to get advertising messages out to their followers. But the COVID lockdown has crashed the market. And there’s even been backlashes to influencers who seem to be flaunting their enviable circumstances while the rest of us are stuck inside our apartments. – Wired
What The Art Of The AIDS Era Has To Say To Us Now
Fear of and distancing from those who have or are suspected of having the virus counts as a similarity, the key difference being how AIDS became linked to identity . “In the early days of AIDS, all forms of contact were made fraught. I remember people going home and being told that they were not welcome.” – ARTnews
Our Interest In Dystopian Stories Is Soaring. Does It Affect Our Real-World Views?
“Is dystopian fiction likely to affect anyone’s real-world political attitudes? If so, then how? And how much should we care about its impact? In our research, we set out to answer these questions using a series of experiments.” – Aeon
Watching Mark Morris Create And Rehearse A Piece For Zoom
“What is a choreographer without a stage but a sad clown of God at a time like this? So Morris has retooled himself as a filmmaker. … There is a certain hallucinatory, Fellini-esque quality to this scene, where a giant of the dance world struggles to master the same awkward video technology that remote office workers are using to teleconference. And where top dancers are limited to a few feet of floor space and bad lighting, using bathroom doors as stage wings.” – The Washington Post
Survey Says: People Will Be Reluctant To Return To Theatres
One major takeaway: Most theatregoers will not immediately be ready to return to theatres even when they reopen. The survey found that around half (49 percent) of those questioned say they will likely wait a few months before returning. Only 25 percent think they would attend right away. – American Theatre
Who Are American Theatre’s Hardworking Heroes During The Corona-Crisis? Finance Directors
“Theatre finance departments have been in an all-hands-on-deck mode as they gather payroll reports and compile the information needed for [CARES Act aid] applications. It’s been a round-the-clock undertaking, with some portals to loan applications opening as late as midnight, others in the early morning hours. Work-from-home days are stacked with meetings and calls with bankers, investors, and board members. Funds are being awarded on a first-come, first-served basis.” – American Theatre
Wynn Handman, Revered Director And Acting Teacher, Dead Of COVID At 97
His American Place Theater staged important early work by the likes of Sam Shepard, Maria Irene Fornés, Eric Bogosian, and the poet Robert Lowell, but “his greatest hits, it might be said, were the actors who came through his classes, which he began teaching in the 1950s” — among the many were James Caan, Joel Grey, Faye Dunaway, Richard Gere, Dustin Hoffman, and John Leguizamo. Even at age 97, he was still leading classes. – The New York Times
Some Cities With Closed Libraries Are Making Librarians Come To The Buildings To Work
“Though many libraries have sent workers home, with pay, several systems in states like Texas, Massachusetts and Colorado have required at least some staff members to keep coming to work. This has prompted criticism from some librarians, including those whose systems have made different arrangements.” – The New York Times
Susan Jaffe Appointed Artistic Director Of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
“The former American Ballet Theatre principal and ballet mistress … will succeed Terrence Orr, who announced last year his intent to retire this summer after 23 years.” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette