“Mobile County, the city of Mobile and the Alabama Historical Commission say work will begin ‘immediately’ on an Africatown Heritage House that will feature artifacts from the slave ship Clotilda … [which] is believed to be the last ship to bring a cargo of captive Africans into slavery in the United States, shortly before the start of the Civil War.” – The Press-Register (Mobile)/AL.com
How Shakespeare Became An American Gold Standard
The 17th-century puritans who founded the first English settler colonies were “rabidly anti-theatrical”, and colonial insurrectionists rejecting the motherland in the 18th century would not necessarily have embraced the quintessential English playwright. “How Shakespeare won over America in the early 19th century is something of a mystery.” – New Statesman
Egypt’s Oldest Pyramid Reopens After 14-Year Closure
Assembled between 2630 and 2611 B.C. in Saqqara, Egypt, the pyramid, where Djoser and 11 of his daughters were buried upon their deaths, contains roughly 11.6 million cubic feet of stone and clay. Looping through and around the burial chambers is a winding, maze-like network of tunnels that was likely designed to prevent theft but apparently weakened the building’s structural integrity. – Smithsonian
Needed: A Rethink Of The Digital Millennium Copyright Act And Creativity
The platforms are under no legal obligation to proactively seek out infringement and remove it, nor – most annoyingly of all – do they ever have to permanently remove an infringing work. “Notice and takedown” does not mean “notice and stay-down,” which results in an ongoing game of Whack-A-Mole for copyright owners who get a work removed, only to see it pop up again somewhere else on the internet… again, and again, and again… – Creative Future
Ex-President’s Estate Sues Otis College
The legal complaint by Bruce Ferguson’s sister, who is executor of his estate, alleges that Otis committed discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination related to Ferguson’s illness at the height of a power struggle on campus, when faculty members whose jobs were threatened by organizational changes waged a letter of no confidence campaign against Ferguson after his illness became public. – Argonaut News
UK Finally Makes E-Books Exempt From Sales Tax, As Print Books Are
“Printed books and newspapers have always been zero-rated for VAT but until now their digital equivalents – such as books from Amazon’s Kindle service or online subscriptions to news websites such as the Times or the Guardian – have been subject to the sales tax.” (Audiobooks will remain taxable, though.) – The Guardian
What Happens To ‘The Merchant Of Venice’ When Shylock Is A Woman?
Carey Perloff, who directed Seana McKenna in the role last year in Calgary: “I am not always convinced that cross-gender casting helps illuminate Shakespeare; many of the plays focus so specifically on gender that swapping out men for women can sometimes muddy the actual narrative or intent of the play. But in the case of Shylock, who is the ultimate ‘other’ in the play, gender served to crack open the drama in fascinating ways.” – American Theatre
Most Arts Events Canceled In Seattle
If the future is unclear for arts organizations, it’s even scarier for individual artists, backstage artisans and stage hands, many of whom survive job to job. Those who are union members may have access to specific emergency funds, but others are left adrift. – KUOW
‘You Know, It’s Going To Cost You Something’: Building A New Opera About The Police Shooting Of A Young Black Man
The quote is what composer Jeanine Tesori told bass Ken Kellogg about taking his role (the young man’s father, a police officer himself) in Blue, which Tesori wrote with librettist Tazewell Thompson for Glimmerglass Opera and Washington National Opera. Matthew Guerrieri meets Tesori, Thompson, and Kellogg at a rehearsal. – The Washington Post
Warning: US Theme Parks Will Likely Close
Amid the worries on Wall Street, stock prices have tumbled for Orlando-based SeaWorld Entertainment, which operates 12 theme parks across the country. The stock, previously trading above $35 per share for several days in February, fell to about $15 Wednesday before the market had closed. – Orlando Sentinel
Theatres Need To Get Ahead Of This: Cancel Now
Apparently, the show must go on even if it kills us. While the country is staring down the barrel of a public health catastrophe, theaters are up against a different enemy: their ragged balance sheets. But by staying open, theaters are not just acting shortsightedly. They’re betraying their core constituency, older patrons, who are the group most vulnerable to coronavirus. – Los Angeles Times
Does Anyone Even Want The Job Of Running The BBC?
The deadline for submitting applications has just passed, reportedly with few candidates showing interest in a position seen as a “poisoned chalice.” Right now, a new BBC director general will have to deal with more than the usual number of headaches — and there’s a good chance of getting replaced within 18 months. – The Guardian
What’s In The UK’s First Post-Brexit Culture Budget
The next overall budget for the Department for Digital, Media Culture and Sport (DCMS) will increase by £100 million to £1.7 billion; it will include £250 million to support local libraries and museums (which could help reverse the hundreds of library closures due to austerity in recent years), £27 million for maintenance at national museums, £90 million for cultural development outside London, and £25,000 given to every secondary school each year for “arts activities.” – The Art Newspaper
Vienna’s Albertina Museum Opens New Branch For Modern Art
The Albertina Modern — housed in the newly-renovated 1868 Künstlerhaus on the Ringstrasse, the site of the Nazis’ notorious 1939 “Degenerate Art” exhibit — will focus on postwar Austrian art and its connections with modernism in other countries. (Of course, no one is actually allowed to go see it just now.) – The New York Times
Just A Couple Of Years Ago, Louis C.K.’s Career Seemed Over. Now He’s Selling Out Theatres.
Until late 2017, he was one of the most admired comedians working, seen as something of an auteur of stand-up. Then reports emerged of, er, unprofessional behavior with younger female colleagues; he admitted they were true; and he lost his agent, his movie, and his TV deal. When he began a comeback last year, many observers feared he’d gone over to the alt-right. But he’s now dropped the worst of that material, reports Elahe Izadi, who went to see his show and talk with some of the enthusiastic audience. – The Washington Post
Cancel The Concerts And Close The Theatres Now, Says Leading Critic — This Virus Is Too Dangerous
Justin Davidson: “It’s easy for me to call for a shutdown. I’m not the one who’ll be hemorrhaging millions every night or facing months of unemployment. … [But] the evidence suggests that the choice is not between a shutdown and no shutdown; it’s between shutting things down now, when the disease is still relatively rare in our area, or waiting until more people have died, the virus has propagated further, and the medical system starts to be overburdened.” (Charles McNulty agrees.) – New York Magazine
Broadway Theatres Ask Actors And Audiences To Stop Gathering At Stage Door
Neither producers nor performers and crew nor patrons want to suspend all performances until COVID-19 is under control (whenever that may be), so the theatre owners and producers of the Broadway League are “highly recommending that all stage door activities be eliminated for the time being.” And folks are cooperating, mostly. – The New York Times
One Of World’s Top Art Fairs Quickly Shuts Down After Exhibitor Comes Down With Coronavirus
TEFAF, held in the Dutch city of Maastricht and the world’s leading fair for art and antiques, opened last Saturday and closed Wednesday evening (four days early), just hours after an exhibitor was reported to have tested positive for COVID-19. – ARTnews
Arts Activist Named New NYC Cultural Affairs Director
Gonzalo Casals is an immigrant from Argentina who identifies as queer. Since 2017, he has led the Leslie-Lohman, a museum with roots in the L.G.B.T.Q. civil rights movement, diversifying its collection and programming with contributions from the gay community. Mr. Casals previously served as deputy and interim director at El Museo del Barrio in East Harlem, a major center for Latino art and culture, where he stepped in after Margarita Aguilar left amid turmoil. – The New York Times
Remembering McCoy Tyner
It’s enough, more than enough, really, for an artist to simply find a voice, to chisel it out of the noise and to keep it ringing clear across a lifetime. Though he tried lots of modes and moods, Tyner began his professional career in the early sixties as a fully formed artist, and his last albums, from the aughts, are not unlike his first. – Paris Review
Sound, Music And Damage To Our Lives
“I know of numerous composers who suffer from tinnitus — that ringing or other sound in the ears which never shuts off. And even violinists tend to end up with hearing damage in the left ear, since that is the one closest to the sound of the instrument. It is, of course, the sounds we don’t make ourselves that we are most disturbed by. Noise from neighbours can be fatal. It is not unknown for disputes to end in murder or suicide.” – Irish Times
Digital Entertainment Surpasses Box Office For First Time
Consumer spending on digital home entertainment surged to $48.7 billion last year, up 24% from 2018, according to a new report from the Motion Picture Assn. Worldwide theatrical ticket sales were $42.2 billion, up 1% from the prior year, said the MPA, the Washington-based lobbying group that represents the major Hollywood studios and Netflix. – Los Angeles Times
‘Merce Cunningham Redux’
James Klosty’s book is big in several ways. (Try lugging it to a sunny spot; it weighs about six pounds.) I’m in love with it. – Deborah Jowitt
Berlin Closes All Cultural Venues For A Month
The shutdown, ordered to prevent the spread of COVID-19, mandatory for all state-owned arts institutions and strongly recommended for others, is in effect at least until after Easter (April 12). – The Berlin Spectator