Category: AJBlogs

Here’s an ingenious 45-minute film by Behrouz Jamali that revealingly juxtaposes the music Shostakovich, Prokofiev, and Stravinsky wrote in response to World War II. The video artist Peter Bogdanoff contributes a singular visual rendering of Stravinsky’s finale, applying pertinent newsreel clips. – Joseph Horowitz

I fear that the rampaging growth of income (and most other) inequality is going to be a raw wound on the other side of this crisis and that the nonprofit arts industry could be caught up in a widespread reaction against it. This post and others that follow will explain the fear. – Doug Borwick

What has interested me right now are online videos in which dancers, sequestered in their homes, keep in shape. Their charm lies in how the dedicated, witty performers interact with their locations. When did you last see a crackerjack dancer toss off a high kick between her refrigerator and her stove? – Deborah Jowitt

Difficult times are a form of truth serum. They force clear priorities. For me, that’s meant reaching out nationally to offer, at no charge, a webinar for nonprofit leaders: “CRISIS ENGAGEMENT: 12 Tasks to Sustain Donors in Turbulent Times.” – Matt Lehrman

Sotheby’s new leaders, who took the publicly traded company private, are understandably eager to reopen their New York saleroom for post-pandemic business. Having disclosed a $71.2-million net loss in its 2019 Annual Report (compared to net income of $108.6 million the previous year), the company could use a life-sustaining income infusion. – Lee Rosenbaum

The web has its own culture, it’s own language, its own ethos. Putting facsimile arts experiences online won’t cut it. And yet, we need to develop a hybrid model that includes the online experience. – Douglas McLennan

We learned a lot of things about Singin’ in the Rain during the Lockdown Theatre Club group watch. Here are 20 of them – from dubbing the dubbers to Gene Kelly’s buttock-framing trousers. – David Jays

The point of the exercise is to wean the young artist off result-oriented copying from photos. ‘Taking the line for a walk’ lets the drawing come about in the process of drawing. – Jan Herman

The dictionary defines equation as “the act of making equal.” In his engrossing new solo album, pianist Matthew Shipp creates eleven new pieces of music in which the equality of his powerful hands is important to the venture’s success, but not as important as his fertile imagination. – Doug Ramsey

Given the scale of the national crisis facing all sectors of the economy in the months and years to come, the pandemic is a historic disruption that represents an existential crisis. What to do? I’ve come to think of it in the following frame: Restorationists versus Opportunists. – Douglas McLennan