Having listened to recent online offerings from North America and Europe (where concerts are carefully starting to move back into halls), David Patrick Stearns predicts that “innovation and experimentation will continue to be part of the package …, but in a less reckless form than in the past, and with a strong streak of social responsibility. Performances will be more intense. Decorative elements will be at a minimum. The pursuit of artistic truth could easily translate into a lack of polish. And that will be okay — we’ve had plenty of polish in recent decades.” – WQXR (New York City)
Tag: 08.06.20
Of Experts And The Willingness To Be Wrong
When experts and pundits can’t or won’t say ‘I don’t know’, the consequences can be dire. In the short term, bad advice leads to bad decisions. In the context of admitting uncertainty about challenging questions, there are two ways this can happen. These are particularly clear and salient in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. – Aeon
Reckoning With The Ugly Racist Origins Of Some Of American English’s Most Common Expressions
“‘Sold down the river.’ ‘Cakewalk.’ ‘Master and slave.’ American English is riddled with words and phrases with racist origins or undertones. Since the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis and the flurry of protests his and other Black Americans’ deaths have inspired, a growing number of public and private institutions are reevaluating their reliance on language with racist connotations or history.” – The Boston Globe
Black Dancers Are ‘Reclaiming’ Richmond’s Robert E. Lee Monument
Here’s one instance from last month: “Standing at the base of the three-story pedestal supporting the Confederate general’s likeness, [Janine] Bell, the artistic director of Elegba Folklore Society, welcomed a small sea of drummers, dancers and bystanders banging on plastic buckets to an event she called the Reclamation Drum Circle. ‘We are not playing today,’ she said, and invited all present to move and sway to the music. And so began an extended jam session at a park long considered a whites-only space.” – The New York Times
Stop Panicking Over The Age Of Classical Audiences, Says NY Times Chief Critic
Anthony Tommasini: “Elements of dismaying ageism run through the chronic bemoaning over the graying of classical and opera audiences, something that bothered me even before I entered this older demographic myself. … But images and television broadcasts make plain that even back in the 1960s, when Leonard Bernstein was galvanizing the Philharmonic and attracting young people like me to his concerts, audiences were dominated by those in their 50s and older. Yet, year after year, devoted older fans continued to appear.” – The New York Times
Staffers At Philadelphia Museum Of Art Vote Overwhelmingly To Unionize
The vote tally was 181 to 22. “While organizers said there were many reasons behind the union drive, complaints against two Art Museum supervisors provided the movement with energy. Organizers hoped that union representation would ’empower staff in the face of incidents of harassment and discrimination like those publicized in January of this year.'” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
What’s The Definition Of ‘Museum’? The International Council Of Museums Is Tearing Itself Up Over That Question
“In recent months, several people working on the committee to revise the body’s definition of what a museum is have resigned, and there have been accusations of ‘back-alley political games.’ The Council’s president has also quit her post. For some, these disagreements reflect a wider split in the museum world about whether such institutions should be places that exhibit and research artifacts, or ones that actively engage with political and social issues.” – The New York Times