It’s a familiar story across Africa: 90 to 95 percent of Africa’s heritage is held outside the continent, according to a 2018 report commissioned by French President Emmanuel Macron. Given the shameful manner in which African artifacts were taken and the collapse of the colonial empires that enabled the looting, it is time for European institutions to reevaluate claims of restitution. – Foreign Policy
Is That Dead Air Time? No, It’s Deliberate Peace And Quiet On The Airwaves
Some stations have meditation minutes, and some have other ways to fill all of that time when they’d normally have stories about events (the events that aren’t happening right now). Some 30-second promos “feature sounds like ocean waves and remind listeners to breathe and limit their screen time.” – Nieman Lab
What Is A Broadway Producer’s Moral Responsibility?
Arvind Ethan David is one of very few Broadway producers of color, and he (famously) gave a TED Talk comparing his path to becoming a U.S. citizen to his path producing the show Jagged Little Pill. After Broadway shut down and after George Floyd was murdered, he had to do something. “As a writer, I needed to write something about this moment. And as a producer, I knew I could put something together. And so that’s how it literally came out that night with a bunch of friends. A bunch of producers of writers, and actors of color, being depressed and angry, and texting each other.” And #WhileWeBreathe was born. – Token Theatre Friends
Black Classical Musicians Share Stories Of The Crap They’ve Had To Put Up With
“During my senior year of undergrad, my voice teacher complimented me on my final Mainstage role by saying: ‘You did great! And you don’t even look African-American on stage!'”
“[The language coach] said, ‘Silly me … no ‘decent’ French ever comes from such big lips anyways … Maybe patois, but not Français.'” – WQXR (New York City)
How Earlier Black Classical Musicians Faced (And Faced Down) American Racism
Shirley Verrett: “Maestro Stokowski called. He was embarrassed, but said that it would not be possible for me to sing with the Houston Symphony because the symphony board did not want to use a Negro singer.” (Stokie made it up to her later in Philadelphia.) And then there was the time Jessye Norman was invited to play a maid in a sitcom … – WQXR (New York City)
Booker Prize Longlist Announced
On a longlist packed with surprises and debuts, chosen from 162 novels, Mantel is up against major literary names including US author Anne Tyler, picked for Redhead by the Side of the Road, a work judges called “a very human tale of redemption”, as well as the Irish-American author Colum McCann, longlisted for Apeirogon, about a Palestinian and an Israeli, both of whom have lost their daughters. – The Guardian
New York Is Getting Loud Again
“The pandemic offered a temporary reprieve from sound, both in cities and in oceans, giving scientists a once-in-a-lifetime (we hope) chance to study the sudden onset of quiet. The lockdown created a deeply unsettling soundscape, like the hush after an explosion, which extended on week after week. The quietude was revelatory, but not serene. Birds in neighborhood trees assembled into a network of local choirs, and the bated traffic let them be heard. The nights were laced with sirens, but devoid of laughter, arguments, and music.” – New York Magazine
Australia Is Raising University Tuition For Arts And Humanities Degrees And Lowering It For STEM Degrees
“Education Minister Dan Tehan said the government wanted to ‘incentivise students to make more job-relevant choices’. The next wave of graduates would have to power the post-Covid economic recovery, he stressed. ‘A cheaper degree in an area where there’s a job is a win-win for students.'” Many education professionals are skeptical (to say the least), and evidence suggests that the new pricing won’t change students’ choices. – BBC
Report: Going Green Now Would Create 25 Million Jobs
A new report calculates, in detail, what it would take to aggressively transition to a clean energy economy in the U.S. by 2035—the timeline needed to make it possible to hit the target of the Paris climate agreement—and finds that decarbonizing the economy could quickly create 25 million jobs. “For a world looking to bounce back from a pandemic, there is no other project that would create this many jobs,” the authors write. – Fast Company
MacDowell Artists’ Retreat Tries Virtual Fellowships
With the ongoing COVID epidemic making travel to its New Hampshire campus impractical at best, the no-longer-a-colony has invited this summer’s eight fellows to a four-week virtual residency that will include dinners and other events which the participants will join electronically. – AP
Saudi Arabia: We’ll Host The World Science Fiction Convention! Science Fiction Writers: Oh No, You Won’t
“A group of more than 80 science fiction and fantasy authors are protesting at the possibility of one of the genres’ biggest conventions being held in [Jeddah] in 2022, saying that ‘the Saudi regime is antithetical to everything SFF stands for’.” – The Guardian
How America’s First Drive-In Classical Concert Since Lockdown Turned Out
San Diego’s Mainly Mozart got together an eight-member chamber group headed by L.A. Phil concertmaster Martin Chalifour to play octets by Mozart and Mendelssohn in the parking lot of a SoCal horse-racing track. – Newsweek
Picasso Murals Safely Removed From Doomed Building In Oslo
“The removal of a pair of concrete murals by Pablo Picasso was completed Tuesday from a government building in the Norwegian capital of Oslo whose demolition was under way.” (That building, called the Y block, was damaged in the 2011 bombing-and-murder spree by right-wing terrorist Anders Behring Breivik.) “The total cost of the removal of the art pieces — to be preserved and installed elsewhere — and the demolition is estimated at 59 million kroner ($6.4 million).” – Yahoo! (AP)
Reimagining Los Angeles’ Approach To Culture
Even in the best years, funding for arts and culture in our city does not meet the needs of the communities we serve. It is time to expose this hard truth and build the support needed to focus on culture and creativity as a primary driver of racial equity, create healthy communities, assure key economic recovery, and build vital long-term sustainability. – KCET
Watching Online: The Differences Between Audience and Viewer
Amid this deluge of performance art offerings flowing into my house, I realized two words marred my experience: remote and control. With remote clenched in one hand and phone in the other, it hit me: No longer a member of an audience, I had become merely a viewer now. – ArtsandCultureTexas
AMC Theatres Makes Deal For Quicker Video Releases
In a stunning reversal, AMC Theatres has struck a historic agreement with Universal that will allow the studio’s movies to be made available on premium video-on-demand after just 17 days of play in cinemas, including three weekends, the two companies announced Tuesday. – The Hollywood Reporter
Want A COVID-Safe Space For Your Play That’s Easy, Quick, And Cheap? Try A Circus Tent
“Every day we read about a new proposed seating plan or air-filtering system being trialled in an Edwardian playhouse to enable safe, socially distanced theatre in a building designed for the opposite. A big top is far more spacious.” You can fit in hundreds of people with plenty of social distance, and raised sidewalls provide plenty of air circulation. What’s more, argues Circus250 ringmaster Dea Birkett, a big top offers plenty of advantages in terms of diversifying your audience. – The Stage
This Ballet School Is Actively Helping Dancers Deal With Body Image Struggles
The pressure on ballerinas to maintain extremely thin figures is notorious for leading to eating disorders. The Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham, England’s second city, is meeting this problem head-on. (video) – BBC
Black Voice Actors: Yes, There’s Been Progress, But Not Nearly Enough
“The sudden rise of calls for color-conscious casting comes after years of criticism about whitewashed roles. But while many Black voice actors are glad to see white actors leaving roles where they played characters of color … they believe more meaningful changes are needed for truly equitable hiring.” – Vulture
What The Philadelphia Museum Of Art’s Workplace Assessment Found (It Wasn’t Pretty)
The study, conducted by outside consultants at the board’s request after two major scandals broke earlier this year, “found problems and deficiencies at all levels of the hierarchy — from the boardroom on down, museum leaders told staff members at an online meeting Tuesday.” At least, said one staffer, “I was encouraged by how honest [the presentation] felt.” – The Philadelphia Inquirer
Here’s How The UK’s £1.5 Billion Arts Rescue Package Will Work
“Of the total amount, the government has currently released £880 million ($1.14 billion), which has been split into two funding rounds. The first round of £622 million ($805.3 million) will be distributed immediately, while the remaining £258 million ($334 million) will be reserved for a second round of funding later in the financial year to meet the developing needs of organizations.” – Variety
This Year’s Emmy Nominations
Netflix dominated the 72nd Emmy Award nominations on Tuesday, breaking the record for the most nominations ever, and a newcomer to the streaming universe, Disney+, scored a nomination in a big category for “The Mandalorian” in yet another sign of the growing importance of digital technology to Hollywood. – The New York Times
The Big Sort: All Fiction Can Be Organized In Four Categories
Tim Parks: “All of narrative fiction, I’ve suggested, can be sorted into four grand categories. Each presents a rich world of feeling in which any number of stories can be told and positions established, but always in relation to, or rather, driven by, a distinct cluster of values and consequent emotions. My claim is that it really is worth being aware which of these worlds we are being drawn into. We read better. We know where we are. And what the dangers are.” – New York Review of Books
The Man Who Invented The 8-Hour Workday Had An Even More Radical Idea For Money
Introduced in 1832, the radical idea was called the National Equitable Labour Exchange – a system of currency built on the idea that labour is the source of all wealth, and that goods should be bought and sold based on the time it took labourers to produce it. While the Exchange lasted only a few years, the idealistic project helped to lay the groundwork for some of Owen’s more successful later reforms, such as shorter working days, with the ultimate goal of a workday based on the principle of ‘eight hours labour, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest’. – Aeon
UK’s Sky Arts Channel Goes Free, All Arts
The move to Freeview, the digital network free to all UK residents, has been under discussion for years and is motivated by “a passion to get as much content to as many people as possible and make it more accessible”. But Sky Arts “isn’t a ratings-driving channel. We’re there to be a bit more experimental. We’re there to help nurture new talent and find new voices; new creative voices… The call out that we’re doing today, as we’re launched as free to air is: ‘Artists, what would you do if I gave you the channel for 24 hours to do with what you will?’ – The Art Newspaper
Regal Cinemas Says It Will Reopen In August
Along with AMC and Cinemark, Regal closed down U.S. sites in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic — which profoundly altered the spring and summer slate. “Wonder Woman 1984” was moved to October and James Bond title “No Time to Die” has been slotted for November while many major titles have been taken off the schedule, gone out on streaming services or dated for 2021. – Variety
Why Bob Ross Is Still Hugely Popular
If you’re somehow not familiar with the name, Bob Ross is probably America’s most famous painter. With his distinctive hair, gentle voice, and signature expressions like “happy little trees,” he’s an enduring icon. Even 25 years after his death, he’s popular not only with viewers who remember him fondly, but also with kids who weren’t even born when his show was originally on the air. – The Atlantic
What’s The Last Hurdle For Getting Theatres Open Again? Insurance
“There is real concern that at a time when the need to insure for [COVID risks] is even greater, venues and organisations will not be able to obtain or afford appropriate coverage. This is not just limited to cancellations, but a host of insurance products normally taken out by organisations, for which there are currently limited or no offers available from providers.” – The Stage
Rhiannon Giddens Named Artistic Director Of Silkroad, Yo-Yo Ma’s Cross-Cultural Project
“Silkroad has to exist outside of Yo-Yo, but Yo-Yo is an inalterable part of Silkroad,” said the singer/banjo player/fiddler/opera composer. “Both of those things have to exist at the same time, and it has to take some thought about how to do that in a way that feels good to everyone involved.” Ma, for his part, said of Giddens, “She lives Silkroad’s values.” – The New York Times