Tag: Arts

Categories
Entertainment

The Arts Are in Disaster. Right here’s How Biden Can Assist.

The Arts Are in Crisis. Here’s How Biden Can Help.

American art institutions shouldn’t give up their independence for crumbs. Especially with the pandemic easing, the more pressing task is to promote richer cultural offerings at the local level. A nimbler and more practical solution to this is a White House office for cultureSimilar to the National Economic Council or the Domestic Policy Council, which could research and coordinate art policy throughout the federal government.

An arts center in the President’s Executive Office – run by a “Dr. Fauci of Culture “- could be sharper and faster than a complete department. This team could help the Treasury Department develop cultural tax policies, advise the education department on music lessons, and liaise with Congress on arts incentives. It is important to ensure that economic funds for states and municipalities whose budgets have been burdened by tax deficits caused by stoppages support and ultimately strengthen the local arts organizations. (“Almost no one has been more injured by Covid than our artists,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said this week as he announced a public-private partnership supporting state arts organizations.)

The new administration should too re-establish the President’s Committee on Arts and Humanities, whose members resigned en masse in 2017 following Mr Trump’s reaction to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. (Artists who stepped down included director George C. Wolfe, writer Jhumpa Lahiri, actor Kal Penn, and architect Thom Mayne.) To use a metaphor that I detest but that politicians seem to like, this committee should Be the hiss of steak that is the bureau of culture. Any transformation this big requires a sales pitch. Well-known actors, writers, and musicians should be the pitchmen who connect Broadway and Hollywood to the city library and school theater.

During last year’s election campaign, Mr. Biden had one sentence that he called almost musically on a regular basis: The election, he always said, was a “fight for the soul of America”. As a piece of political rhetoric, it could just have been a platitude. However, how can I deny that the Capitol’s near-sacking – in a week when the daily Covid-19 death toll hit an unbearable 4,000 Americans for the first time – suggests the United States has seen these last few years some kind of soul death? And if you were treating a patient whose soul was curdled, what kind of medicine could you prescribe?

I have always been careful with arguments about the “necessity” of art. But a mentally ill nation is unlikely to recover if it loses fundamental parts of its humanity. Without actors and dancers and musicians and artists, a society will indeed have lost something necessary – for these citizens, these workers, they are the technicians of a social catharsis that cannot come soon enough. A respiratory virus and riot have left the country breathless in their own way. Artists can teach us to exhale if they’re still with us for years to come.

Categories
Entertainment

Baryshnikov Arts Pronounces Digital Season

Baryshnikov Arts Announces Digital Season

The upcoming digital season at the Baryshnikov Arts Center will premiere seven video works commissioned by the organization in September from artists including Kyle Marshall, Bijayini Satpathy and Justin Hicks. Debuts begin on February 1st with the release of Satpathy’s “Vibhanga”, a piece based on Indian classical dance forms, and end in late June with Marshall’s “STELLAR”, a choreographed result of improvisational sessions he will perform at Zoom This Spring. Each video can be streamed on demand for free for two weeks on bacnyc.org.

“It’s a huge experiment for us, but why not?” Mikhail Baryshnikov, the center’s founder and artistic director, said in an email. “When has there ever been a better time to get creative and rethink our work?”

Baryshnikov said he was intrigued by the dynamics of art exchange over the internet. “The work presented on a digital platform is kind of a massive blind date,” he said. “With such a global reach, the possibilities that someone can make a real connection with what they see are limitless.”

Dance-based work makes up most of the slate: Mariana Valencia’s solo brownout will be available March 1-15, and Stefanie Batten Bland’s collaboration with installation artist Conrad Quesen, “Colonial”, will follow in May.

However, several other interdisciplinary projects are also offered. Hicks’ “Use Your Head for More” combines found sound and spoken text to create a series of portraits (February 15 through March 1). Holland Andrews’ “Museum of Calm” includes vocal music, meditation and performance art (March 15-29); and Tei Blow’s digital installation “The Sprezzaturameron” uses video game technology to tell the story of artists in an apocalyptic near future (May 17-31).

Baryshnikov Arts will continue to share performances from its archive throughout the spring. Planned highlights are the New York premiere of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker’s dance duet “Verklierter Nacht” from 2019 (April 8-15) and a concert performance by the Tesla Quartet and soprano Alexandra Smither (April 15-22) in 2018.

Categories
Health

Cuomo Outlines Plans to Revive Arts and Tradition Industries

Cuomo Outlines Plans to Revive Arts and Culture Industries

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said Tuesday that New York urgently needs to revitalize its arts and entertainment industries to recover from the coronavirus pandemic in the short term and get more unemployed artists back to work.

“We need to bring art and culture back to life,” said Cuomo as he continued a week-long series of political talks setting out his agenda for the state.

The governor said bringing back the arts and culture was vital – not just to help artists who have suffered from the country’s worst unemployment, but to make New York City an important and exciting hub in which to live people want to live and work.

“Cities are, by definition, centers of energy, entertainment, theater and cuisine,” Cuomo said, highlighting the threats the city is facing from the increase in remote working, crime and homelessness. “Without this activity and attraction, cities lose a lot of their attractiveness. What is a city without social, cultural and creative synergies? New York City is not New York without Broadway. “

Mr Cuomo said the state would form a public-private partnership to offer a series of nationwide pop-up concerts with artists including Amy Schumer, Chris Rock, Renée Fleming and Hugh Jackman; launch a pilot program to investigate how socially distant performances can be safely held in flexible locations with undefined seating; and work with the Mellon Foundation to distribute scholarships that can help more than 1,000 artists get back to work and raise money for art groups in the community.

The governor said the state couldn’t wait until the summer when more people would be vaccinated to bring the performances back.

The public-private partnership New York Arts Revival, which will feature pop-up performances with more than 150 artists starting February 4th, is led by producers Scott Rudin and Jane Rosenthal, along with the New York State Council on the Arts. The plan will culminate with the opening of Little Island, the park-like pier built by Barry Diller on the downtown Hudson River, and the Tribeca Film Festival, which celebrates its 20th anniversary in June.

Covid19 vaccinations>

Answers to your vaccine questions

If I live in the US, when can I get the vaccine?

While the exact order of vaccine recipients may vary from state to state, most doctors and residents of long-term care facilities will come first. If you want to understand how this decision is made, this article will help.

When can I get back to normal life after the vaccination?

Life will only get back to normal once society as a whole receives adequate protection against the coronavirus. Once countries have approved a vaccine, they can only vaccinate a few percent of their citizens in the first few months. The unvaccinated majority remain susceptible to infection. A growing number of coronavirus vaccines show robust protection against disease. However, it is also possible that people spread the virus without knowing they are infected because they have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all. Scientists don’t yet know whether the vaccines will also block the transmission of the coronavirus. Even vaccinated people have to wear masks for the time being, avoid the crowds indoors and so on. Once enough people are vaccinated, it becomes very difficult for the coronavirus to find people at risk to become infected. Depending on how quickly we as a society achieve this goal, life could approach a normal state in autumn 2021.

Do I still have to wear a mask after the vaccination?

Yeah, but not forever. The two vaccines that may be approved this month clearly protect people from contracting Covid-19. However, the clinical trials that produced these results were not designed to determine whether vaccinated people could still spread the coronavirus without developing symptoms. That remains a possibility. We know that people who are naturally infected with the coronavirus can spread it without experiencing a cough or other symptoms. Researchers will study this question intensively when the vaccines are introduced. In the meantime, self-vaccinated people need to think of themselves as potential spreaders.

Will it hurt What are the side effects?

The vaccine against Pfizer and BioNTech, like other typical vaccines, is delivered as a shot in the arm. The injection is no different from the ones you received before. Tens of thousands of people have already received the vaccines, and none of them have reported serious health problems. However, some of them have experienced short-lived symptoms, including pain and flu-like symptoms that usually last a day. It is possible that people will have to plan to take a day off or go to school after the second shot. While these experiences are not pleasant, they are a good sign: they are the result of your own immune system’s encounter with the vaccine and a strong reaction that ensures lasting immunity.

Will mRNA vaccines change my genes?

No. Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use a genetic molecule to boost the immune system. This molecule, known as mRNA, is eventually destroyed by the body. The mRNA is packaged in an oily bubble that can fuse with a cell, allowing the molecule to slide inside. The cell uses the mRNA to make proteins from the coronavirus that can stimulate the immune system. At any given moment, each of our cells can contain hundreds of thousands of mRNA molecules that they produce to make their own proteins. As soon as these proteins are made, our cells use special enzymes to break down the mRNA. The mRNA molecules that our cells make can only survive a few minutes. The mRNA in vaccines is engineered to withstand the cell’s enzymes a little longer, so the cells can make extra viral proteins and trigger a stronger immune response. However, the mRNA can hold for a few days at most before it is destroyed.

Mr Cuomo said he hopes to expand rapid testing, including at pop-up locations, to make it easier for people to get tested before visiting restaurants or theaters in areas with sufficiently low virus rates. He pointed to the state’s experiment at the Buffalo Bills game last Saturday when the state tested nearly 7,000 fans.

There were problems with rapid tests. While rapid test devices are portable and can provide results quickly, many are not considered to be as reliable as other tests on people with no symptoms. The White House had relied on quick tests to protect President Trump and his inner circle by asking all White House visitors to take the test, even though that was not the way the test was supposed to be used.

New York reported at least 196 new coronavirus deaths and 14,179 new cases on Monday, and the rate of positive tests continues to rise.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the foremost infectious disease expert in the United States, told performing arts professionals at a virtual conference Saturday that he believed theaters could reopen this fall with relatively few restrictions if the vaccination program were successful, despite it the audience suggested you may need to wear masks for some time.

“When we get to early to mid-fall, people can feel safe on stage, as can people in the audience,” said Dr. Fauci.

However, the distribution of vaccines in the US is behind schedule, and public health officials have made efforts to deliver the vaccine to hospital workers and at-risk older Americans.

Mr Cuomo said New York could not wait until enough people were vaccinated to achieve herd immunity before steps were taken to revitalize the performing arts scene.

“We’re seeing downtime for months,” he said. “We have to start acting now. We cannot float and let pain, hardship and inequality grow around us. “

Categories
Entertainment

Stimulus Provides $15 Billion in Reduction for Struggling Arts Venues

Stimulus Offers $15 Billion in Relief for Struggling Arts Venues

For music venue owners, theater producers and cultural institutions who have suffered without a business from the pandemic, the coronavirus aid package agreed by Congress leaders this week finally offers the prospect of help: it includes $ 15 billion to help them cope helping a crisis that has shut theaters and silenced halls.

The money, part of a $ 900 billion coronavirus aid package, is set to help the cultural sector – from pub rock clubs to Broadway theaters and museums – survive. Many small business owners cited it as their last hope of staying in business after nearly a year of drought.

“This is what our industry needs to get through,” said Dayna Frank, owner of First Avenue, a famous Minneapolis music club. She is also the chairman of the board of the National Independent Venue Association, which was formed in April and which has aggressively engaged Congress to facilitate its more than 3,000 members.

When the news of the deal broke on Sunday night, a collective sigh of relief rebounded through group text messages and social media posts. “Last night was the first time I smiled in nine months,” said Ms. Frank.

Broadway theaters, which have been closed since March, welcomed the aid package.

“We are grateful for this bipartisan agreement, which is immediate relief and a lifeline for our industry for the future,” said Charlotte St. Martin, president of the Broadway League, the trade organization for producers and theater owners, in a statement.

Nataki Garrett, the artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, said helping nonprofit theaters is vital. “Our situation was critical and dire,” she said.

However, those in charge of some large nonprofit cultural organizations feared that the way the bill is structured, giving precedence to organizations that have lost a very high percentage of their revenue before considering the rest, are pushing them to the background for scholarships As this is usually the case, you could receive a significant portion of the income through donations.

With the bill scheduled for approval by both houses of Congress on Monday evening, art groups across the country cautiously celebrated while studying the fine print to see what kind of help they might qualify for. Most doubt that the entertainment industry will not be able to get back into action until well into next year at the earliest.

The bill allows independent entertainment companies such as music venues and cinemas, as well as other cultural institutions, to apply for grants from the Small Business Administration to support six-month payments to employees, as well as costs such as rent, supplies, and maintenance. Applicants must have lost at least 25 percent of their sales to qualify, and those who have lost more than 90 percent can apply first within the first two weeks of the law going into effect.

Updated

Apr. 21, 2020, 4:40 pm ET

The grants are capped at $ 10 million.

The core of these provisions was proposed in the Senate in July by Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota and John Cornyn, Republican of Texas. As the relief efforts in Washington wore off for months, venues and institutions began to lose. According to the independent venue association, at least 300 music spots have been closed since the beginning of the pandemic.

Senator Klobuchar certified that the event groups were tirelessly campaigning to convince members of the Congress of their economic and cultural value to local communities.

“It was the basic efforts of musicians, theaters and fans across the country,” said Ms. Klobuchar in an interview on Monday. “And it was the fact that the coalition stuck together. You didn’t fight. “

The pandemic forced small music venues and nonprofit theaters – usually strangers to Washington – to learn the art of lobbying. The owners talked about the elbow grease they put into building their business, the added value to local communities through tourism and hospitality, and the historical role arts organizations have played in revitalizing the tainted corridors of urban America.

The idea that cultural groups are suffering in every corner of the country helped this part of the overall relief package gain broad support from both parties.

In addition to theaters and museums, talent agents and managers can also apply for relief under the law. The bill would restrict listed companies and other large companies.

“I wanted to make sure that the ticketmasters of the world didn’t benefit from it,” said Ms. Klobuchar.

Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate, was an aggressive advocate of cultural relief – he wore a mask that read “Save Our Stages” during the last Capitol Hill negotiations last week – with a special focus on groups in New, of course York, including Broadway theaters.

“It wasn’t just Broadway,” said Mr Schumer in an interview. “Rather, it was the independent venues that were the lifeblood of New York. Young people come to New York, and that’s one of the reasons they come – to cities in general, not just New York. “

“The non-profit and artistic world is very important to the economy of cities,” he added. “People forget that.”

For some of the help-out mom and pop operators, the process has been a do-or-die necessity, albeit a confusing one.

“We used to call managers and agents to book talent,” said Chris Bauman of Zenith Music Group, which operates a handful of Chicago venues. “Now we’ve been thrown into this crazy world of politics. Eighty hours a week of zooms with mayors, senators, and congressmen. “

“It shows that there is a way to do this,” added Bauman, fighting back tears. “Not to be left behind.”

Sarah Bahr contributed to the reporting.

Categories
Business

Main Arts Group Chief Steps Apart Amid Office Complaints

Major Arts Group Leader Steps Aside Amid Workplace Complaints

Robert Lynch, executive director of Americans for the Arts, the powerful national advocacy group, has resigned following complaints and investigations into the organization’s equity and diversity practices and workplace management.

Mr Lynch, who has held a leadership role there for more than three decades, will take paid leave, the group’s board of directors said in a statement on Wednesday. “It has been shown that despite our best efforts, we have not achieved our goals of leading, serving, and promoting the various networks of businesses and individuals who practice the arts in America,” the statement said.

Mr. Lynch, 71, was a prominent advocate of resources for nonprofit arts organizations. He was also a member of the Biden-Harris Transition Team for Arts and Humanities. His departure from his position at AFTA, where his annual compensation package was reported to be over $ 900,000 in tax returns, was voluntary and effective immediately, the statement said. (Mr Lynch’s work with the Biden-Harris transition team is complete, a spokesman said.)

His absence should enable a thorough review of AFTA, which has over $ 100 million in foundation assets. “It is Bob’s firm belief – one regrettably shared by the Board of Directors – that the most appropriate course of action at this time is to proceed with the investigation without the distraction and in the best interests of the mission of the organization and the field.” Statement said.

The move comes after a growing chorus of criticism from current and former AFTA staff and advisory board members who said the organization has failed to fulfill its mission regarding diversity, equity and inclusion. There were also complaints about sexual harassment and a management culture based on intimidation rather than transparency. Critics had asked Mr. Lynch to resign because he had not responded to the problems they listed for a long time. The excitement was also the subject of a report in the Washington Post earlier this week that detailed the issues, including reports of widespread reprisals among senior executives.

In recent months, as calls for diversification of AFTA’s leadership and better service to creative communities and paint artists increased, the group publicly defended its actions and promised to do better. It is one of several arts organizations, large and small, that have recently been forced to reckon with a history of inequality in their ranks and programs.

In its statement, AFTA said it will now be the subject of two independent investigations, one by law firm Proskauer Rose regarding the work environment and one by consulting firm Hewlin Group, which focus on AFTA’s policies and procedures regarding diversity will, equity and inclusion.

A retired former board member, U.S. Army Brig. General Nolen Bivens will lead the group as interim president and managing director, the board said.