“Even before the pandemic, the sprawling company was struggling with bloat and creative fatigue after a consortium led by an American private equity firm acquired it in 2015, and accelerated a debt-fueled global expansion spree.” Meanwhile, the performers face ever more uncertainty; as one put it, “There aren’t a lot of LinkedIn listings for unemployed contortionists.” – The New York Times
New Music Written Expressly For The Pandemic
Violinist Jennifer Koh has been commissioning more than 40 pieces for herself to play unaccompanied on her weekly Facebook Live show. So are other musicians and organizations, from the New Jersey Symphony to the Guggenheim. “Taken together,” writs David Patrick Stearns, “these direct artistic responses are the classical soundscape of the pandemic. The keep-your-spirits-up message that circulated early on in the classical music community has given way to something darker.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Will The Pandemic Persuade People Cities Are Unsafe?
“In fact, no correlation exists between population density and rates of COVID-19 infection, according to recent studies examining the disease in China and Chicago. But if state and local governments still conclude that density itself is a problem, they are more likely to promote suburban sprawl as a matter of law—instead of making the accommodations, in their housing stock and their streetscapes, that allow people to live in cities safely and move about them comfortably.” – The Atlantic
How Do Electrical Impulses In The Brain Translate Into Feelings?
Understanding consciousness might be the greatest scientific challenge of our time. How can physical stuff, eg electrical impulses, explain mental stuff, eg dreams or the sense of self? Why does a network of neurons in our brain feel like an experience, when a network of computers or a network of people doesn’t feel like anything, as far as we know? – Aeon
All On The Line: If This Movie Fails This Summer, It’s Big Trouble For Hollywood
“If ‘Tenet’ doesn’t come out or doesn’t succeed, every other company goes home,” said a marketing executive from a rival studio who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the news media. “It’s no movies until Christmas.” – Washington Post
Wait, Doesn’t Everyone Reread Their Favorite Books?
Turns out, no. But here are several reasons to reread, including missing your favorite characters: “I miss the them—miss their superegos, their relatable pride, their all-too-human folly. I especially miss the characters that, despite it all, win: they get the guy, they get the gold, they get the keys to the city.” – LitHub
In Baltimore, As In Many Cities, Midsize Arts Groups Are The Most At Risk
What’s special about midsize groups? The perfect storm: “these organizations have greater overhead costs than small groups and fewer deep-pocketed donors than large organizations, [so] they may be particularly at risk.” – Baltimore Sun
When Lockdown Brings Sudden Instagram Fame
Actor Leslie Jordan is just fine with all of the attention to his “pillow talk” tales of working with more famous – and often much more highly paid – actors and performers. “What was interesting to me was how offers started coming in to push products,” he says. “I’m telling you, I did not know the word monetise.” (He does now.) – BBC
The Guggenheim’s Lockdown Tomato Crop Is Feeding New Yorkers
Yes, this is real. The cherry tomatoes get snipped once a week, and a hundred pounds at a time are donated to City Harvest. “They were written about in the Southeast Produce Weekly, which was an extremely rare appearance of the Guggenheim in a publication dedicated to fruits and vegetables.” – The New York Times