The announcement by UK culture secretary Oliver Dowden (which does not apply for Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, whose regional governments will make that decision) means that — with sanitary and social distancing procedures in place — the summer season may start at such venues as Shakespeare’s Globe in London, the Minack Theatre in Cornwall, and the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, where a special outdoor program has been developed. – The Guardian
Tag: 07.09.20
Outdoor Theatre, Festivals Resume This Weekend In UK
The test events will feature the London Symphony Orchestra at St Luke’s Church, as well as performances at the London Palladium and Butlin’s holiday parks. “This is an important milestone for our performing artists, who have been waiting patiently in the wings since March,” Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said. – BBC
Steve Martin Remembers Carl Reiner
When I perform comedy, I can still hear echoes of my influences coming through. Jack Benny, certainly, Mike Nichols and Elaine May, Lenny Bruce, Steve Allen, Carl Reiner, too. But it is not Carl’s comedic advice I cherish. Rather, it was how he affected my everyday life, the part that has nothing to do with movies or acting. – The New York Times
Uh Oh – Report Says Only 8 Percent Of Users Who Downloaded Quibi For Free Trial Have Stayed To Pay
The bad news, according to the report: Only 72,000 subscribers stuck around and decided to pay $5 a month (or $8 without ads) for the service. That conversion rate, around 8%, does not bode very well as Quibi battles its way through COVID-19 and a crowded streaming field.About 4.5 million total downloads of the app have occurred to date, Sensor Tower estimates. – Deadline
The Harper’s Letter Has Stirred Up Debate. Why Now?
“You can criticize what people say, you can argue about platforms. But it seems like some of the excesses of the moment are leading people to be silenced in a new way.” – The New York Times
Trump’s New Sculpture Park for “American Heroes”? Fuhgedaboudit! The Bronx Already Has that Covered
As a culturally curious teenager, I had made the 20-minute hike from my Bronx apartment to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, a once popular, now little-known pantheon for bronze busts of great men and women, some by well-known sculptors (including four busts by Daniel Chester French, two by Augustus Saint-Gaudens). – Lee Rosenbaum
Germany’s Largest Cultural Institution Is Dysfunctional And Should Be Dissolved: Commission
Never heard of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation? It’s the body that manages Berlin’s Museum Island complex and all the other state-run museums in the German capital, along with the Berlin State Library and archives. It is notoriously big, slow, cumbersome, and inflexible — and it can be stingy with building maintenance, too. A German federal government commission is now recommending that the Foundation be broken into four separate parts and its funding be overhauled. – Deutsche Welle