Said Chay Yew, “We’ve always complained about how the American theatre doesn’t work. I for one find the blank slate exciting. We either repeat what we did before or we don’t. The structure will have to come down.” Joe Haj conceded that if the crisis “ends in six weeks, we may be much like we were before. But if not, or there’s another spike in the virus, we may need to rethink our model entirely. There’s a huge role for leadership. We need to be able to dream ourselves forward.” – American Theatre
Tag: 04.01.20
Bookstores Had Staged Something Of A Comeback. And Now This
In a 2016 study, the median small business had enough cash to last just 27 days, while a 2018 survey found that 21 percent would fail after a month without cash flow. Bookstores run on even slimmer margins than the typical mom-and-pop shop—but the ones that have survived in the Amazon era have made it for a reason. – Slate
COVID Response: Panic Buying Of Pianos?
“Many see the period of isolation as an opportunity to pursue passions that might have otherwise lain dormant. Music-learning apps and sheet music sites like nKoda have boomed, and, contrary to trends across the rest of the retail sector, so have instrument sales.” – Van
Canada Council Launches Emergency Funding Plan
The Canada Council for the Arts has announced $60M in advance funding to arts organizations that have approved funding from the 2019/20 season. This amounts to the equivalent to 35% of the annual grants held by all core funded organizations. The funding is designed to help arts not-for-profits meet short term financial commitments to the artists and cultural workers they employ. Ludwig Van
Theaters Across The U.S. Commission Ten-Minute Plays We Can All Perform While Sheltering In Place
“The [project], which is being called ‘Play at Home,’ is a website (playathome.org) featuring new plays, intended to take no more than 10 minutes to read, that are free so that anyone can read or perform them at home or by video conferencing. The commissioning theaters are providing a $500 stipend to the playwrights they select to write the works.” – The New York Times
Chicago Dance Companies On The Edge
Put simply, the state’s dance scene has taken a body blow. Indeed, industry leaders fear that some companies won’t recover from this crisis at all and others could come back in a weakened or reduced form. – Chicago Sun-Times
Assembling New Micro-Operas During Coronavirus Confinement
“Ella Marchment, stage director of the International Opera Awards, is behind the scheme, which is called #OperaHarmony. … The [project] will pair composers with librettists to create pieces on the theme of distance or community. The composers and librettists will then be matched with directors and singers to record their micro-opera, which will be shared online.” – The Stage
Brown Paper Tickets Systems Overwhelmed, Artists And Venues Can’t Get Their Money
“The 20-year-old BPT, which has grown from a local company to an international ticket broker, handles tens of thousands of events around the world each month. But in the past few weeks, an avalanche of pandemic-related pressures swamped the company, overwhelming its systems. In a flurry of confusing event cancellations and postponements, BPT founder and president William Scott Jordan said, the company and its bank lost control of their financial machinery — together, they decided to shut down the account that paid artists and organizations.” – Seattle Times
As The World Shuts Down, Yale School Of Music Takes Care Of Its Students
“In a March 31st letter to alumni, Dean Robert Blocker outlined an ambitious plan to provide aid, including ‘a one-time stipend of $500’ to all students to assist with travel and expenses; full pay, despite social distancing, for all student employees through May 1st, 2020; and relocation of all international students who could not return home to University housing.” – The Middleclass Artist
North American Movie Box Office Down $600 Million From Last Year
“Amid the far-reaching impact of the coronavirus pandemic, … domestic ticket sales turned in a combined $1.81 billion from Jan. 1 through March 19, the day when Comscore stopped reporting theater grosses. That compares to $2.41 billion for the first full three months of 2019.” – The Hollywood Reporter