Tag: 08.13.20

Why America Needs Its Version Of The BBC

One partial solution to the decline of media that often gets ignored—yet has the potential to both alleviate the deepening crisis and also help restore public trust in the media as a whole—is for the government to create and finance a truly public media system. The idea of public media is often conflated with state-run media in the eyes of skittish libertarians, but public media systems in other democracies have proven entirely capable of retaining editorial independence despite being government-funded. – The New Republic

These Women Published Under Men’s Names – Is It Misguided Feminism To Republish Them Under Their Own?

The Women’s Prize for Fiction recently debuted an upcoming project which will mark the 25th anniversary of the prize: an initiative called “Reclaim Her Name” (#ReclaimHerName) which republishes famous works by twenty-five female authors who published under male nom-de-plumes in the 19th and early 20th centuries, including George Eliot, George Sand, Vernon Lee, and Arnold Petri. The thing is, the initiative is republishing these books using the authors’ given, female names, rather than their male pseudonyms. Many have applauded this initiative. No. Stop applauding. Stop applauding now. – LitHub

Stand-Up Comedy Outdoors Just Doesn’t Work The Same Way

Several outfits in New York are trying it, and Jesse David Fox checked one out. “Comedy clubs are agreed-upon spaces where we allow comedians to say whatever they want. But now we have, as [Sean] Patton called it, ‘filthy hoo-ha talk’ floating into the air for anyone to hear. … Also, you don’t think about how important ceilings are until there aren’t any. Comedy benefits from trapping the laughs in, allowing one joke to ride off the momentum of the previous one. When that’s not possible, laughs float away into the air.” – New York Magazine

No Flipping: Christie’s Add Clause To Contract Of Sale For Works By Black Artists

The market for Black artists’ work is hot right now, and some re-sellers are pocketing enormous profits — none of which are going to the actual creators of the now-high-value asset. So the curator of the Christie’s exhibition “Say It Loud (I’m Black and Proud)” and the house’s management, after consulting the artists, came up with a remedy. – Artnet

The School Of American Ballet Finally Hires A Permanent Faculty Member Who Is Black

When Aesha Ash got hired as a City Ballet dancer, she felt the weight of her people on her back. “I wasn’t just dancing for myself, and I wasn’t just dancing to rise through the ranks and be seen by a director to promote me,. … It was so much bigger than that. I was trying to battle stereotypes and biases on that stage every single night. And I succeeded in some and I failed in others.” Now she’s teaching, but she’s still trying to clear a path for other Black dancers. – The New York Times

Will Britain’s First Live Show To Return Actually Make It Back To The Stage?

Actors rehearsing for the musical Sleepless get test results within 45 minutes on an app. One of the actors says, “It does actually feel amazing to just be hearing people sing again. It’s made me realize the escapism of theatre and how much people will love to see it again.” (Especially if the audience can also get those speedy tests?) – BBC

New VR Experience Takes You Inside Notre Dame Before And After The Fire

Rebuilding Notre-Dame begins by recounting the history of the gothic cathedral with close-ups of its gargoyles, bells and sacristy alongside the rector Patrick Chauvet talking about his sense of vocation. This footage was made three months prior to the fire for a Targo documentary on Chauvet. The ensuing scenes include drone images of the cathedral’s blazing fire, of crowds of shocked onlookers and of firemen struggling to extinguish the flames, followed by interviews with Chauvet, General Jean-Louis Georgelin, who is charge of the cathedral’s reconstruction, and Paris’s mayor Anne Hidalgo. – The Art Newspaper

The Memorabilia King Vs. The Studio Detective: The Never-Before-Told Account Of An Epic Battle Over Stolen Movie Props

“Today, the pop-culture collectibles market grabs headlines and brings in between $200 million and $400 million in annual sales. … But back [in the ’90s], entertainment memorabilia was still a small-time game, with studios only starting to think about their productions’ physical assets as valuable brand-building artifacts rather than garbage fetishized by marginal eccentrics. [David] Elkouby’s strange saga — untold until now — marked a key turning point in that industry evolution.” – The Hollywood Reporter