The dancers, especially the freelancers, are facing terrible losses of income and camaraderie, not to mention fitness opportunities. “Self-training isn’t anything new to dancers, but in the absence of daily classes or a trip to the gym, that chance to continue to train alongside others, even virtually, has offered a vital form of connection during a time of sudden change; a reminder that we’re not in this alone.” – The Stage (UK)
Tag: 04.03.20
The End Of The Art World (As We Know It)
Via this year’s deeply reimagined Sydney Biennale, now called NIRIN: “The impact of COVID-19 is both a significant challenge and a threshold for new beginnings. An international art world that has called persistently for radical socioeconomic change is now faced with just that in large measure, albeit in ways that it is not in a position to readily absorb.” – Hyperallergic
Online Dance Parties Are The New Clubs, Workouts, And Social Life
Dance classes, “clubbing” from home, and other dance-related videos (and Instagram Stories, Zooms, etc.) are keeping loneliness at bay as nearly everyone has orders to shelter in place. Some are very much like in-person life: “Attendees often dress up for a night out, even if their corner of the party is located in their living rooms. A bouncer will eject party-goers who don’t follow the rules. Attendees can even make a donation via PayPal, an approximation of a cover charge that organizers use to pay the DJs and drag artists who perform each night.” – Globe and Mail (Canada)
Agatha Christie Is (Still) The Best-Selling Novelist Of All Time
Sure, Shakespeare and the Bible outsell Agatha Christie, but otherwise, she’s the tops. “Agatha Christie’s novels have sold more than one billion copies in the English language and another billion internationally.” Thirty percent of USians who like to read started their mystery reading with an Agatha Christie book. And then there’s Mousetrap. – Literary Hub
Chinese Film Industry Restarts, If Slowly
Given strict health controls by the production teams, including quarantines for the entire film crew, “studios have reopened in Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao and Xi’an, and TV series such as Legend of Fei and Like a Flowing River have resumed production. High-profile film shoots, including Zhang Yimou’s Impasse, are also reported to have begun filming again.” – The Guardian (UK)
MoMA Has Canceled All Educator Contracts, Saying It May Not Need Educators For Years
The email was grim, and employees who had done all of the prep work for April tours aren’t being paid for that work. On the other side of things for educators – though not for 76 other staff members who were laid off – “MoMA’s email to educators came only days before New York City’s Whitney Museum sent its own freelance education staff a hopeful message: it hopes to launch a new online teaching initiative that could keep them employed.” – Hyperallergic
Boston’s Principal Ballerina In Canceled Carmen Says ‘It Feels Like The Stage Was Pulled Out From Under Us’
Lia Cirio: “For a few days I was really in wallowing mode, just watching Netflix and not being very active. But then my mom sent me a quote on Instagram that said ‘Victory comes from finding opportunities in problems,’ and that inspired me to do something to help me cope. … I created some shirts to sell, and the profits benefit the Greater Boston Food Bank and the Boston Artists Relief Fund that they just set up. The design is just something simple— [they say] ‘Art heals, wash your hands.'” – Boston Magazine
How Are Bookstores Surviving, If They Are At All?
Here’s what’s going on with some bookstores in Los Angeles. The Ripped Bodice in Culver City, which has a big Twitter following, offered a “care package” deal. Co-owner Leah Koch: “‘Those have been so popular. We put them up before we closed to foot traffic. Within 48 hours, we had 230 orders,’ Koch says, adding that the store now has a waitlist for the care package service and, as of this writing, there were 700 people on the waitlist.” Other bookstores? It’s not great news. – The Hollywood Reporter
After The Kennedy Center Laid Off Many Of Its Employees, Congress May Ask For That $25 Million Back
But much of the money is earmarked already, and may benefit furloughed employees: “About $7.5 million of the bailout will cover six months of benefits — pension, social security and health care — for all employees, including those furloughed. The center continues to negotiate with its insurance company to fund health-care benefits after May 31. Another $1.75 million is for future artists’ contracts and fees.” But both Republicans and Democrats have some issues with the way this has shaken out. – The Washington Post
Chiura Obata’s Career Was Interrupted By Internment During WWII. Now A Retrospective Of His Work Has Been Stilled By The Virus
“Suddenly he was in a drab, dehumanizing place, first a stable in California, then the barracks of Topaz, Utah, where he spent most of his time in internment. It was bleak, hot, arid and dusty, and he missed green things, trees and gardens. He moved quickly to establish an art school, both at Tanforan and later Topaz. And when he represented the camp at Topaz, the sense of displacement became dreamlike, even surreal, a luminous landscape that looked just a bit scorched, with a few dark buildings in the midground standing in for the enormity of what was happening there.” – Washington Post