“I believe very strongly that museums have a social justice role to play. … I’m not expecting museums to engage in partisan politics. What I’m expecting museums to be is driven by scholarship and the community. … And if that means that museums have to take a little more risk, … then so be it. I would rather the museum be a place that takes a little risk to make the country better than a place where history and science go to die.” – The New York Times
Building Audiences
The Most-Subscribed Broadcast Network YouTube Channel In The US Is: Telemundo
Eight of Telemundo’s 11 YouTube channels have at least one million subscribers. The mother ship is now at 10.6 million, up from 1 million in 2015, and the next-biggest, one dedicated to court show Caso Cerrado (Case Closed), is approaching the 10 million mark. The total portfolio is at 35 million and counting. – Deadline
Indie Bookstores Move Online… But Can Their Service Match Amazon?
Customer expectations that independent booksellers will do what a massive online operation does has caused deep frustration. – Publishers Weekly
Researchers: Fans Of Apocalyptic Movies Are More Resilient
The bleak scenarios thrown up by films such as Contagion, from panic buying and isolation to fear of others and fake claims of miracle cures, appeared to help viewers take the outbreak in their stride and work out how best to handle the crisis. – The Guardian
Canada’s Internet Use Has Surged 50 Percent Since COVID
Since physical distancing measures were put in place across the country, internet usage on Shaw’s wireline network has increased by as much as 50 percent overall, and peak usage periods have climbed to twelve hours a day, every day of the week, instead of the usual three or four hours in the evening. – The Walrus
Why Theatres In England Are Opening Up When They Can’t Present Plays
They’re showing movies in their auditoriums (social distancing observed, of course), opening their cafes and bars, presenting art exhibits — anything that can offer a place to (safely) gather. As the artistic director of a theatre in Chester put it, “People are desperate for contact again, to get back into community spaces, where they feel safe and connected. [Putting on plays is] not our mission. We put on plays in service of our mission.” – The Guardian
A Theater-Within-A-Theater, Modeled On Shakespeare’s Globe, Will Divide Socially Distanced Patrons With Partitions
The Wilma in Philadelphia plans to construct and install what it’s calling The Wilma Globe. “It would be built within the current Wilma Theater and would place audience members, individually or by small groups, into two tiers of stalls separated by wooden dividers and facing the stage. With a flexible configuration it could seat as many as 100 people or as few as 35.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
France Offers Tax Credit For New Subscriptions To Newspapers And Newsmagazines
“Deputies voted to allow a one-off deduction of up to €50 (£45) to households subscribing for the first time, and for at least 12 months, to a newspaper, magazine or online news service ‘providing news of a general or political character’.” – The Guardian
In Europe, Festivals Are Reinventing As Drive-Ins
Scandinavia is taking the most innovative approach to the notion of the drive-in festival. Between August 21 and 26, in the Swedish town of Karlskrona, the Carl International Film Festival will have 30 boat-in screenings. Taking place in the Salto Fish Harbour with two LED screens, up to 100 boats will be allowed in, drawing attendees from around 1,600 nearby islands, with food delivered to boats from harbourside restaurants. – Forbes
Museums And Art Galleries In England Can Open On July 4, But Most Of Them Won’t
The National Gallery and Royal Academy will accept visitors the following week, but the Tate won’t open its four locations until July 27; others are waiting until August or September, and many won’t yet commit to a specific date at all. Most venues are limiting admissions numbers and require booking tickets in advance; masks are “recommended.” – BBC
2021 Sundance Festival Will Take Place In 21 Cities
On Monday, Tabitha Jackson, the festival’s director, unveiled her preliminary plans for the 2021 edition, a gathering expected to take place under social distancing restrictions and with a Covid-19 vaccine still unavailable. It will simultaneously be held in Park City and at least 20 other locales: Exploratory talks are underway with independent cinemas in California, Colorado, Georgia, Kentucky, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Tennessee and Texas. Mexico City is also on the list. – The New York Times
In Britain, Performing Arts Spaces Say They’ve Been Hung Out To Dry
The government issued a five-step roadmap to reopening … a roadmap that “did not come with dates or monetary help attached.” One theatre executive said the roadmap was “‘as useful a map as a snakes and ladders board,’ adding: ‘We need dates, data and INVESTMENT now!'” – BBC
Louvre To Reopen With A Fraction Of Its Usual Visitors
When the museum reopens, 70 percent will be accessible, including the large galleries of French and Italian paintings, the sculpture courtyards and the Egyptian antiquities section. But with France’s borders still closed to travelers from outside the European Union, visitor numbers will be a fraction of what they usually are in the peak summer season. – New York Times
Uffizi Gallery Becomes High Art’s Top TikTok Jester
Until just a few years ago, the august Florence museum “acted like the internet didn’t exist”: it didn’t even launch a website until 2015 and only got itself a Facebook page after the COVID lockdown started this past spring. At the end of April, in an effort to reach young people, the Uffizi opened a TikTok account and started posting inventively humorous videos incorporating art in its collection — for instance, Botticelli’s Medusa turning a coronavirus to stone. – The New York Times
Please (Don’t) Touch (Without Hand Sanitizer): How Children’s Museums And Interactive Exhibits Are Trying To Reopen Safely
“As states ease restrictions, many museums and animal attractions are next in line to reopen, if they haven’t already. Like other businesses, they must enforce social distancing rules and reduce touch points, measures that run counter to their high level of interactivity. … To better understand how attractions are reimagining their experiences, we reached out to several museums, aquariums, zoos and wildlife centers in the country. Here is a snapshot of their look-Ma-no-hands plans.” – The Washington Post
How America’s Big Three Cinema Chains Messed Up Their Reopening Plans
Last week, AMC, Regal, and Cinemark all issued elaborate safety plans for reopening — but all three said that they wouldn’t require patrons to wear masks except where local governments ordered them to do it. Why? Because, as AMC’s CEO put it, “we want to keep the politics out of our theaters.” And the response to that was so negative that AMC and Regal reversed themselves the next day. – The Hollywood Reporter
Louvre Plans Four-Year Overhaul Of How It Displays And Explains Its Art
“To counter its elitist image, the museum will strive for a ‘cultural democratisation’ to make its treasures more accessible with improved presentation, labelling and curating. [Director Jean-Luc] Martinez, who comes from a working-class background, said he wanted to build on the outreach success of the Louvre’s outpost museum in Lens, a poor former mining town in northern France.” – France 24 (AFP)
Time To Do Away With The Movie Multiplex?
What the past three months of relative confinement—and the resulting shift from theatrical to online releases—have proved is that movie theatres, particularly the multiplexes, hardly matter now. The widespread shutdown has only exaggerated and accelerated a shift that was already occurring. – The New Yorker
Black-Owned Bookstores Are Suddenly Getting More Business Than They Ever Planned For
“As Americans grapple with the country’s history of racism, many of them have turned to books, propelling titles like How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi and So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo to the best-seller lists. … All that demand, however, is becoming a challenge for some Black-owned bookstores around the United States, as they attempt to manage the deluge of orders, a handful of titles that are out of stock, and occasionally, customers angered by the delays.” – The New York Times
Glyndebourne Festival Opera Will Do An Outdoor Season This Summer
“Offenbach’s 1858 Mesdames de la Halle is the first opera to be announced. It will be staged with 12 singers but no chorus, with 13 orchestral musicians instead of the usual 40, and with a limited audience of 200 people [spaced apart outdoors]. … Taking place throughout July and August, the series will include concerts from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and London Philharmonic Orchestra.” – Classic FM
In This Pandemic Summer, Dance Companies Reconceive Their Work For The Outdoors
“We all know it’s safer to be outside and socially distanced, but that doesn’t mean we are confined to an outdoor stage with chairs placed six feet apart.” Here’s a look at what companies in Tampa Bay, Houston, Seattle, and rural Connecticut (yes, Pilobolus) are coming up with. – Dance Magazine
‘Drive-Thru Drama’: Another Solution To The Theatre-In-The-Age-Of-COVID Problem?
“With the usual model of theatregoing currently out of the question most everywhere, a handful of theatres have taken a cue from an old concept: medieval pageant wagons. Only this time, instead of the artists driving from audience to audience, the audience drives from artist to artist.” – American Theatre
The Summer Of Drive-In Culture
Up and down the country, drive-ins are opening as canny entrepreneurs see a business opportunity. It’s going out but staying in at the same time, and only a cynic (that’ll be me) would suggest it combines the worst of both. Cinemas, concert halls, theatres, galleries and standup gigs are closed, festivals abandoned. And yet we yearn for live art and entertainment. Hence recent drive-in gigs at an airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and at a car park in Bratislava, Slovakia. Across the world, people are leaving lockdown, getting into their cars and chasing down what passes for live culture at this difficult time while still socially distancing. – The Guardian
Movie Theatres Struggle To Make Audiences Feel Safe
“You don’t want to make all the health stuff too obvious. Because if it feels like they’re checking in for a flight, they aren’t going to come. But you have to let them know somehow. So it’s really hard.” – Washington Post
The Uncounted Lives That ‘Rocky Horror’ Has Saved
Sorry, Cats!, “It’s the ultimate cult movie. The first. The biggest. The one cult movie to rule them all.” And despite the Covid-19 shutdowns, Rocky Horror Picture Show devotees have found ways to be with their found families across the globe. – BBC
AMC Theatres Backtracks, Will Require Audiences To Wear Masks
The theater chain’s CEO, Adam Aron, had previously said that the company’s plan to reopen locations would not require patrons to wear masks as they “did not want to be drawn into political controversy.” – The Daily Beast
Nearly Two-Thirds Of U.S. Arts Groups Surveyed Expect To Resume Performances By End Of 2020 (Brits Aren’t So Optimistic)
“If already not performing, … 50% of U.K. clients are planning a return to the stage in January 2021. Only 25% expect to be performing pantos in December 2020. In contrast, 63% of U.S. clients expect to return to performances in 2020. Dance and multi-disciplinary organizations are the most optimistic; dance’s optimism is likely fueled by the requirement of Nutcracker revenues to bring stability to the balance of the 2020-21 season.” – TRG Arts
Drive-in Performing Arts Gigs Are Catching On In The UK
“We have an extraordinary opportunity to still mount a show in a way that we fully expected to, not only without compromise, but actually potentially even with enhancements. We’re able to do things from a compliance point of view that feel like they are quite Big Brother.” – The Guardian
Library Use Is Dramatically Up Since The Lockdown
Weekly library e-book lending across the country has increased by nearly 50 percent since March 9, according to data from OverDrive, a service used by many libraries to let patrons check out media for e-readers, smartphones and computers. Audiobook check-outs are also up 14% — not quite as large a shift, likely because fewer people are in their cars commuting to work. – NPR
Relieved Yet Wary, Customers Start Returning To London’s Bookshops
This week book retailers in England have reopened to the public (with limits on how many people may be on the premises at a time) for the first time since the pandemic-induced shutdown began three months ago. Alex Marshall visited half a dozen bookstores around the capital to check on the mood. – The New York Times