“Recently, I attended a panel at a dance studies conference. The buzzwords were so thick, and the presenter breezily buzzed through them at such a rapid pace, that I could not follow her argument. A second panelist presented her ethnographic study of a conservative popular-culture venue with such humor at her subjects’ expense—and commanded such regular laughter from the audience—that it was clear she counted on the near-complete homogeneity of the crowd. Had the sponsoring organization so successfully indoctrinated us with the party line that not a wisp of outrage, excepting my own, was stirred?” – The Massachusetts Review
Tag: 12.03.20
UK Redefines The “Treasure Act” To Protect Found Artifacts
They are intended to ensure significant artefacts are not lost to the public and will instead be able to go on display in museums. The move follows the growth in popularity of metal detecting. – BBC
Louis Andriessen Has Dementia And Has Written His Last Music
The 81-year-old composer suffered a fall last year; this past January, his condition having worsened, he was diagnosed with a combination of Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia and has moved into a long-term care facility. That means that May, a cantata written for Cappella Amsterdam and the Orchestra of the 18th Century that has its world premiere on Saturday (Dec. 5) at the Concertgebouw, is almost certainly his final work. Journalist Guido van Oorschot interviews Andriessen’s wife and his assistant and orchestrator for May about how the score came together and the composer’s state of health. – de Volkskrant (in Dutch)
Alison Lurie, Pulitzer-Winning Comic Novelist, Dead At 94
“In addition to writing 11 works of fiction, Ms. Lurie was an essayist and a scholar of children’s literature who taught at Cornell University for years. But she was best known for her comedies of manners — many of them set at the fictional Corinth University — about well-educated women who have plunged into a marriage or career that fails, sometimes woefully, to live up to expectations.” – The Washington Post
Altar To Ancient Greek God Found Embedded In Wall Of Byzantine Church
“Researchers excavating a Byzantine church in northern Israel have uncovered a second- or third-century altar to Greek pastoral god Pan. Incorporated into a church wall, the basalt pillar sheds light on the intertwined nature of early Christianity and pagan beliefs.” – Smithsonian Magazine
BBC To Broadcast Series Of Plays Recorded In Theatres
“Lights Up, the latest phase of the broadcaster’s Culture In Quarantine initiative, will feature a combination of premieres and older plays recorded for the first time. … The initiative begins in February 2021 and seeks to ‘light up’ stages and studios across the UK as productions are recorded in spaces that have remained largely empty during the pandemic.” – Yahoo! (Press Association UK)
Tate Galleries To Cut Another 12% Of Workforce
“For the second time this year, the Tate is cutting jobs — 120 of them, or about 12 percent of the institution’s overall workforce. The staffing reduction comes as the museum faces an expected loss of £56 million ($75.3 million) in self-generated income due to closures for almost half of 2020.” Earlier this year, 295 staffers were made redundant across the Tate’s four branches in London, Liverpool, and Cornwall. – Artnet
They’re Trying A New COVID Tactic At Australia’s Largest Arts Festival
“The Adelaide Festival has launched its 2021 program after a nightmare year that has seen more than 200 international artists scratched from its form sheet – and the program announcement itself pushed back after South Australia went into immediate lockdown a day before it was due. … But a number of international acts will now be livestreaming their performances into Her Majesty’s Theatre from their home bases in Europe and the US.” – The Guardian
The LA Times Asked Readers What They Thought Of Virtual Arts. Here’s What They Said:
Like Times critics Charles McNulty and Mark Swed, many of those who responded to the survey had mixed feelings about remote or distanced shows. The consensus? Some options are better than no options, but many lamented the loss of a shared, visceral experience of seeing art in person with others. – Los Angeles Times
US Senate Introduces Bill To Let Musicians Deduct Full Cost Of Production As Its Incurred
With many of the CARES Act provisions expiring, the Help Independent Tracks Succeed (HITS) Act, a bipartisan solution that would allow musicians, technicians and producers to deduct 100 percent of recording production expenses in the year they are incurred, rather than in later years — i.e. an individual could fully expense the cost of new studio recordings on their taxes, up to $150,000. This small tax incentive would alter the current tax policy that requires individual recording artists and record producers to amortize production expenses for tax purposes over the economic life of a sound recording. – Variety