“As it currently stands, the publishing industry largely serves the interests of the wealthiest higher-ups, and that is the entire reason for any financial strain on publishers without the capital of a corporation. The larger publishers could easily take the risks that smaller publishers do. The only reason for smaller presses to be working with less is because that’s simply how the system has been engineered to function.” – Electric Lit
New Online Sales Hub For Indie Bookstores Is Doing Great Business, But Not All Is Well
“Bookshop launched in January with the intention of offering independent bookstores an improved online commerce hub that will help them woo customers away from Amazon. … The site has seen a 2,000% increase in sales in the past month compared to the month before and has become a lifeline for many stores that have been temporarily closed by the Covid-19 pandemic. … Despite its success, the site has critics.” – Publishers Weekly
There’s A Brilliant Ballet Choreographer At Dance Theater Of Harlem. Why Isn’t The Rest Of The Ballet World Using Him?
Robert Garland, the company’s resident choreographer and director of its school, “for all of his talent, is still one of the most underused choreographers working today, which is odd in a time that diversity has come to matter so much to the ballet world,” writes Gia Kourlas. “Why isn’t [his] phone ringing off the hook?” – The New York Times
An Existential Self-Help Book For Artists
What does it mean to be an artist in an economy that actually doesn’t allow many people to make their living as artists? The art world is in the midst of a larger inflection point at the moment, as it increasingly recognizes itself as yet another industry built on hoarded capital and exploited labor. – The New Republic
The Virtual World Is Awash In Streaming Film Services
Aside from drive-ins, we can’t go to the movies. A trickle are coming out online, but “if you thought choosing a film at the multiplex was difficult, finding that same new movie in the current hodgepodge is potentially paralyzing.” – The New York Times
Edward James Olmos Thinks Hollywood Needs To Step Up Its Understanding Of Latinx Actors
The Oscar nominee (for Stand and Deliver) is quarantining alone and promoting a virtual film festival in Los Angeles. Of his friends who are Latino actors, he says, “We want to be known as American actors. That’d be the correct way, but it isn’t. And I knew it would never be in my lifetime. I knew that we had to first be known as American Latinos, and carry that very strongly and proudly, for us to then be able to not have to use it anymore.” – The New York Times
Furloughed SFMOMA Staff Ask Management To Do More
The staff want to more info, and they want to see more sacrifices from the folks at the top. “Although the federal loan received by the museum may offer some relief, SFMOMA’s workers continue to ask the questions that have resounded across the cultural sector for weeks: why, with such wealth, are museums choosing to leave staff in the lurch, many of whom held tenuous positions to begin with? And why aren’t their wealthy benefactors, to whom a handful of millions represents a minimal fraction of their assets, help sustain them?” – Hyperallergic
The Author Of A Book ABout Misogynistic Abuse Also Is Hit With A Mountain Of Online Abuse
The alt-right troll army has found, and targeted, the author of a book about abuse. She says, “I knew the book needed to be written – but I didn’t know it needed to be written this badly. The targeted attacks from men in the last week have been appalling. I will always centre women in my work and I will keep making misogynists uncomfortable.” – The Guardian (UK)
French Directors And Distributors Are Thrilled By The Confinement’s ‘Return’ To Cinema
“We can only welcome a massive return of heritage cinema to France Télévisions in this very special period. Let us hope that this frantic desire continues in post-confinement,” they write. But, they add, why aren’t the channels diversifying their offerings with contemporary filmmakers (and not just from France) instead of simply returning to the 1970s? – Le Monde
Hollywood Studios And Union Will Begin Virtual Negotiations This Week
At issue in the SAG-AFTRA talks with the studios is everything from scheduling to residuals, and certainly health insurance as members deal with loss of jobs to the coronavirus shutdown. – Los Angeles Times
Paris Without (Extra) People
Paris without tourists looks and feels different – and is a reminder of other traumatic times. “In this stage-set Paris, the monuments still brilliantly illuminated, it is easy to imagine an earlier time when the city streets were quiet: the German occupation. Photographs from that period show empty streets, solitary pedestrians, and grand monuments jarringly out of sync with the humiliated city. Like now, lines of grim-faced customers stretch from the few open stores.” – The New York Times
To Postpone Literary Prizes, Or To Go Virtual?
That is the question. The Booker delayed its prize not because it couldn’t have a virtual ceremony, but because book distribution is in a bit of a crisis right now. “According to a statement, the award will be delayed until later in the northern summer to ensure that readers are able to get hold of copies of the shortlisted books.” Uh, yes please. – Sydney Morning Herald
A Traveling Theatre Troupe In Japan, Ground To A Halt By Nothing Ever
Though the troupe has cut back on performances, it’s still going (Japan has encouraged people to stay home, but hasn’t shut down places like theatres – at the time of writing this post): “Gekidan Miyama has been entertaining audiences for over a century, persisting, as Nakamura says, through earthquakes and typhoons, but also managing to come back after a world war.” Can it, will it, survive Covid-19? – Japan Times
MGM Has Laid Off 7 Percent Of Its Remaining Workforce
In another Hollywood blow, the studio laid off about 50 of its remaining staff – and made those cuts permanent. “We are reconfiguring certain divisions of the studio to allow MGM to operate more effectively in a changing media landscape, both during this pandemic, and beyond.” (The “and beyond” is the ominous part.) – Los Angeles Times
Why We Have The Makeover Urge From Quarantine
No one has actually studied mass makeovers during a prolonged global pandemic—we’re in uncharted territory here—but people like Christopher Oldstone-Moore think there’s much to glean from personal expressions of the past. – Wired
New Data On Impact Of The Pandemic On Artists
About 11,000 of the Artist Relief applicants completed a survey co-sponsored by the nonprofit advocacy group Americans for the Arts. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said they are now unemployed (a number that rose to 67% for California respondents), and 80% do not yet have a plan for how to recover from the crisis. On average, these artists estimated that their annual income will decline by more than $27,000. – Los Angeles Times
Live Drive-In Opera Is Coming To London
English National Opera is planning to stage two classics on the grounds of the Alexandra Palace in North London, with singers and orchestral players spaced at least six feet apart and the audience in cars or on motorcycles or bikes. And if it works, ENO may take the concept around the country. – The Guardian