“On the surface, that no doubt sounds idiotic — economically, socially and in just about every other way,” writes the L.A. Times classical music critic. “It’s not. It is the simplest, surest, most affordable means of turning this town around. Better still, we’re already nearly there. So please, bear with me.” – Los Angeles Times
Building Audiences
Support For The Arts, And For Public Funding, In Australia Hits New High: Study
“The top-level statistics are impressive: few other industries can boast sustained engagement with 98% of the population. The survey shows a significant rise in both the number of Australians who believe in the positive impacts of the arts, and the number who support it being publicly funded.” – The Guardian
Are The Detroit Institute Of Arts And Its Director Simply Out Of Touch With Their City?
“At a time when museum leaders across the country are being challenged on whether their institutions are systemically racist, few are confronting as many thorny issues as [Salvador] Salort-Pons. Current and former staff have called for his resignation, complaining he has developed a corrosive, authoritarian manner while retaining a certain obtuseness on matters of race in a city that is predominantly Black.” – The New York Times
During The Pandemic, Small Local Bookstores Have Gotten More Love Than They Can Handle (And Customers Don’t Love That)
“As the novel coronavirus takes its toll on businesses all over the world, many well-meaning consumers have flocked to local community bookstores. However, increased demand on these small shops has put a strain on business owners. Even worse, some have received backlash from impatient and disgruntled customers for slow shipping or sold out inventories.” – The Washington Post
Can Reading Fight Racism?
The pandemic changed some things, and then came the murder of George Floyd – and the largest civil rights movement in U.S. history. “Anti-racist manuals have been cleaned out from virtual bookstore shelves and pushed to the top of bestseller lists. And often, these buyers don’t want to read alone. Enter the anti-racist book club.” – BuzzFeed
Nothing, Absolutely Nothing, Can Beat Live Music
The first concert since lockdown is definitely special (not that it’s weird to be masked and distant anymore; it’s simply exciting to be there). “It’s been difficult but clarifying to see how mightily classical music struggles in an online-only format. Experiencing sound in person, among others, turns out to be even more essential than I’d assumed. This art form has long been devoted to recordings — but always as a counter, an implied (or screamed) comparison, to real performances.” – The New York Times
More COVID Innovation: A Drive-Through Art Exhibition
Leave it to the ingenious Dutch. With both the Rotterdam Ahoy conference and exhibition center and the city’s Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen closed due to the pandemic, the two institutions got together to use the Ahoy’s large space to display video installations that visitors can view from vehicles. Electric cars only; if you don’t have one, you can borrow one on site. – Deutsche Welle
How NPR Is Captive To Its Core Audience
How does framing stories for this audience shape how public radio stations tell stories? At every stage of story production—from the reporter’s “pitch” to their editor, through the process of reporting, editing, and airing—powerful figures within the newsroom invoke “the audience” and effectively restrict stories that challenge prevailing notions of racial progress. – American Prospect
Now This Is Zoom Opera That Works — And It’s For Young Kids
“Admittedly, preschoolers, Zoom and opera don’t immediately sound like the makings of a successful project, but each installment I watched of Opera Starts With Oh! — helmed by director, choreographer and teaching artist Emma Jaster and Opera Lafayette community engagement manager Ersian François — kept its grid of budding opera buffs rapt with an action-packed half-hour of activities, performances and assorted operatic antics.” – The Washington Post
Berlin Medical Institute Study Says Concerts And Operas Could Safely Have Full Houses — Then Institute’s Board Disavows Study
“Earlier this week, leading German epidemiologists from the prestigious Clinic Charité published a revised study suggesting that the opera houses and concert halls should allow every seat in the audiences to be occupied. …
However, in a major twist, the Charité’s Board of Directors … stat[ed] that ‘the paper on the resumption of opera and concert operations under the COVID-19 conditions had not been coordinated and did not reflect the position of the board.'” – OperaWire
Radio Listenership Has Plunged. But NPR’s Listenership Is Up Ten Percent. Why?
Even as its legacy platform’s audience has declined, though, NPR says it is reaching more people than ever. The dip in radio listenership — 22 percent — has coincided with a record number of people turning to NPR on virtually every other platform. More people than ever are reaching NPR through the website, apps, livestreams, and smart speakers (“Alexa, I want to listen to NPR”). – NiemanLab
At Least One London Theatre Has Kept Busy Throughout The Pandemic
“The Bush Theatre in London [has] produced a series of timely Monday Monologues online, curated The Protest series of digital pieces inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement and posted a number of Master Classes. It even became one of the first theatres in London to reopen its building — not for regular theatre performances, but for socially distanced community programs. … At the helm of it all is Lynette Linton, the young writer-director who took reins at the Bush just last year.” (podcast plus text) – Variety
Stand-Up Comedy Outdoors Just Doesn’t Work The Same Way
Several outfits in New York are trying it, and Jesse David Fox checked one out. “Comedy clubs are agreed-upon spaces where we allow comedians to say whatever they want. But now we have, as [Sean] Patton called it, ‘filthy hoo-ha talk’ floating into the air for anyone to hear. … Also, you don’t think about how important ceilings are until there aren’t any. Comedy benefits from trapping the laughs in, allowing one joke to ride off the momentum of the previous one. When that’s not possible, laughs float away into the air.” – New York Magazine
Can The Arts Help Revive Rural America?
“According to the Rural Establishment Innovation Survey, residents in rural counties that are home to performing arts organizations earn up to $6,000 more than people who live in rural counties without such platforms. All of this is sparking hope for a revival of rural counties — half of which have seen their population decline since 2000 — and at a time when experts are predicting mass migration from urban centers to smaller towns because of the growing costs in cities and the increased possibilities for working from home.” – OZY
New York Museums Cleared To Reopen As Of Aug. 24
“The announcement came as the state has seen less than 1 percent of all coronavirus tests return positive for seven straight days, [Gov.] Cuomo said in a news conference. … Institutions will be required to keep the buildings at 25 percent occupancy and to use a timed ticketing system, … to control the flow of traffic through their buildings, and face coverings will be compulsory.” – The New York Times
Giant Outdoor Mass Art Productions Aren’t That Risky And Shouldn’t Be Banned
Or so says the director of an arts production company in the UK. “It’s a brave new world out there, and we’re all going to have to adapt. There are no limits to what our artists, technicians, actors, creators, musicians, dancers and designers can imagine to bring back live outdoor experiences for audiences stupefied by the isolation of the omnipresent screen.” – The Guardian (UK)
Massachusetts Orders Two Live Plays In Berkshires To Reduce Audience Sizes
The first two theater productions in the U.S. since lockdown to be approved by Actors’ Equity for performing before an in-person audience, Godspell at Berkshire Theater Group and Harry Clarke at Barrington Stage Company, “will each allow only 50 people to be present — down from 100 — after the state of Massachusetts rolled back its reopening protocols in an effort to slow the spread of the disease.” – The New York Times
Indoor Performances In England Get Green Light To Resume This Weekend
Venues must require audience members to wear masks and maintain social distance, but if those requirements are being met, then — “despite concerns about persistently high daily infection numbers” — theatres and concert halls may reopen as of Saturday, August 15, along with bowling alleys, skating rinks and some sports events. (Of course, if recent history is any guide, this decision could be reversed Friday afternoon.) – The Guardian
If COVID Means Audiences Can’t Sit Through These Shows, Then They Can Walk Through Them
“Now several companies are attempting variations on what is sometimes called promenade theater — outdoor productions in which audiences move as they follow the action. The form — a cousin to street theater — has a long tradition, particularly in Europe, but has new appeal in the United States this summer because of the relative ease of keeping patrons apart outdoors.” – The New York Times
UK’s Summer Theatres Work Through, Around, And With COVID Restrictions
A stage on the beach in Brighton with audience groups at picnic tables. A solo show in a Belfast shopping mall and another amid the Narnia sculptures in C.S. Lewis Square. And, of course, open-sided tents in car parks and on lawns. Here’s how regional theatre festivals are making sure the show goes on. – The Guardian
Judge Rules Movie Studios Can Own Theatres For First Time In 71 Years
This game-changing decision could result in a complete overhaul of not only who owns theater chains in the near and long-term future, but how, when and where consumers will enjoy feature film content. – Forbes
UK Report: Theatres With Proper Ventilation Could Be Safe To Reopen At Full Capacity
Ventilation is more effective at protecting against airborne transmission of the Covid-19 virus than social distancing or PPE – and “many performance venues have the capability to provide good levels of ventilation,” according to Government advisers. – Arts Professional
Meme Me – How Memes Work
The chaotic creativity of remixed internet memes and the new linguistic structures that rapidly evolve from them allow us to express certain states of mind and have others immediately get it and respond in kind. This has been called an “asynchronous, massively multi-person conversation.” – JSTOR
Stop Panicking Over The Age Of Classical Audiences, Says NY Times Chief Critic
Anthony Tommasini: “Elements of dismaying ageism run through the chronic bemoaning over the graying of classical and opera audiences, something that bothered me even before I entered this older demographic myself. … But images and television broadcasts make plain that even back in the 1960s, when Leonard Bernstein was galvanizing the Philharmonic and attracting young people like me to his concerts, audiences were dominated by those in their 50s and older. Yet, year after year, devoted older fans continued to appear.” – The New York Times
When Fans Of A Show Become Its Owners
Fans come to see themselves not just as the audience for, or patrons of, a given “intellectual property” but (to paraphrase the old WestJet slogan) as owners too. This feeling of ownership is often vindicated by the franchises themselves, which deliberately pander to the hopes and expectations of their core audiences. – The Walrus