“As predicted, domestic movie tickets sold between Jan. 1 through Dec. 31 came generated an estimated $2.3 billion (or $2.28 billion) compared to $11.4 billion in 2019, according to Comscore estimates. That’s the lowest showing in at least 40 years.” – The Hollywood Reporter
Sydney’s Reopening Theatres Say They’re ‘COVID-Safe.’ Are They?
The Opera House finally became the last of the city’s major venues to require masks, but enforcing the policy is not easy, and most of the theatres are selling up to 75% of capacity, as opposed to the less-than-half that’s been standard in where venues have been open in Europe and North America. Will these performances become super-spreader events? – The Guardian
25 Dancers, Choreographers And Companies To Watch In 2021
Want to know where dance is going in 2021 as the world (hopefully) comes out of COVID lockdown? Here are 25 bright lights to follow. – Dance Magazine
Congress Passes New Controls On Antiquities In The Defense Authorization Bill
Regulators have long worried that the opacity of the antiquities trade, where buyers and sellers are seldom identified, even to the parties in a transaction, made it an easy way to shroud illicit transfers of money. The new legislation empowers federal regulators to design measures that would remove secrecy from transactions. – The New York Times
Star Museum Directors Talk The Future Of Museums
As the Ford Foundation’s president, Darren Walker, recently told me, “museums are in a crisis because America is in a crisis.” Museums shape narratives that matter, so it’s no surprise young people are passionate about pushing for change. It’s time now to do better—a lot better. That means looking at ourselves honestly and fixing a whole lot about the way we work as we make authentic commitments toward equity, inclusion, access, and anti-racism. – Artnet
John Outterbridge, Sculptor Of Cast-Offs And Inspirational Arts Mentor, 87
Outterbridge, also an influential (and “magical”) arts administrator and educator, was a master of the assemblage, using the sculptures to tell stories about history and culture. “In castoffs there are profound treasures. … That’s what soul food is about. Chitterlings and pig feet are all about the notion that, as a people, we’ve taken the scraps, the castoffs, and made them into something so tasty that one can’t help but suck right down to the bones.” – The New York Times
The Acts Of Art And Creativity Censored In 2020
The year was terrible for global pandemic reasons, but also for brutality against artists, journalists, writers, playwrights, cinematographers, and more. How bad was it? “Civil rights were found to have deteriorated in nearly every country.” – Hyperallergic
The Antiquities Trade Is About To Get Reined In
Or at least, that’s the hope of the U.S. Congress. “Regulators have long worried that the opacity of the antiquities trade, where buyers and sellers are seldom identified, even to the parties in a transaction, made it an easy way to shroud illicit transfers of money. The new legislation empowers federal regulators to design measures that would remove secrecy from transactions.” – The New York Times
David Fincher Hates Hollywood
Or at least the “unhappiest auteur” hates happy endings. Manohla Dargis dives deep on the director and his “beautiful bummers,” including, of course, the newish Mank, “a movie that, in its broadest strokes, enshrines its own loathing of the industry, partly through its strained relationship to the truth.” – The New York Times
Joan Micklin Silver, Director Of Crossing Delancey, 85
Silver had to forge her own way in the 1970s and 1980s, including with her first feature, Hester Street. “The 1975 independent film … was the story of a Jewish immigrant couple in the 1890s. The low-budget black and white film, in Yiddish with English subtitles, proved a hard sell to studios.” But it won rave reviews, made money, and earned Carol Kane, who was 21 at the time, an Oscar nomination. – Variety
Creative Commons Is Truly A Great Resource, Until Scammers Pop Up
Kyle Cassidy uploaded a photo of Peter Sagal in 2013 to Wikimedia Commons, with the subject’s permission, the correct attribution, and the correct info about what kind of camera he used. Years later, things got weird. With a little digging, he (and Wikimedia Commons) discovered that the weirdness was part of a widespread massive linkbait scam. – Hyperallergic
How To Reprise A Role 34 Years Later
Step one is to fight against 1980s racist tropes. Tamlyn Tomita: “I said I would love to, this would be so fun, but the only caveat is that because I’m older, because I’m a little bit more knowledgeable and I’m going to fight for it anyway — I need to be able to inject a truer picture of Okinawa.” – Los Angeles Times
The Busiest Composer In The Bleakest Year
Tyshawn Sorey has had numerous – as in, numerous – premieres and commissions this year. The composer, who straddles jazz and classical, “has been on everyone’s radar at least since winning a MacArthur ‘genius’ grant in 2017, but the shock to the performing arts since late winter brought him suddenly to the fore as an artist at the nexus of the music industry’s artistic and social concerns.” – The New York Times