“The classical music station Radio 3 has recorded its joint highest audience share since records began, as listeners weary of politics take refuge in Brahms and Bach. The BBC station reached 2.13 million listeners a week in the last quarter, up 16 per cent on the same period for the previous year.” – The Times (UK)
Tag: 02.06.20
Five Years On, An Oral History Of #OscarsSoWhite
“In edited excerpts below, filmmakers, awards-watchers and academy members” — among them Barry Jenkins, Ava DuVernay, Spike Lee, and former Academy president Cheryl Boone Isaacs — “tell the inside story of how what began as a three-word hashtag forced an insular, $42 billion industry to change course.” – The New York Times
This Study Shows Why Netflix And Movie Theatres Shouldn’t Be Enemies
“People were more likely to stream a movie when they knew it had been released in theaters, according to a new survey by Ernst & Young … Sixty two percent of the study’s respondents reported that if a movie had appeared in cinemas, they were more willing to check it on their streaming services.” – Variety
Art Basel Hong Kong Is Officially Cancelled
“After a tumultuous period in Hong Kong marked by continuing protests and fears of a coronavirus outbreak, Art Basel has called off its fair in the city. … MCH Group, the holding company that owns Art Basel, said that the coronavirus and ‘severe logistical challenges’ limiting travel were among the ‘numerous factors’ that had influenced the decision. The ongoing protests were not mentioned in the release.” – ARTnews
If The British Arts World Doesn’t Want BP Or Sackler Money, Should It Really Be So Dependent On The National Lottery?
“Our sector relies on the gambling industry for over a third of its public investment in a country where an estimated 430,000 people have a serious problem with gambling. And we seem to take active pleasure in that fact.” – ArtsProfessional
Nello Santi, Conductor Renowned For Italian Opera, Dead At 88
A traditionalist maestro who led more than 400 performances at the Met, he had to wait a while before critics gave full credit to his gifts, but singers and orchestral players adored him. – The New York Times
Can Social Mapping Explain Relationships Between Cultures?
If you look at the U.S., Canada is culturally similar, as is Australia. If you look at China, Vietnam and South Korea are quite culturally similar. The point, though, is that the world, culturally, doesn’t go linearly from the U.S. to whatever the endpoint is—Egypt, in this case. Those countries in between the U.S. and Egypt are not similar to each other because they fall in between them. – Nautilus
Trump Attacks Modern Architecture, Declares “Make Federal Buildings Beautiful Again”
In a seven-page draft executive order obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, Trump declares that the federal government since the 1950s has “largely stopped building beautiful buildings that the American people want to look at or work in.” Future federal government buildings, he decrees, should look like those of ancient Rome, Greece and Europe. “Classical architectural style shall be the preferred and default style,” he states. Trump’s draft order is titled — get ready for it — “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again.” – Chicago Sun-Times
Longtime Chicago Tribune Pop Critic Greg Kot Takes A Buyout As The Company That Owns The Trib Dismantles It
A native of Syracuse, New York, and graduate of Marquette University, Kot worked for the Quad City Times in Davenport, Iowa, before joining the Tribune as a copy editor in 1980. Ten years later he was promoted to music critic and quickly established his reputation as a trusted and insightful writer on popular music across many genres. – Robert Feder
Closing time
I never sit around pining for what might have been. What was and is, after all, have both proved to be wholly satisfying. But when you get to be my age — I turned sixty-four today — you can’t help but think about the roads you didn’t take, the unknown and unknowable possibilities. – Terry Teachout