In 1560, Cosimo I de’ Medici, who later became the grand duke of Tuscany, wanted a building in which both the administrative and judiciary offices of Florence could be under one roof. So he commissioned the building of the Uffizi, which in Italian means “offices.” – The Conversation
Arts And STEM Require Same Type Of Creativity: Study
“According to study authors, the creativity toolkits used in the arts and in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are actually very similar. Fundamentally, both rely on being open to new ideas, employing divergent thinking, and maintaining a sense of flexibility, they say.” – Fast Company
Meet One Of America’s Most Promising Young Black Conductors
Roderick Cox, 33, had been associate conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra for two years when, in 2018, he won the Georg Solti Conducting Award. He then relocated to Europe, and his career has been on the rise ever since. – The Dallas Morning News
Richmond Ballet Is Onstage, But How?
Very, very carefully. After the city went to phase three, the dancers and administration met over Zoom to figure out a return. “The new criteria for the one-hour show, now without an intermission: only married couples or roommates performing pas de deux, choreographic selections that lean heavily on solos and trios, and masks mandated for everyone in the building.” – Pointe Magazine
Britain Will Investigate Whether Streaming Services Are Paying Musicians Enough
Honestly, does it truly take an investigation by Britain’s Members of Parliament to know the answer? Perhaps it does – to get honest, clear answers and clarity about where to go from here. – BBC
Aching For The Return Of Live Theatre
Mary-Louise Parker isn’t unhappy about her Tony nomination. But it’s poking at some of the profession’s pandemic wounds. “I just want to see a ghost light. I want to hear someone call, ‘Places!’ I want to walk through the stage door. There’s just something about theater — even nights when I feel like I’ve only done a decent job, I feel like I’ve given something in a way I don’t on film or TV. It feels like I’ve exerted all my energy.” – The New York Times
Your Indie Bookstore Wants You To Revive It, Not Help Murder It, OK?
Before the pandemic, indie bookstores were reviving to the tune of hundreds more per year. Now they’re closing, about one per week, and as a certain online behemoth pushed a certain discount deal, locals are sharpening their stilettos – and asking for help. – The New York Times
Why Have Tony Nominations Now?
“In theater, timing is everything, and the timing of these nominations is just plain embarrassing.” – Los Angeles Times
Toronto Indie Movie Theatres Resort To Non-Profit Tactics To Stay Alive
From offering patrons the chance to have their names grace cinema walls for a price, to selling concession stand staples at the front door, the theatres say they’re doing what they can to stay afloat. – Toronto Star
Ireland Gives €50M To Commercial Arts Venues
The new €50 million support for live events in 2021 (as well as funding for music and equipment grants) for next year in Irish venues, announced in this week’s budget, is the first time the commercial entertainment sector has received state support. – Irish Times
Footnotes Are A Pain. But For Historians, Essential
Proper referencing is important; it creates a breadcrumb trail for your reader so that your footsteps can be followed. It means providing your academic genealogy and giving credit for ideas you’ve adopted. It means that your factual assertions can be verified and it works to keep us all operating in good faith. If you make an honest mistake, it means that your reader can steadily work their way back along the path to find out where you took the wrong fork. – History Today
Framing The Guston Show Postponement
‘Clearly, there are a host of factors at play here, not all of which I am qualified to talk about. I want to add two concepts to the discussion of the competing new pressures museums are under: “context collapse” and “paranoid reading.” ‘ – Artnet
This Movie Theatre Is Closed. It Still Costs $25,000 A Month To Run
What are the owners of the Dominion cinema in Edinburgh paying £20,000 for each month? “Heating bills so the four-screen cinema does not get damp, water rates, insurance, monthly servicing projector costs, card reader machine contracts, IT costs and staff tax and national insurance have all contributed to the huge monthly outgoings.” – BBC
The Science Of Wisdom
Really? Science? Just how do you even define what wisdom is (as opposed to knowledge). Yet some have attempted to quantify it. – Psyche
The 25 Most Influential Works of American Protest Art Since World War II
The list includes comments on each work by the panelists who did the choosing: artists Dread Scott, Catherine Opie and Shirin Neshat, journalist Nikil Saval and Whitney Museum of American Art assistant curator Rujeko Hockley. (First on the list, which is in no particular order, is the now-graffiti-bombed and co-opted statue of Robert E. Lee on Richmond’s Monument Avenue.) – T — The New York Times Style Magazine
Philadelphia Orchestra Musicians Accept Further Pay Cuts
“The deal, approved this week by the orchestra’s members, ties pay in part to the fortunes of the organization. Compensation for musicians will be reduced to 75% of normal pay retroactively to Sept. 12 and through the middle of March. Then, between March 15 and Sept. 12, 2021, pay could be lowered or slightly increased depending on the condition of the orchestra’s COVID-battered finances.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Baltimore Museum Of Art Stakeholders Ask State Of Maryland To Stop Sale Of Artworks
“Former trustees, committee members, donors and docents of the Baltimore Museum of Art have asked Maryland officials to halt the institution’s plans to sell paintings by Andy Warhol, Clyfford Still and Brice Marden, and to investigate what they describe as irregularities and conflicts of interest surrounding the sales.” – The Washington Post
Arts Groups Say UK Gov’t Requires Them To Advertise Bailout Program In Order To Get Funds
A formal complaint filed with Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority charges that Boris Johnson’s government is insisting that all organizations receiving rescue money from the £1.57 billion Culture Recovery Fund promote the Fund on their social media accounts. – The Independent (UK)
This Year’s Most Unusual Tony Nominations
This year’s awards may go down in history as the taken-with-a-grain-of-salt Tonys. The pandemic that shut down Broadway on March 12 meant that some of the most interesting shows of the season could not be considered. – Washington Post
Health Insurance For Performing Artists In U.S. Is Rickety Even In Good Times. Now It’s Near Collapse.
“The health care and retirement systems by which performing artists sustain themselves have fallen apart in the pandemic with potentially catastrophic results on both personal and systemic levels. There has to be a better way to do this.” Chris Jones explains how the crisis has come about, why a turf war between unions is making it worse, and why the public should care. – Chicago Tribune
The Battle of Baltimore: Former Museum Trustees Strike Back in the Deaccession Wars
Any museum official tempted to exploit the (so-called) permanent collection as a fungible commodity for bankrolling pet projects (however worthy) and bolstering the payroll should read and take heed of this six-page letter deploring the Baltimore Museum of Art’s planned disposals. – Lee Rosenbaum
Bernard Herrmann’s “Whitman” — A Subversive Yet Inspirational Entertainment for Today
In 1944, Bernard Herrmann collaborated with the producer Norman Corwin on Whitman, a half-hour dramatic presentation invoking America’s iconic poet to rally the home front during World War II. It was heard by millions of listeners. It’s a classic exemplar of a forgotten creative genre: the radio drama. – Joseph Horowitz
Envisioning A ‘Zoom-Plus’ Made For Virtual Performances
Ron Evans: “We’re still working around the fact that Zoom was not designed for a performing arts experience. What would things look like if the performing arts had a software platform of their own? … It’s clear that [it] would need new functionalities never seen before. But what exactly? I’ve put together a few thoughts.” – Arts Professional