When Neal Cassady died in 1968, Carl Solomon recalled a conversation he had about him with Allen Ginsberg: “He told me about this fabulous hipster he knew. And I, defending something or other in my head, said deprecatingly, ‘Kinetic.’ Meaning that he was a man always in motion, jumping from one exciting thing to another.” – Jan Herman

Though we would all rather have the option of being able to gather together to see performances and exhibitions, there are real benefits of the relaxed atmosphere of watching from home, the power of which should not be underestimated. Here are a few tangible ways that our current mode of arts participation makes for a satisfying arts experience. – Hannah Grannemann

You needn’t be old when you’re old. Sure, don’t trip, fall, break. But your brain was wrinkled when it was born, and eyeballs water and cry just like before. This particular flesh package squirms through, or tries, tossing waiting and dreading and with cooking and writing. With loving, as well. – Jeff Weinstein

Teaching arts policy this fall, I needed a two-page briefing to warn my students off using economic impact studies as an arts advocacy tool. Here’s the result. – Michael Rushton

NY State Attorney General Letitia James has sued Sotheby’s for its alleged role in helping a client to “pose as an art dealer so he could illegally qualify for sales-tax exemptions reserved for the art trade.” – Lee Rosenbaum

When we investigate the disconnect between what we are doing with our art and what we might do, we become aware of who has been left out of what we present, preserve and protect, what has been disregarded, who does or does not benefit using our current model, and who has been harmed by our decisions. – A guest post by Penny Brill

The brilliant, resourceful Philly-based curator of memorable exhibitions including Cézanne and Beyond, has left us for the Great Beyond. – Lee Rosenbaum

As an mild antidote to severe post-election anxiety, let’s savor a morsel of good news from the federal government: Although it falls short of what I’d hoped for, I’d like to think I may have had something to do with this announcement last week from the NEH. – Lee Rosenbaum

I’ve been e-mailed a rich, if daunting array of hour-long videos that make up Yoshiko Chuma’s Love Story, the School of Hard Knocks.There are twenty-four of them in all. Think about it. No, don’t. I’m about to try writing about just two of them. – Deborah Jowitt

The misadventures of Sotheby’s David Galperin, hyping four anticipated highlights of Sotheby’s Oct. 28 Contemporary Art sale, would be ripe for parody if the underlying issues weren’t serious. – Lee Rosenbaum

In the end, everyone comes out looking bad. And so it was when composer Matthew Aucoin, age 30, took on Pierre Boulez (1925-2016) in the Nov. 5 New York Review of Books. – David Patrick Stearns

What I like is her poetry’s simplicity. I like its rich feeling, which is straightforward and strong and not at all sentimental. Her poems age well. I’d be surprised if her poetry didn’t last longer than the poetry of many of the Beats. – Jan Herman

Can you stop a speeding freight train before it crashes? (Update: in this case, turns out the answer is yes.) – Lee Rosenbaum

Better late than never (but not soon enough), the Association of Art Museum Directors is attempting to backpedal from its decision, six months ago, to temporarily loosen its tight strictures against the use of proceeds from art sales for anything other than acquisitions. – Lee Rosenbaum

Sirens (coming from the street) were heard wailing at the beginning of Sotheby’s Virtual Preview of Highlights from Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary Art — a fleeting but thematically appropriate soundtrack. – Lee Rosenbaum

Shakespeare’s writing — all of it, poetry and plays — was repulsive to Tolstoy, who claimed in a pamphlet that whenever he read Shakespeare he was overcome by “repulsion, weariness, and bewilderment.” Orwell disagreed mightily: “Finally the most striking thing is how little difference it all makes.” – Jan Herman

It’s just short of seven months since the death of my beloved wife, and not until recently did I feel that I was starting to become myself again. Sometimes the pain of Hilary’s loss takes me by surprise and I find myself crying — but not often. – Terry Teachout

“The fiduciary responsibility of a museum’s board of trustees is not to use its institution’s collection as an ATM, but rather to search out all other means to secure the future, including important changing social dynamics, while protecting the collection.” – Lee Rosenbaum

Any museum official tempted to exploit the (so-called) permanent collection as a fungible commodity for bankrolling pet projects (however worthy) and bolstering the payroll should read and take heed of this six-page letter deploring the Baltimore Museum of Art’s planned disposals. – Lee Rosenbaum

In 1944, Bernard Herrmann collaborated with the producer Norman Corwin on Whitman, a half-hour dramatic presentation invoking America’s iconic poet to rally the home front during World War II. It was heard by millions of listeners. It’s a classic exemplar of a forgotten creative genre: the radio drama. – Joseph Horowitz

Arts and culture organizations that can learn to grow their audiences and leverage these connections into long-term financial stability may learn that a successful pivot is often one that turns toward their neighbors. – Doug Borwick

Call me Cassandra. The “slippery slope” of monetizing museum collections, which I previously prophesied would get more dangerous under the Association of Art Museum Directors’ temporarily relaxed guidelines, has just been greased. – Lee Rosenbaum

Harvey Lichtenstein took me out to lunch and informed me that the Brooklyn Philharmonic had lost over two-thirds of its subscribers in two years. Would I be interested in taking over? I said yes, provided I could do what I wanted. And what is it you want? Harvey asked. Cross-disciplinary festival programming, I replied. Harvey said OK – he had nothing left to lose. – Joseph Horowitz

Knowing that I’m sticking my head into a lion’s mouth, I strongly disagree with sanctimonious art critics, artists and scholars who have piled on against a decision by four museum directors to postpone (not to cancel) their Philip Guston Now retrospective. – Lee Rosenbaum

Crazy-making. So much so that, of course, it’s hard to concentrate on issues around community engagement. Even so, occasionally something bubbles up that returns me to my CE thinking. One such instance was a New York Times article, “How to Actually Talk to Anti-Maskers.” – Doug Borwick

Happy 90th birthday, Jasper Johns! Many thanks for sharing your present with who knows how many thousands of people. It’s entirely appropriate that the “gift,” titled Event² for Jasper Johns, began and ended with James Klosty’s 1969 photograph One Way to Dry a Leotard (Johns’s Flag painting with a leotard hooked over one of its corners). – Deborah Jowitt

Missions are squishy; buildings and bottom lines are not. Judgments about art are subjective. Human beings are often self-interested. The nonprofit form lends itself to manipulation and to serving the interests of a few rather than the general public. Arts organizations need to be aware of these dynamics and can’t hang their hats on mission statements and values statements as enough to keep them moored to their purposes. – Diane Ragsdale

The American Alliance of Museums’ Code of Ethics for collections, which states that sale proceeds can be used only for “acquisition or direct care of collections” [emphasis added]. Brooklyn’s disposals may serve as a role model for other financially pressed art museums, because it’s a pioneer on this new trail. – Lee Rosenbaum

Many of us in the arts are cynical about holiday productions. But these performances are meaningful in the lives of our audiences and I think should be respected as such. I’ve been thinking abut what is lost when audiences miss out on holiday shows this year. – Hannah Grannemann

The screen announces “The Philadelphia Matter 1972/2020,” and glimpsed behind it is the large, alarmed face of its creator: choreographer David Gordon. The piece (no surprise) is propelled, guided, and shaped by words. Postmodern poetry — written and uttered by Gordon and/or his wife, Valda Setterfield — repeats and enlarges upon itself. – Deborah Jowitt