Joseph Horowitz: “More than handwringing, this litany invites historical analysis. Why is no one in Congress or the White House talking about protecting crucial cultural interests, echoing discussions abroad? For three centuries, Americans regarded Europeans as cultural parents; we would emulate, learn, and grow. Where does that relationship stand today? Are we still growing up? Reverting to infancy? Opting out?” – The American Scholar
Tag: 12.07.20
Furloughed Nashville Symphony Musicians To Get $500 Weekly Stipend
An agreement between management and the musicians’ union provides that the payments will begin on Jan. 3 and run through the end of the cancelled due to COVID) season on July 31. In exchange, the musicians agree to take part in community performances and other outreach activities. – Nashville Scene
For Second Time, Federal Judge Shuts Down Trump’s Attempt To Shut Down Tiktok
“On October 30, … U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols granted an injunction that prevented [a ban on new downloads of the app in the U.S.] from taking effect. In the latest ruling, Nichols … found that TikTok had shown it would suffer irreparable harm if the order were allowed to take effect.” – Variety
Has The Childhood Home Of Jesus Christ Just Been Discovered?
Is this for real? Well, as archaeologist Ken Dark puts it, “I can be confident that it’s the house that the Byzantines believed, and was probably believed in the 4th century, to be Jesus’s childhood home.” – Artnet
England’s Canceled Christmas Pantos Affect More Than The Theatres
Says the chief executive of the theatre in the town of Malvern in Worcestershire, “The panto is crucial for the theatre, as we are unsubsidised, but also for the local economy, to which the theatre is a huge contributor” — up to £21 million a year, researchers estimate. – The Guardian
NY Philharmonic Musicians Agree To Pay Cuts
Under the new contract, the musicians will see 25 percent cuts to their base pay through August 2023. Pay will then gradually increase until the contract ends in September 2024, though at that point the players will still be paid less than they were before the coronavirus pandemic struck. The cuts will amount to more than $20 million in musicians’ wages over the course of the contract. – The New York Times
Met Opera To Lock Out Workers
After talks with the powerful union that represents the Met’s roughly 300 stagehands, Local One of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, failed to yield an agreement this weekend, the Met announced that it planned to lock out the union’s workers. – The New York Times
The Pandemic and the Arts: A “Climate of Fear” and “Radical Upheaval”
The pandemic is a diagnostic – and discloses a self-critical, self-confrontational United States that feels newly inchoate. Compared to nations abroad, we are not even secure in asserting that culture matters. – Joseph Horowitz
Alvin Ailey’s Robert Battle On How Dance Will Have Changed After The Pandemic
“I can’t imagine that once we’re back doing live performance that some of the things we’ve learned about filming dance and embracing that as a thing unto itself rather than only a response to not being able to be in the theater, but to go into the art of filming dance – and I think that’s what’s wonderful about what we did with ‘Revelations’.” – NPR
Universal Music Buys Entire Bob Dylan Catalog In Blockbuster Deal
The price was not disclosed, but is estimated at more than $300 million. – The New York Times