In addition to calling off all events in the June 24-August 30 festival, Jacob’s Pillow administration is making staffing and salary cuts. However, said director Pamela Tatge, “[if] people are able to congregate again in August, we will make every effort to try to bring audiences together in keeping with the public safety guidelines in effect at that time.” – The Berkshire Eagle
Is COVID A Wakeup Call?
We do not yet know what effect the current pandemic will have on worldwide demographics. But it is actually slightly more likely to increase future populations than decrease them. If the actions of governments, or at least of most governments, make people feel more insecure, economically and socially, then younger people may in the near future have more children than they would have had; and the pandemic will, counterintuitively, very slightly increase the total future population. – The Guardian
Classical Music Activity Explodes Online As Shutdown Closes Stages
In-person performances have been replaced by a deluge of digital ones — live streams and recently unlocked archive recordings — that have made for a calendar hardly less busy than before concert halls closed. It’s enough to keep a critic happily overwhelmed, yet also wondering whether the industry is making a mistake by giving away so much for free. – The New York Times
How Public Libraries Are Adapting To The Virus
When libraries closed their doors abruptly, they immediately opened their digital communications, collaborations, and creative activity to reach their public in ways as novel as the virus that forced them into it. You can be sure that this is just the beginning. Today libraries are already acting and improvising. Later, they’ll be figuring out what the experience means to their future operations and their role in American communities. – The Atlantic
Hilary Teachout, R.I.P.
The “Mrs. T” of this blog suffered throughout our years together from pulmonary hypertension, a rare and devastating illness that gnawed inexorably at her body without touching her soul. She faced death as she faced life, with indomitable courage. – Terry Teachout
Strategic Planning and Muddling Through
Out in the woods for today’s video, on Charles Lindblom’s classic essay “The science of ‘muddling through’”. When an arts organization sets out to form a strategic plan, what exactly is it doing? – Michael Rushton
A Slice of Life in Lockdown
The Amazon delivery guy rang the bell, then scampered off to safety behind the garden gate, a good distance, but not so far that he couldn’t hear and acknowledge my “thank you.” – Paul Levy