Axel Sheffler is used to being alone at home as he works on illustrating books. But his publisher had heard from a teacher friend that kids weren’t doing as well. The result: A swiftly published, free book with facts and honesty about what we know and don’t know about social distancing and more. “Like all good children’s stories, the book ends on a positive note. There’s a picture of families, doctors and nurses celebrating together and the caption reads: ‘One day this strange time will be over.'” – BBC
Tag: 04.26.20
The Detroit Symphony’s Very New Music Master Deals With The Global Disaster
What timing: “It was an exuberant, whirlwind stretch for Jader Bignamini in late January, when the young conductor was unveiled as new music director for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.” Now, he’s hosting watch parties from Toronto and says, “Music and concerts generally are so important but now even more. Because it can give people happiness, joy and good thoughts. We have to think good things, and it’s so difficult now. I think with music — with culture, with books, with art — we can imagine a better world than now.” – Detroit Free Press
Artists Warn Government That The UK May Become ‘Cultural Wasteland’ After The Pandemic
Those who signed the appeal to the government include Rufus Wainwright, Anish Kapoor, and Simon Callow. The letter calls “for urgent funding for creative organisations and professionals who, it says, are ‘falling through the gaps of existing government support measures.'” – The Guardian (UK)
The Refugee Artist Staying Home While His Art Travels
Serge Alain Nitegeka can’t travel even when there’s not a global pandemic: He lives in South Africa, but he was born in Rwanda, and his family fled during the massacres in 1994. So for an exhibition in New York, “he relied on the gallery team to gather New York dirt, which turned out darker and mulchier than the reddish soil Mr. Nitegeka had pictured. That was fine — adaptation was the point of the piece. But the more tactile and sensory these decisions, the more the distance frustrated him.” – The New York Times
The Met At Home Gala Was Surprisingly Moving
“We have all sometimes taken opera, and opera houses, and opera singers, for granted. No longer.” – The New York Times