“Even by the standards of 2020, Jacob’s Pillow had a tough year. Not only did the dance center in Becket, Mass., have to cancel its annual summer season for the first time in its history, but it also lost one of its theaters, the Doris Duke, to a fire. But 2021 has begun more brightly: [management announced that] it will hold an outdoor festival this year, June 30 to Aug. 29, and that it will soon begin renovations on its main performance space, the Ted Shawn Theater.” – The New York Times
A Losing Proposition For Independent Bookstores
Despite the pandemic, book sales were up over all last year, but mostly for places like Amazon; bookstore sales fell by more than twenty-eight per cent. Even at stores where sales held steady or increased, profits declined as customers migrated online, raising shipping and delivery costs. More than one bookstore closed every week in 2020, and many of the ones that survived are now facing deficits that could close them before the pandemic ends. – The New Yorker
A Year Into COVID, Canada’s Performing Arts Have Been Devastated
The performing arts, heritage sector and spectator sports – areas of the economy that depend on ticket sales– have lost more than 60 per cent of their GDP value. The only subsector to suffer more is air transportation, down 87 per cent on its GDP. – The Globe and Mail (Canada)
We’re Longing For The Communion That Only Theatre Can Provide
We mourn together for our lost months and years. “Every day the theatre is dark, an opportunity for transformation is lost—yes, for the performers, remaking themselves so completely that, on the best of days, they lack any tether to the real world. But just as importantly, for the audiences who find that bearing witness to those performances, has remade them just the same.” – American Theatre
How ABT Pivoted To TikTok
At least a little bit: “‘The expectation of an elite ballet company is that it’s going to be really cutthroat and really scary and really intimidating,’ Holloway said, but ABT is a big, supportive family who like to have fun” – and both the older Instagram and fairly new TikTok accounts emphasize that for their younger-skewing audiences. – PopSugar
Netflix May Be Trying To Make Password-Sharing Harder
Here we go: “When users open the Netflix TV app, they will be asked to verify their account with a code that is either texted or emailed to the account holder. If they aren’t the account holder, users will be reminded, ‘If you don’t live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching.'” – Los Angeles Times
Hollywood’s Deliberate Refusal To Center Black Stories And Actors Costs It Billions Of Dollars
Every time a Black-led film makes tons of money – say Girls Trip or heck, even Black Panther – the same stories pop up. Black-led films can make money! There will soon be more! But, a new report says, if Hollywood chose to address racial inequities, “the industry could generate an added $10 billion in revenues a year.” – Los Angeles Times
How The Uffizi Is Modernizing
It is an investment in the future. We have been stepping up our education programs for kids and youth quite a lot. We continued doing that throughout the lockdown and I think that this differentiates us from many other museums that cut down on those departments, and especially on educational freelancers who were supposed to be giving seminars and tours. – Artnet
The Shocking Case Against Private Prep Schools
Parents at elite private schools sometimes grumble about taking nothing from public schools yet having to support them via their tax dollars. But the reverse proposition is a more compelling argument. Why should public-school parents—why should anyone—be expected to support private schools? Exeter has 1,100 students and a $1.3 billion endowment. Andover, which has 1,150 students, is on track to take in $400 million in its current capital campaign. And all of this cash, glorious cash, comes pouring into the countinghouse 100 percent tax-free. – The Atlantic
How The Revenue From Music Streaming Gets Parcelled Out To Artists (And Why It’s Bad For Classical)
“Clearly, the ‘every track play pays the same’ model (known in the jargon as ‘platform-centric’) has the potential to seriously damage classical music and any other minority genre or one not thought appropriate for background listening. An alternative payment model has been proposed and has been trialled by French platform Deezer: the ‘user-centric’ model.” – Bachtrack
How The Breakdancing Competition At The 2024 Olympics Will Work
“Sixteen b-boys and 16 b-girls will compete in Paris, chosen through qualifying events organized by WDSF on five continents. There will be no numbered scoring. Instead, the competition will be structured in battle format, true to b-boy/b-girl culture: tournament-style, one-versus-one. The winner of one battle moves on to face the next challenger, and the winner of that battle moves on to the next. The last dancers standing will be the Olympic champions.” – Dance Magazine
Between Budget Cuts And COVID, Mexico’s Arts Sector Is In Full-On Crisis
“Citing corruption and waste under previous administrations, centre-left President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced hefty budget cuts across all government departments in May 2019. The ministry of culture lost 75% of its operating budget and expects to receive just $693m this year, a severe blow to arts institutions and those who depend on them for their livelihoods.” Add to that the financial blows from pandemic-related closures, and programming has been slashed, conservation and basic maintenance cut or deferred, and salaries unpaid. – The Art Newspaper
It Was A Mosaic From Caligula’s Pleasure Yacht. It Became A Park Avenue Coffee Table. Now It’s Finally Back In Rome.
“Officials unveiled the mosaic at the Museum of Roman Ships, which was built in the 1930s specifically to house the treasures of two huge ceremonial ships Caligula commissioned in around AD 40. … Details [have now] emerged about the lucky break in the investigation that got it there.” – AP
Theatre In America After A Year Of The Pandemic
Rob Weinert-Kendt: “So what happened — what changed — in this past 12 months, and how will this lost, frantic year be remembered? I asked dozens of theatre workers from all over the U.S. to answer those questions. Their responses are a panorama of grief, gratitude, frustration, affirmation, resolutions and questions.” – American Theatre
‘Culture Of Fear’ At Detroit Institute Of Arts, Outside Study Found
“The Detroit Institute of Arts is taking steps to improve its workplace culture following a critical review by outside investigators who said they had fielded employee complaints of retaliation by the director whose autocratic leadership style, they said, had fostered an environment that led a disproportionate number of women on staff to leave. … The museum said Monday that it had taken a number of steps in response to the findings.” – The New York Times
A Beeple JPG File Sells for $69 Million At Auction
The price was a new high for an artwork that exists only digitally, beating auction records for physical paintings by museum-valorized greats like J.M.W. Turner, Georges Seurat and Francisco Goya. Bidding at the two-week Beeple sale, consisting of just one lot, began at $100. – The New York Times
Inventor Of The Cassette Tape, Lou Ottens, Dead At 94
As chief of new product development for Philips in 1960, Ottens invented the first portable tape recorder. But it was reel-to-reel, a format which he (like many) found frustratingly bulky, so he set out to invent a tape that would fit in a jacket pocket — and wound up transforming the audio world. Yet later, he quite matter-of-factly stated that the cassette had been completely superseded by the CD — which he also had a major hand in developing. – The Guardian
Touring Broadway Shows Are Gearing Up To Restart In The Fall
“Subscription packages for some of Broadway’s biggest hits are being sold at a handful of the nation’s performing arts centers, while a host of others have booked dates and plan to [start selling] subscriptions later this spring. Although performances are almost six months away and could change, … the return of Broadway road shows is critical to the financial recovery of regional arts centers.” – The Washington Post