tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24574811198748654602024-02-19T02:47:26.621-08:00Performance Art InsightsA journal primarily documenting works of live performance art from the perspective of audiences as well as the artistic creators, writers and performers. Jai Krishna Ponnappanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02699917895019277960noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457481119874865460.post-89247592388707467082021-09-15T03:34:00.004-07:002021-09-15T03:34:15.989-07:00Theater Creatives On The Needs Of The Industry <p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"> <br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_03HAdK01guDJdTG6R88UuHs1Co5O7URW9LL2T8zpecDrSLt1nAPQRp1kFcyf0SpSCWNzmcEeijDUAddFciJ4mo_5pt2oIC0t8KTMydZZVvpJGn4qLthwHo3XsOYzQOMF0iTwCSRaSDk/s612/Performance+Art-Theater-Creatives-Sundance-Survey--KiranAtma-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="459" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_03HAdK01guDJdTG6R88UuHs1Co5O7URW9LL2T8zpecDrSLt1nAPQRp1kFcyf0SpSCWNzmcEeijDUAddFciJ4mo_5pt2oIC0t8KTMydZZVvpJGn4qLthwHo3XsOYzQOMF0iTwCSRaSDk/w300-h400/Performance+Art-Theater-Creatives-Sundance-Survey--KiranAtma-1.jpg" width="300" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">In a Sundance Institute survey, the Institute has released a new study that diagnoses the state of the theater industry and imagines its future, with input from more than 75 of the field's most influential artists, leaders, donors, and administrators, as Broadway returns to business and live performances resume across the country. </span></h2><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">“Emerging From the Cave: Reimagining Our Future in Theater and Live Performance,” released Wednesday and available on a dedicated website, gathers the thoughts, ideas, and proposed solutions from a diverse group of creatives, including Lynn Nottage, Michael R. </span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Jackson, Suzan-Lori Parks, Robert O'Hara, Ty Defoe, and Shaina Taub; artistic directors Maria Goyanes, Jim Nicola, and Nataki Garrett; and artistic directors Maria Goyanes, Jim Jesse Cameron Alick, a veteran dramaturg at the Public Theater who was just named assistant creative director of Off Broadway's Vineyard Theater, led the research. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdNEJ5z9M290UvJrXp4mHv73_Jc7zBhF7k65KitH1aRrjQcFakNXlJDBwdpRWSY9IUS9-vBt1I1My9ulkHuIBcjiUAjI2L7C6n6beMB3Jvh61RsXrXuHL6iARCoGcWviwVwP-Kjt3fW3U/s612/Performance+Art-Theater-Creatives-Sundance-Survey--KiranAtma-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="459" data-original-width="612" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdNEJ5z9M290UvJrXp4mHv73_Jc7zBhF7k65KitH1aRrjQcFakNXlJDBwdpRWSY9IUS9-vBt1I1My9ulkHuIBcjiUAjI2L7C6n6beMB3Jvh61RsXrXuHL6iARCoGcWviwVwP-Kjt3fW3U/w400-h300/Performance+Art-Theater-Creatives-Sundance-Survey--KiranAtma-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The research, which began in January, was intended as an internal document to aid Sundance in exploring new versions of the organization's well-known theatrical development initiatives. </span></b><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">On the latest edition of Stagecraft, Variety's theatrical podcast, Alick says, "But when I spoke with folks, we simply began talking about everything." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">“We began talking about the rise of Black Lives Matter, the theatrical industry in general, how we pay our artists, and who should be in charge.” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Alick noticed that the same issues and themes emerged throughout his hour-long virtual one-on-one conversations with the study's 76 participants. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Alick remarked, "It really made me think, well, we're on the same page." “It was a wonderful thing to have literally dozens of individuals talking to me about the same issue and giving up comparable answers to that problem.” Discussions centered on four topics in the study's results. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">One suggestion was to decentralize power hierarchies in the field in favor of shared or circular leadership systems, similar to those recently implemented at the Public Theater (where an artistic team weighs in on all creative choices) and the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia (led by a rotating group of artistic directors). </span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Other hot topics were holistic artist support, which entails paying artists more and keeping them in paid jobs; and what's next for digital theater, which attendees felt is likely to stay around and develop as creatives and businesses experiment with live/digital hybrid models. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">“Field ideation,” or the activity of talking about large ideas, was recognized as the survey's fourth major topic by Alick. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Alick said, “Theater and live performance require a place for thinking and conversation.” “We don't have the capacity to have a good discussion right now. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Our discussions get heated. Leadership and individuals in institutions often clam up and clench their fists, indicating that they are very concerned. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">In the field, there's a lot of dread and uncertainty, and we need to find out how to communicate with each other.</span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">According to Alick, the entire report was about 150 pages long. There's a video and a presentation on the study's results on EmergingFromTheCave.com, in addition to the gathered interviews. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Sundance Institute CEO Keri Putnam stated, </span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">"We are starting a discussion that we hope artists, funders, and organizations will continue in order to stimulate new forms of support." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">“We recognize that some of these problems are beyond the scope of arts groups alone to address. In fact, we believe that many of the answers must come from sources other than institutions.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div><br /></div>Jai Krishna Ponnappanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02699917895019277960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457481119874865460.post-61749687912104598762021-09-15T03:34:00.003-07:002021-09-15T03:34:12.458-07:00 COVID Expert On Broadway Discusses Returning To Theaters Safely.<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNJK9ftUXV6OsLeFSmmVePmpTLKlw0r2prJZz7kybc7XxsoMuNM-Eccwtdw36SuN1Q-npciYBEDt_sHiwNGihHSV5YrWnuql5pq0Tttk7KVeKxcjX-BvBoI0u0qnv46EzrA0sU1F_Wo-M/s612/Performance+Art-Theater-Broadway-Post-Covid-Relaunch-KiranAtma-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="406" data-original-width="612" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNJK9ftUXV6OsLeFSmmVePmpTLKlw0r2prJZz7kybc7XxsoMuNM-Eccwtdw36SuN1Q-npciYBEDt_sHiwNGihHSV5YrWnuql5pq0Tttk7KVeKxcjX-BvBoI0u0qnv46EzrA0sU1F_Wo-M/w400-h265/Performance+Art-Theater-Broadway-Post-Covid-Relaunch-KiranAtma-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">It's the issue on everyone's mind on Broadway right now: <br />How can we all — cast, staff, and spectators — return to theaters safely as the delta variant spreads just as plays are getting back up and running? </span></h2><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqqTzxYw4xz7CWJMUeNjbu7ZTEcCR4ttLqlOAYmenREoZq3FT2A6uFjjUInM0yiY6USmqfMmzeFmWWVQTEMen_wc8sT5ZAVBUfXcAG_mxuntlmxDYV5JL9wP6AzYszBogCrmSionsr2OE/s612/Performance+Art-Theater-Broadway-Post-Covid-Relaunch-KiranAtma-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="612" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqqTzxYw4xz7CWJMUeNjbu7ZTEcCR4ttLqlOAYmenREoZq3FT2A6uFjjUInM0yiY6USmqfMmzeFmWWVQTEMen_wc8sT5ZAVBUfXcAG_mxuntlmxDYV5JL9wP6AzYszBogCrmSionsr2OE/w400-h266/Performance+Art-Theater-Broadway-Post-Covid-Relaunch-KiranAtma-3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">There is no one solution to that issue, according to epidemiologist and economist Dr. Blythe Adamson; rather, there are many distinct responses that may be blended successfully for any particular production. </span></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;"><br /><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbGoeCzk4utNWlo6uoUqDPo0YW1y7kvd7hE2hyWoWf5n6oTI-EaGlsH1aA8tufiIKMZRQsWvb1riEFY_yngAHnQhk2sV3tqp_WC3uL4yqsTYb2Syuf03KhhvNBxja4503UZFiJXLWW-n8/s612/Performance+Art-Theater-Broadway-Post-Covid-Relaunch-KiranAtma-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="408" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbGoeCzk4utNWlo6uoUqDPo0YW1y7kvd7hE2hyWoWf5n6oTI-EaGlsH1aA8tufiIKMZRQsWvb1riEFY_yngAHnQhk2sV3tqp_WC3uL4yqsTYb2Syuf03KhhvNBxja4503UZFiJXLWW-n8/w266-h400/Performance+Art-Theater-Broadway-Post-Covid-Relaunch-KiranAtma-4.jpg" width="266" /></a></div></span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">On the latest edition of Variety's theatrical podcast "Stagecraft," Adamson says, "There isn't one method that everyone should be doing it." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">“It's the fact that we have a variety of tools that we can stack together.” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Adamson has been a prominent voice on COVID guidelines for Broadway after serving on the White House COVID-19 task group and advising on a variety of large-scale, in-person events (including sports events). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">She's now working as a COVID consultant for "Pass Over," the first production to reopen after the closure (and the second after "Springsteen on Broadway"). </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Adamson was important in putting the safety procedures and safeguards in place for “Pass Over,” and she discussed some of the ideas she gained from her study and work in sports on the latest episode of “Stagecraft.” She, for example, is a big supporter of several times-per-week PCR testing. </span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">She also emphasized that everyone must be ready for change. </span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">She replied, "Your safety rules can't be strict." “You should have the ability and expectation that they will change over time as you gain more knowledge, as well as when the predominance in the community changes.” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic8TsiYufq_6e-LRiG-wZpPKx6tqG3J3Z0Ysdi1JJNlctQy0xonFb_uUvaEJYal6Y9Lfbb0ge6EkwGMb-evS1OsPqFXas17uUye9_CbVfyZ4fSzvQSnWcyWImdWpv5rEyduBBEbI_4Qr0/s612/Performance+Art-Theater-Broadway-Post-Covid-Relaunch-KiranAtma-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="612" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic8TsiYufq_6e-LRiG-wZpPKx6tqG3J3Z0Ysdi1JJNlctQy0xonFb_uUvaEJYal6Y9Lfbb0ge6EkwGMb-evS1OsPqFXas17uUye9_CbVfyZ4fSzvQSnWcyWImdWpv5rEyduBBEbI_4Qr0/w400-h258/Performance+Art-Theater-Broadway-Post-Covid-Relaunch-KiranAtma-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The production's dedicated COVID safety manager (a new job established post-lockdown and distinct from the state manager) oversees the "Pass Over" procedures, which go above and above the minimums needed by local laws and industry labor agreements. </span></h3><div><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">But, in Adamson's opinion, the additional care (and the associated expenses) are well worth it. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">She said, "We could do the very minimum and definitely have an epidemic in the cast." “What are the ramifications of doing the bare minimum? All of the income lost as a result of canceled concerts, and that's just the financial aspect. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">… At the end of the day, we really care about people's health. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">We want them to be in good health. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">We don't want individuals to be put in danger, become ill, or spread this to their family. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">There's also a human aspect to it.” “Protecting people has a high return on investment,” she said. </span></p><p><b><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Adamson also addressed the process of working out acceptable safety measures in the frequently unique settings of Broadway on the most recent episode of "Stagecraft." </span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">“I'd say things like, ‘Well, just open the dressing room windows,' and [a stage manager] would reply, ‘There are no dressing room windows!' They're all packed into a small, tiny area! There are no windows that can be opened!' </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP4bL4wBYWWJa0fSxXMD7o-TEOatDIKrS9kYoPmeylGCHtc-OuGYfFYh8AgVZe0V3JdHs6t6nwZFSioWRsZg2aaFPEleE16nZMyxyZFQScxFcVhs92a60dAu6q2wLg3JTmOgG-Hj81CPo/s612/Performance+Art-Theaterical-Disney-Post-Covid-Relaunch-KiranAtma-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="612" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP4bL4wBYWWJa0fSxXMD7o-TEOatDIKrS9kYoPmeylGCHtc-OuGYfFYh8AgVZe0V3JdHs6t6nwZFSioWRsZg2aaFPEleE16nZMyxyZFQScxFcVhs92a60dAu6q2wLg3JTmOgG-Hj81CPo/w400-h266/Performance+Art-Theaterical-Disney-Post-Covid-Relaunch-KiranAtma-1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div><br /></div>Jai Krishna Ponnappanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02699917895019277960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457481119874865460.post-66058480374973542962021-09-15T03:34:00.002-07:002021-09-15T03:34:09.478-07:00Disney Theatrical's Global Relaunch<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggo000AHdag0v5C1Dp2WjNcjXDpWeVNk8yuBXBwOrG-pmxDp-owLc49fWuo_FXLBFvBiI9Q2PeOMUn1shn0_rIBHTHliwkNtvrns9mXIlNi3WFE4pTm2ZqgskkD05jHImkfimHkzUjfT8/s612/Performance+Art-Theaterical-Disney-Post-Covid-Relaunch-KiranAtma-4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="408" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggo000AHdag0v5C1Dp2WjNcjXDpWeVNk8yuBXBwOrG-pmxDp-owLc49fWuo_FXLBFvBiI9Q2PeOMUn1shn0_rIBHTHliwkNtvrns9mXIlNi3WFE4pTm2ZqgskkD05jHImkfimHkzUjfT8/w426-h640/Performance+Art-Theaterical-Disney-Post-Covid-Relaunch-KiranAtma-4.jpg" width="426" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"> <br /><br /><br /></span><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">From “Aladdin” in Mexico City to “Frozen” in London to “The Lion King” in Tokyo — not to mention “Lion King” and “Aladdin” on Broadway — Disney Theatrical Productions is in the middle of launching nine new shows and reviving 14 others that were impacted by the epidemic. </span></h2><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">They're doing all of this in approximately seven months. To put it simply, that's a lot. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The staff at Disney, on the other hand, saw a clear rationale in executing everything at once. </span></h3><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXjW0zem1rP5F0HiGON5YKI0kt7LNbwTbcwN9kkgSiMcqTZXsvrGRalv9lsfcMnNKw_T0xFP4N5myyApkHI82dPAH6pDKjESGW6tbvIj6SzMKl2yNEB19iF3CUX3B_FSYSaksqvNs4tkg/s612/Performance+Art-Theaterical-Disney-Post-Covid-Relaunch-KiranAtma-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="612" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXjW0zem1rP5F0HiGON5YKI0kt7LNbwTbcwN9kkgSiMcqTZXsvrGRalv9lsfcMnNKw_T0xFP4N5myyApkHI82dPAH6pDKjESGW6tbvIj6SzMKl2yNEB19iF3CUX3B_FSYSaksqvNs4tkg/w400-h266/Performance+Art-Theaterical-Disney-Post-Covid-Relaunch-KiranAtma-2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><b><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">On the latest edition of Stagecraft, Anne Quart, senior vice president of production and co-producer at Disney Theatrical, stated, "We could have stretched it out much farther, but we made the choice that at the core of what we do is people." “We need to go back to work with our performers, crew, musicians, and designers. </span></b></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The whole ecology must be lifted off the ground. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">There can't be one program that is more essential than the other. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">We must all work together to bring it up. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">We won't have an industry until we do this.” Quart and Thomas Schumacher, DTP's producer and president, spoke on Stagecraft to discuss how they manage scheduling, worldwide travel, remote work, and different foreign COVID-19 limitations to get these performances off the ground. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLL_85fxWkgod1Z-CbItFAZ9Da44A1w3AEiFW8gGM5XlrxzqNeNZVktszPJJmAfBu43e38h3fGzAmuWQz7BmxwOuh1cTLBZFcyy-LIm07InZIX5BG3WOE7AGBp-7Zf_tVcY2N6bWxjMHQ/s612/Performance+Art-Theaterical-Disney-Post-Covid-Relaunch-KiranAtma-3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="408" data-original-width="612" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLL_85fxWkgod1Z-CbItFAZ9Da44A1w3AEiFW8gGM5XlrxzqNeNZVktszPJJmAfBu43e38h3fGzAmuWQz7BmxwOuh1cTLBZFcyy-LIm07InZIX5BG3WOE7AGBp-7Zf_tVcY2N6bWxjMHQ/w400-h266/Performance+Art-Theaterical-Disney-Post-Covid-Relaunch-KiranAtma-3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Quart observed, "Everything has 500 stages that it didn't have before COVID." </span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">She went on to say, "Plus, each individual person inside the system has their own emotions." “How they feel about safety, about COVID, and how they feel in the place. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">You'll need to make space for it as well. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">So there are a lot of variables.” In addition, in the latest edition of Stagecraft, Following the reckoning that has taken place in the theater business and the entertainment industry at large over the past year, Quart and Schumacher addressed how Disney Theatrical is moving toward equality and racial justice. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">In terms of the company's equality and accessibility efforts, Schumacher stated, "We're deep into this discussion, and that implies a lifetime conversation." </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">“When you look into this subject, you'll see that we weren't really following through on the commitment we made to ourselves, and it's been a wake-up call.” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">When it came to the theater industry, Schumacher acknowledged he didn't know what to anticipate in the near future, but he was extremely enthusiastic about the long-term possibilities. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">“How will the world be in a year's time? He said, "I honestly don't know." “However, I am sure that in the long run, this will be remembered as a period of transition. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Some of it was really beneficial change that made us much better and more vibrant.” COVID Expert on Broadway Discusses Returning to Theaters Safely.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><div><br /></div>Jai Krishna Ponnappanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02699917895019277960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457481119874865460.post-3960305494244114182021-04-04T02:53:00.008-07:002021-04-25T09:36:11.046-07:00Diana the Musical Streaming on Netflix | NYC Plans to Reopen Broadway Theater <p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBPCIzwpl9ujXkQtq1Ko94-GbzhtESGz0v_OOeMTRA7Nby1mq4wwgjXNJ5Ca88XDg74uNKrZazh70hLrZH9e24lFpusMcgQ8DR5PW2SAqPWLzPb7bqE3SeEmMzxm24I6d2VvIh-M3Ol8U/s2558/diana-a-new-musical-banner-KiranAtma1.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1160" data-original-width="2558" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBPCIzwpl9ujXkQtq1Ko94-GbzhtESGz0v_OOeMTRA7Nby1mq4wwgjXNJ5Ca88XDg74uNKrZazh70hLrZH9e24lFpusMcgQ8DR5PW2SAqPWLzPb7bqE3SeEmMzxm24I6d2VvIh-M3Ol8U/w400-h181/diana-a-new-musical-banner-KiranAtma1.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Diana: The Musical, which was supposed to debut on Broadway last March but was cancelled due to the coronavirus, has announced a Netflix premiere date as well as plans for a reopening on Broadway. The musical will be available on Netflix on October 1st. Previews will resume at the Longacre Theatre on Wednesday, December 1, awaiting government acceptance and accordance with health and safety standards. Opening night is scheduled for Thursday, December 16.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The musical features a book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro, and music and lyrics by David Bryan — the writers behind the Tony-winning musical Memphis. Olivier winner and Tony nominee Kelly Devine is the choreographer, and Tony winner Christopher Ashley directs.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Diana is voiced by Jeanna de Waal, with Prince Charles played by Roe Hartrampf, Camilla Parker Bowles played by Erin Davie, and Queen Elizabeth played by Judy Kaye, a two-time Tony Award winner. Zach Adkins, Tessa Alves, Ashley Andrews, and Austen are among the cast members. Andre Jordan, Gareth Keegan, Nathan Lucrezio, Toms Matos, Chris Medlin, Laura Stracko, and Bethany Ann Tesarck. Danielle Bohmer, Holly Ann Butler, Stephen Carrasco, Bruce Dow, Richard Gatta, Lauren E.J. Hamilton, Emma Hearn, Shaye B. Hopkins, Andre Jordan, Gareth Keegan, Nathan Lucrezio, Toms Matos, Chris Medlin, Laura Stracko</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The following is how Diana is described: "The princess was thrown onto the international stage. Her exquisite looks and astonishing insecurity captivated the gossip papers. The world's most powerful dynasty is on the verge of collapse. This is the storey of the new era's most popular woman as she attempts to deal with a spotlight bigger than any the world has ever seen. She exceeded standards, stunned the royals, and conquered the hearts of her country by leading in her own voice. Diana, Princess of Wales, left an indelible mark on history."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The musical started previews on March 2, but due to the pandemic, performances were halted on March 12.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: x-large;">New York City Unveils Plan to Reopen Broadway, With Testing and Vaccination Centers for Theater Employees</span></h3><div><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEgQ7tQLLYbbZCyd_pFYnifopKRlJY4ea0P9ZqJC-4To7V5T3gYgiCPOYaM3rX0Q17zmQvKCaauKQ7AYo4RZv8jGBKpY4ci6H3VEccD028uMqvi9w_syWjmLE0DLKSDuWl8aR0W1tLNs8/s2048/NYC-Broadway-Theater-To-Reopen-KiranAtma1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1367" data-original-width="2048" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEgQ7tQLLYbbZCyd_pFYnifopKRlJY4ea0P9ZqJC-4To7V5T3gYgiCPOYaM3rX0Q17zmQvKCaauKQ7AYo4RZv8jGBKpY4ci6H3VEccD028uMqvi9w_syWjmLE0DLKSDuWl8aR0W1tLNs8/w400-h268/NYC-Broadway-Theater-To-Reopen-KiranAtma1.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div></div><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York City has announced the start of a campaign to reopen Broadway and off-Broadway by this fall. New York City will launch dedicated Covid-19 vaccine sites for the theatre community on Broadway in the coming weeks, as well as a mobile vaccination unit for off-Broadway staff. These locations will be run by veterans of the theatre industry. In addition, the city is partnering with the Broadway group to create strategies for crowd control before and after performances and will set up pop-up COVID-19 training sites near the main theatres.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">De Blasio is also urging the state of New York to issue recommendations for theatre staff on how to wear masks and how to use evidence of vaccination or unfavorable tests to ensure that anyone will return to work and that crowds can return in the fall. Tony nominee André De Shields and Broadway veteran Telly Leung were among the performers who attended the mayor's press conference. In the coming weeks, more information about the proposal will be published. De Blasio said, "We will move heaven and earth to get Broadway alive."</span></p>Jai Krishna Ponnappanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02699917895019277960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457481119874865460.post-9300143117875743192021-01-26T03:06:00.002-08:002021-01-26T03:38:52.125-08:00 Demand Adequate COVID-19 Relief for Performance Art<p> </p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoghXs2CPiWMhsCzm4Z1-dhWa-fraGETlxHvLc2Y848nW7mYI_urbE48r-_L_XWuSLbuHb8FKR15FsBapmkp1zwIFHlxr3Cgnxrz3q8PMKHfR4KzGPo_QA2crXMG9m11JSD4Dkun4ItHM/s2048/01-Demand+COVID-19+Relief+for+Performance+Art-USA-01.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-iH7741rUuc3QE9-f28hYNeTIs5jCLwFwarpRTFLSRjuSJIQAYHwd2lMm3exNjNtzPI16suie84_vxad03jU01-gRQVQmXEJ2NOHMsg5Cn0g72VgchUzPoM8Q8pHeufTaGy4pnzMur94/s2048/01-Demand+COVID-19+Financial+Relief+for+Performance+Art-USA.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1365" data-original-width="2048" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-iH7741rUuc3QE9-f28hYNeTIs5jCLwFwarpRTFLSRjuSJIQAYHwd2lMm3exNjNtzPI16suie84_vxad03jU01-gRQVQmXEJ2NOHMsg5Cn0g72VgchUzPoM8Q8pHeufTaGy4pnzMur94/w400-h266/01-Demand+COVID-19+Financial+Relief+for+Performance+Art-USA.gif" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><br /></blockquote><p> <span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">The new Covid congressional relief bill aims to provide gig employees and freelancers with ongoing financial assistance, including those dramatists who do not apply for conventional unemployment relief. The COVID Relief Bill is over 5,600 pages long; there was not enough time for either the Assembly, the Senate, or the theatre world at large to examine it entirely.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">In its present form, though, it has been stated that it provides provisions for relief such as:</span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><ol><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Extension of the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program to 5 April 2021 (starting in mid-March with phase-out), including an extension to 50 weeks of the qualifying period;</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">An expansion of the salaried/hourly employers' Pandemic Unemployment Emergency Compensation (PEUC) scheme to April 5, 2021, after the claimant has expended his Federal Unemployment Benefits (UI);</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">"Mixed earners" who were ineligible for PUA with 1099/W2 wages will receive a $100 weekly incentive for the length of their state UI/PEUC benefits;</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">And all unemployment applicants (State UI, PUA, PEUC) will receive an additional $300 a week from 26 December 2020 to 14 March 2021.</span></li></ol><div><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The proposed bill would also ensure that the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities remain federally funded for another year. An appropriation of $167.5 million will be earned from each agency, which is $5.25 million higher than the amount adopted in 2020. This relief bill contains language that would allow grant funds that were appropriated for operational costs in both 2019 and 2020 to be used. Another round of the Paycheck Security Program (PPP) and the bipartisan Save Our Stages Act are both scheduled to be included in this bill. As part of Congress' overall $900 billion relief program, Save Our Stages will offer nearly $15 billion in federal relief to entertainment centers, including concert halls and theater operators.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">The Save our Stages grant scheme will contain the following terms:</span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><ol><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Using a full-time comparable estimate, $2 billion in overall funds would be allocated for grants to companies with 50 or less workers.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">In 2019, candidates may measure their grant volume based on 45 percent of the received income of an individual.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Net grants earned from a qualifying agency per beneficiary are capped at $10 million.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Grants may be used from 1 March 2020 to 31 December 2021 for expenses incurred (and supplemental grants may be used from March 1, 2020 to June 30, 2022).</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Payroll, including fees to independent contractors, covers allowable expenses; rent; fixed costs such as mortgage and interest payments; as well as repair, administrative and other expenses.</span></li></ol><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">For the grants, theatres meeting the following requirements would be eligible to apply:</span></h3><div><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><ol><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Theatres may qualify to apply, even though their performance space is not owned by them. "Operators of live performing arts organizations" are clearly eligible and are defined as a person or company that "organizes, promotes, produces, manages or hosts live concerts, comedy shows, theatrical productions, other performing artist events as a principal business activity."</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">For-profit and non-profit candidates, as well as independent owners of motion picture theatres, museum operators, and talent members, are given eligibility.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">In order to continue to apply, applicants must show a minimum 25 percent reduction in gross earned revenue in one calendar quarter of 2020 relative to the same quarter in 2019.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">An borrower may have obtained a forgivable PPP loan in 2020, but must consider whether to apply for an SOS grant or to apply for a second PPP loan after signing into law the new bill.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Eligible applicants must apply a certificate in good faith specifying that "the uncertainty of current economic conditions makes necessary the grant to support the ongoing operations," and that those applicants must comply with the provisions that the beneficiary "will not abrogate existing collective bargaining agreements" and "will remain neutral in any union organizing effort."</span></li></ol><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Since March 2020, many theatres around the nation have been closed, and will remain closed for many more months to come. Live theatre will potentially not return until the fall of 2021, at the earliest, according to Dr. Fauci's estimates. "This bill gives [theatres] a fighting chance," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Sunday, December 20, during a congressional floor address. Hopefully, the latest Covid relief bill will prove to be a step forward, but we do have a lot of work to do to ensure that the theatre industry enjoys complete federal funding during this extraordinary period in American history that it urgently needs. In a landmark letter writing campaign to the new government, we are calling on DG representatives to support us.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><h2><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">FY21 Year-End Omnibus Provisions and COVID-19 Relief</span></h2><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeEjCR4IGgOGFcxd9f8_9nwsVQDgKYfNAgNOdsv069FTCIUQct39N_Yag2llsOVXCIa0KwOm1fmThyoFWAE-Mhl_RpzDiSiHdFEgdUC1he29EAGHrIHUU2D_V664N_XCM5g2NsnZ6TJ8E/s286/01-Demand+COVID-19+Financial+Relief+for+Performance+Art-USA-02.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="176" data-original-width="286" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeEjCR4IGgOGFcxd9f8_9nwsVQDgKYfNAgNOdsv069FTCIUQct39N_Yag2llsOVXCIa0KwOm1fmThyoFWAE-Mhl_RpzDiSiHdFEgdUC1he29EAGHrIHUU2D_V664N_XCM5g2NsnZ6TJ8E/w400-h246/01-Demand+COVID-19+Financial+Relief+for+Performance+Art-USA-02.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">In the coming weeks, more information about the timing of access to relief and specific eligibility requirements will be discussed in guidelines produced by the Small Business Administration, the U.S. Treasury Department, and other federal and state departments. As soon as more information is available, TCG will be offering more updates.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">More than $900 billion in COVID-19 resources, along with $1.4 trillion in FY21 annual federal financing, will be available. The bill provides additional tools to fund arts groups, artists, and urban communities alongside funding for vaccination delivery and immediate relief payments.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Baskervville;">The </span><a href="https://rules.house.gov/sites/democrats.rules.house.gov/files/BILLS-116HR133SA-RCP-116-68.pdf" style="font-family: Baskervville;" target="_blank">full text of the legislation</a><span style="font-family: Baskervville;"> amounts to nearly 5,600 pages. Below is an overview, with PDF page numbers for each section of the bill noted below:</span></span></p><p><br /></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville;"><span style="font-size: large;">Save Our Stages (begins p.2124):</span> </span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville;"><span style="font-size: medium;">The Small Business Administration will implement a new $15 billion grant program dedicated to providing support for “shuttered venue operators” and will write the rules for how to administer the program within 10 days after the bill is signed into law.</span></span></p><div><br /></div><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Eligible entities:</span></h3><p><br /></p><p></p><ol><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Theatres can qualify to apply, even if they do not own their performance space. “Live performing arts organization operators” are specifically eligible and are defined as an individual or entity that “as a principal business activity, organizes, promotes, produces, manages, or hosts live concerts, comedy shows, theatrical productions, other events by performing artists."</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Eligibility is offered to for-profit and nonprofit applicants, as well as independent motion picture theatre operators, museum operators, and talent representatives.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Applicants must demonstrate a minimum 25% decline in gross earned revenue in one calendar quarter of 2020, compared to the same quarter in 2019, to qualify to apply.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">An applicant may have received a PPP forgivable loan in 2020, but must choose whether to seek an SOS grant or apply for a second PPP loan after the new bill is signed into law.</span></li></ol><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Grant amounts:</span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p></p><ol><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Applicants will calculate their grant amount based on 45% of an entity's earned revenue in 2019.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Total grants received by an eligible entity are capped at $10 million per recipient.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">After receiving an initial grant, qualifying applicants that are experiencing a 70% revenue decline as of April 1, 2021 can receive a supplemental grant equal to half of their initial grant award. Supplemental grant awards will only be awarded after applications received in the first 60 days of the program have been processed. </span></li></ol><div><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Eligible costs:</span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Grants may be used for costs incurred from March 1, 2020 through December 31, 2021 (and supplemental grants may be used from March 1, 2020 to June 30, 2022).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Allowable expenses include payroll, including payments to independent contractors; rent; fixed costs like mortgage and debt payments; as well as maintenance expenses, administrative costs, and other expenses.</span></p><h3><br /></h3><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Priority period and non-priority reserve:</span></h3><p></p><ol><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">$2 billion of overall funding will be reserved for grants to entities with 50 or fewer employees, using a full-time equivalent calculation.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The program will include two priority application periods that may be difficult for theatres to access, due to ongoing contributed revenue received throughout the pandemic.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The first 14 days will limit access to applicants that demonstrate a revenue decline of 90% or more from April 1 to December 31, 2020, compared to the same time period in 2019.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The second 14 days will be limited to those with a revenue decline of 70% or more.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Relief funds already accessed through the CARES act will not count as revenue for this calculation, and seasonal organizations will use an alternate time period for the comparison.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">At the request of nonprofit advocates, 20% of funds will be reserved for availability after the conclusion of the priority period.</span></li></ol><p></p><p><br /></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Certifications:</span></h3><div><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Eligible applicants must submit a good faith certification that "the uncertainty of current economic conditions makes necessary the grant to support the ongoing operations," and certain applicants must abide by requirements that the recipient "will not abrogate existing collective bargaining agreements" and "will remain neutral in any union organizing effort."</span></div><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) (begins p.2043): </span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">More than $280 billion in new PPP relief will be available, including a second opportunity to apply for forgivable loans, accessible through March 31, 2021. The SBA is directed to issue complete guidelines within 10 days after passage for implementing the next phase of PPP, which will include important details.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"> </span></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Eligible expenses:</span></h3><div><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">PPP allowable expenses are expanded to include software and computing costs associated with moving business services and operations online, and the cost of personal protective equipment and other expenses required for meeting public health and safety orders from March 1, 2020 to the end of the national emergency declaration.</span></div><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">This expansion applies to prior PPP loans that have not yet been forgiven, as well as new PPP loans.</span></p><p><br /></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Loan forgiveness (begins p.2043; 2055; 4929):</span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The bill maintains the current requirement that 60% of costs be attributed to payroll in order to achieve full loan forgiveness.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The prior requirement that borrowers deduct an Economic Injury Disaster Loan amount from their forgivable PPP loan amount has been repealed.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Borrowers will be eligible for loan forgiveness equal to the amount of allowable costs spent during a period of their choosing, between 8 and 24 weeks following the origination date of the loan. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The SBA will rapidly set in place a new streamlined loan forgiveness process for borrowers with loans of $150,000 and under.</span></p><p><br /></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Second round (begins p.2064):</span></h3><div><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Forgivable loans of up to $2 million will be available to employers with a workforce that does not exceed 300 employees and that can demonstrate at least a 25% gross receipts decline in any quarter of 2020, compared to 2019. For nonprofits, gross receipts are defined as under the terms of the Form 990.</span></div><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">As with the first round of PPP, loan amounts equal 2.5 times average monthly payroll costs.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Employee Retention Tax Credits (ERTC) (begins p.4927): </span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The Employee Retention Tax Credits (ERTC) will be extended through July 1, 2021 and significantly expanded, raising the credit from 50% to 70% of qualified wages. The value of the credit will increase from up to $10,000 in wages/year to $10,000 in wages/quarter per employee for the first two quarters of 2021, amounting to up to $14,000 in refundable payroll tax credits per employee. Employers that receive Paycheck Protection Program loans will qualify for the ERTC for wages that are not paid for with a forgivable PPP loan. The ERTC’s quarterly minimum 20% gross receipts decline requirement continues to be waived for “an employer whose trade or business operations are fully or partially suspended during a calendar quarter due to a governmental order.”</span></p><p><br /></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Charitable Giving Incentives (begins p.4951): </span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The new universal charitable deduction for non-itemizers that was created under the CARES Act has been extended to apply throughout the 2021 tax year. Taxpayers who do not itemize deductions will once again be incentivized to give more, as single filers may take up to a $300 deduction for giving, and now joint filers who were limited to a $300 deduction in 2020 will be eligible for a $600 deduction for cash contributions in 2021. Also extended through 2021, the limitation on the percentage of Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) eligible for the charitable deduction has been lifted for those who itemize their tax returns, and the limit on deductions for corporate contributions is raised to 25% of taxable income.</span></p><p><br /></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Relief for Nonprofits Self-Insuring Unemployment Benefits (begins p.1933):</span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Many theatres are among nonprofits that self-insure unemployment benefits rather than pay state unemployment taxes. Nonprofit liability was reduced by 50% under the CARES Act, and this form of relief is now extended through March 14, 2021.</span></p><p><br /></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Pandemic Unemployment Assistance and Compensation (begins p.1928): </span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Pandemic Unemployment Assistance will be extended, providing federal unemployment benefits for self-employed and gig workers who are affected directly by the pandemic but are not typically eligible for state unemployment benefits. Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation benefits that expired earlier this year are reinstated at $300 per week, through March 14, 2021. An extra $100 per week will be available for workers who have both W-2 and self-employment income but whose base benefit calculation doesn’t take their self-employment into account.</span></p><p><br /></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Paid Sick and Family Leave (begins p.2033; 2438): </span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The refundable payroll tax credits for paid sick and family leave that were established in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, are extended through March 31, 2021.</span></p><p><br /></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">National Endowment for the Arts (begins p.869, 885): </span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">For FY21, the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities each receive an appropriation of $167.5 million, $5.25 million more than the 2020 enacted levels. The bill includes language that permits grant funds appropriated this year and in fiscal years 2019 and 2020 to be used for operating expenses.</span></p><p><br /></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Education Funding (begins p.1859): </span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The bill provides an $82 billion Education Stabilization Fund to support the educational needs of States, school districts, and institutions of higher education and the students they serve in response to coronavirus. The FY21 annual funding for the U.S. Department of Education’s Arts in Education program fund has been approved at $30.5 million.</span></p><p><br /></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Broadband Funding (begins p.2417): </span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">$7 billion for broadband, including funding for those struggling to afford internet access, $1 billion for broadband on tribal lands, and $300 million for rural broadband deployment.</span></p><p><br /></p><h3><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">Public Broadcasting (begins p.1074):</span></h3><p><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">$475 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), in 2023 advance funding, an increase of $10 million above the 2020 enacted level. In addition, the bill includes $20 million for the interconnection system and system wide infrastructure, the same as the 2020 enacted level.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Jai Krishna Ponnappanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02699917895019277960noreply@blogger.comNew York, NY, USA40.7127753 -74.005972812.402541463821152 -109.1622228 69.023009136178842 -38.849722799999995tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457481119874865460.post-70295067188952061402020-05-05T09:54:00.001-07:002021-01-26T04:04:20.997-08:00What I Learned From Coal: An Unexpected Diagnosis In A Pandemic by Jessica Burgess<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">An
essay from <a href="https://thefilmshop.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=45db7dea355aad86d6ef08b00&id=7bf9a37d4f&e=75acec8129" target="_blank">Jessica Burgess</a>. Jess is an award-winning director and producer who has
created for clients such as MoMA, Jay-Z’s Life+Times, Vice, Gravity Media, and
the art blog, Future Tongue. With a background in Art History, her work
often focuses on the visual arts and contemporary artists.<br />
<br />
In this piece, Jess reflects on receiving a cancer diagnosis and treatment,
just as the coronavirus pandemic hit New York.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><i>May 4, 2020</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i>
<i><br /></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Baskervville;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>What I Learned from Coal: An Unexpected Diagnosis in a
Pandemic by </b><b><a href="http://www.thefilmshop.org/jessica-burgess">Jess
Burgess</a></b></span></span></h3><div><span style="font-family: Baskervville;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Baskervville;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-family: Baskervville;">
<br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
The first time someone says the word cancer in relation to
you, it feels surreal and impersonal; not in the I-must-be-dreaming sense, but
semantically. You hear the word “cancer,” usually with some qualifiers with it,
like what stage, or which body part, or what the prognosis is, but your brain doesn’t
really get past the cancer part. And the doctor won’t just come out and say,
“You have cancer;” there’s always some roundabout statement about <i>it</i>.
“We’ve gotten the results back and <i>it’s</i> not lymphoma.” Or, “<i>It</i>
appears to have spread.” Or, “We will need to remove <i>it</i> quickly.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
Perhaps there is some professional reason for doctors to
speak this way, but I’m not sure. No one likes to deliver bad news, even if it
is part of your job description. So, for better or worse, you get to be the one
to say the undeniably true thing, the thing that they don’t feel comfortable
saying. At some point <i>you </i>will have to be the first person to speak
those words. Someone will ask what happened at the doctors, or they will ask
you what’s wrong. But more likely, the first time anyone says it out loud, you
will be alone, and like naming a newly discovered species or realizing for the
first time that you’re in love, you will stop and say to yourself, “I have
cancer.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
At least that is what happened to me. It was March 16th and
I was sitting in a cavernous Vietnamese restaurant in Union Square. A
restaurant where I used to have lunch in between college classes, but was now
empty save for me, my partner, the owner, and her pet chihuahua. We were all
watching Mayor DeBlasio talk about the possibility of a city-wide shutdown.
Every time he spoke the chihuahua would start yapping at the television, as if
it were upset on behalf of its owner about the loss of business. After the
waiter placed a steaming bowl of soup in front of me, the last meal I would
have in a restaurant for the foreseeable future, I looked down at my lunch and
said it. “I have cancer.” Happy fucking pandemic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
------------------<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
I have always been an avid researcher; information helps me
to give shape to the things I can’t control. While I was waiting for test
results, which is like sitting in Satan’s living room, my writing group had
assigned an exercise in semiotics and deconstruction. We were to research a
randomly assigned object, and directed to find meaning within its properties.
Others were assigned things like lipstick or swing sets, things I had actually
seen before in my lifetime, and I got coal. I’m not immune to the universe’s
jokes, especially when I was getting the proverbial coal in my stocking in more
ways than one. I knew almost nothing about coal, so I began with the basics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
The first thing I realized, and the thing that still shocks
me is this: life is required to electrify the laptop that you are using to read
this. That life was most likely coal, since electricity generation is the
reason for 93% of coal extraction in the United States. Like all fossil fuels,
the utility of coal comes from its carbon structure, but it’s the residue of
life that creates its combustibility, and hence its importance to us. Diamonds
and the graphite in your pencil are carbon, but their crystalline, undiluted
structure make them impervious to heat; they are, and always were, mineral
compounds. Coal was formed when the Mesozoic plants – ferns, pines, redwoods,
and all the first flowering flora – succumbed to the swamps around them.
Hundreds of millions of years of heat and pressure forced the oxygen from their
dead mass, leaving behind carbon but also mercury, nitrogen, and most
importantly sulfur, the reason coal burns so consistently. The rotten egg smell
wafting from northern New Jersey is the remnants of prehistoric ferns, exacting
their revenge on motorists on the Turnpike. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
Despite clean energy advances, the U.S. still relies heavily
on coal and we still extract <i>a lot </i>of it – 755,000,000 tons of coal in
2018 according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration to be exact. We do
this primarily through strip mining. The technique, which is actually a group
of methods including the controversial and aptly named “mountaintop removal”
process, was created as a safer practice, billed as both more efficient and
much cheaper than traditional pit mining. Strip mining only works when the coal
is close to the surface of the earth. Employing some of the heaviest machinery
on the planet, the earth is peeled back layer by layer to expose the black
mineral, which is blasted from the ground with explosives and collected in dump
trucks. The “over burden,” or topsoil previously exfoliated from the earth, is
laid back atop the broken ground and companies are supposed to plant vegetation
in the wake of their Frankenstein machines. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
------------------<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
One night I dreamt that my neck was the earth. A bucket
wheel excavator, one of those machines that’s larger than a cruise ship and
looks like a fever dream from Mad Max, rolled into the space between my collar
bones and excised all the unwholesome flesh beneath. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
The definition of cancer is “a disease caused by an
uncontrolled division of abnormal cells in a part of the body.” It’s in the
definition that you find the problems. Separately, accelerated growth and
mutation of cells are merely dysfunctional, but together these two
characteristics are lethal. Abnormal cells happen everywhere on your body; in
fact, cell mutation is what created our species. The mutation that causes
cancer also caused the cell in the hands of apes to defect and start acting
like a thumb. Cancer cells act on the same line of evolutionary edicts,
fighting to exist in a body with the same tenacity as early humans fought Neanderthals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
Like all evolutionary beasts, the important facet of cancer
lurking behind the definition is time. The phase of cancer given during
diagnosis is largely based on the amount of time it has been allowed to grow
undetected. Thyroid cancer, at least the type I was diagnosed with, is
incredibly slow growing; the tumor could have been there for up to ten years
before it spread and could be felt in the side of my neck. But it didn’t start
out that way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
All tumors begin as a cell that has a mind of its own and
doesn’t want to stop existing. “Adult cells are constantly under strict
control,” Timothy Weill of Cambridge noted, “basically cancer is a loss of
control of those cells.” Cancer cells are wild cards, they break all the rules,
they can’t be stopped. I respect cancer, hell, I might even admire cancer – one
little deviant cell that laid low, biding its time, waiting long enough to
upend my whole life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
My doctor decided to rush surgery, fearing that
non-emergency surgery would be cancelled for over a year because of the
coronavirus; there was too much unknown to let this thing stay inside me for
any longer than it needed to be. At 30 years old, they figured I was young and
healthy enough to operate then get me out before Mount Sinai would become a respiratory
ward, so they scheduled surgery for March 20. With only three days between
diagnosis and surgery to prepare, I did what I could. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
My parents, at ages 65 and 68, couldn’t come into the city
that was quickly becoming a hotbed for a disease that preyed on people over 60.
Not that it would matter, no one could come into the hospital with me. During
my surgery they would remove my entire thyroid, as well as the lymph node –
where they expected the cancer had spread to – and all the surrounding lymph nodes
in my neck. I would have a scar that would stretch from the left side of my
neck, across my throat, hook a hard right upwards, and end just below my right
ear. After surgery, I would be watched in the hospital for up to 48 hours with
no visitors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
So that was it. In 72 hours, they would remove a tumor I had
for 10 years that took 2 months of testing to identify. There was no time to
accept, or prepare, or even understand the gravity of my situation. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
------------------<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
Coal did have some personal relevance as it turned out. Like
all the difficult and fascinating things about myself, it has to do with my
southern roots. In Appalachia, “redneck” is a complicated term. Lots of folks
take a sarcastic joy in using the term, calling their floating pontoons
“redneck yacht clubs” and prompting a whole line of jokes. “If you’ve ever been
too drunk to fish, you might be a redneck.” (Thank you, Jeff Foxworthy.) Others
find it a shameful slur, akin to being called ignorant, uncivilized, or even
illiterate. Like most people I know, I grew up thinking the term came from the
sunburn gained from long hours working in the sun, but it turns out that isn’t
true. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
My grandfather, growing up in a coal mining family in West Virginia, was
proud of the name and with good reason. One story of how the term “redneck” began, as it turns out,
was probably first coined over one hundred years ago in relation to coal
miners. The peak of coal production in US history was before and during the
First World War. Coal-miner veterans returned home to find that the coal
companies had worked hard and fast to consolidate power, squeezing wages
everywhere in the country. Conditions were so dangerous and pay so meager that
after the war, the United Mine Workers of America began to gain ground as a
legitimate force.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
The main focal point of conflict was in West Virginia, where
coal was the predominant industry. In 1920, the long-simmering tensions of “The
Coal Wars” erupted into the single largest worker’s uprising in U.S. History at
the Battle of Blair Mountain. A coalition of 10,000 white, black, and immigrant
miners marched from Charleston to the headquarters of Logan County Coal. Armed
with rifles, they demanded their rights to fair pay, safer working conditions,
and the right to unionize. The miners wore red bandanas around their necks as a
symbol of solidarity and quickly became known as “The Redneck Army.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
The ramshackle army was met by the Logan County sheriff,
employed by the coal industry, and their 2,000 hired mercenaries. Private
planes dropped bombs and mustard gas acquired from the First World War on the
unionizers. After a month-long standoff, President Warren G. Harding called in
the National Guard of West Virginia, which effectively dispersed the leftover uprisers.
Almost 1,000 men were tried for a litany of charges, including murder,
conspiracy to commit murder, and treason. Membership in the UMW plummeted from
50,000 to under 10,000.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
My grandfather grew up outside of Logan County. I don’t know
for sure if my great-grandparents were part of this rebellion, but I like to
think they were rednecks in the original sense of the word. The coal miners
went on to unionize in 1934.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
------------------<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
One hundred men died in the Battle of Blair Mountain. People
killing each other over the right to take the remnants of dead plants from the
ground, or the right to not be killed while doing so. We are fallible, delicate
beings. We don’t have the luxury of seeing the fullest reach of our actions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
The worst moments of my week-long run-in with cancer was the
morning before the surgery. I woke up after a few hours of sleep and for one
brief, lovely moment I thought I’d dreamed up the past 5 days – that I didn’t
have cancer, that the world wasn’t shutting down piece by piece, that I could
make coffee and worry about finishing the accounting for my last job. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
Then I
remembered, New York City was shutting down, turning off the lights. Without
the need for as much power, the coal had stopped burning somewhere upstate. And
I did, in fact, have cancer. I was hours away from going into the hospital,
alone. Alone because it was too dangerous for anyone to accompany me. Alone to
wait in a mostly empty hospital, while nurses readied themselves for the hard
weeks ahead <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
Then the interminable car ride to the hospital, readying
myself to say goodbye to the one person who I would be able to see until the
world started up again, knowing that in thirty minutes, now twenty, now ten, he
would have to leave me. Standing on the precipice of all the wonderful and
terrible facts of who I was, being made to fall into the unknowable blankness
of who I would be. Would I still have a pretty neck? Would they cure me? Would
it hurt? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
When they woke me up, I immediately began to have a panic
attack, like my brain was just catching up to the trauma my body had just been
through. But then, this internist named Josh held my hand and looked at me with
his crystal blue eyes. “Don’t worry,” he said, “we have all the best drugs
here.” And I thought, “Wow, he really fills out those scrubs well,” and I
realized I was all right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
In fact, I was more than all right. The reason anyone even
thought to test me was because of a lump you could feel in the right side of my
throat. Further scans discovered another tumor, deep in my thyroid as well as
an enlarged lymph node. During surgery, my surgeon discovered the tumor in my
lymph node was much bigger than it had appeared in the scans, and that it was
putting pressure on my carotid artery. When I asked my doctor what all of this meant,
he said, “Well, you could have had a stroke, really at any time.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
As it turns out, the huge, tangible lump in my throat wasn’t
related to the thyroid cancer at all, even though I also had thyroid cancer. It
was something called a vagal schwannoma, a relatively benign tumor of the nerve
sheath that only causes problems when it grows in vital areas. Without the
schwannoma, they would have never found the malignant tumor, possibly for
another entire decade. Without the cancer, they would not have operated as
quickly, and I could have had a stroke. I haven’t fully had time to understand
the depth of this experience for me, but I do know that I am <i>very</i> lucky.
Not least of all because I have years of puns ahead of me, since, technically,
my life was saved by something called a <i>vagal schwannoma</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
Perhaps there’s no bigger significance to everything I
learned about those little black lumps of fuel. Perhaps I just want to find
meaning, but I don’t really know if that matters. I felt better learning about
old, socialist coal miners in West Virginia and how many tons of coal China
produces - which is, by the way, which 3,532,500,000 tons <i>per year</i>.
There was nothing for me to do while I was waiting for test results, or my
surgery date, or for the pain to go away, nothing except learn and think.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
Perhaps, there is one concrete lesson I took away from my
brief stint with cancer and researching coal. There is no way of knowing what
the coronavirus will fundamentally shift in our global community, like coal
miner unionists didn’t know what a “redneck” would one day symbolize, or that a
single cell in my neck would revolt and try to end my life, or that the trees
on the edge of a swamp 60 million years ago would be the fuel to build
skyscrapers. There’s no way to know the specifics, but it will be destructive,
and surprising, and, perhaps, a bit magical. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
By the way, getting coal in your stocking began as a gift, a
little black lump for a poor family that had no better way to get warmth or
light in the dark winters of Northern Europe. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><b>MEET JESSICA…</b></span></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAyT1Bgc0X_acJ9bQhUP4yXSPaa3HaTx6i4ff7m3MFdlPdiIk9mPJ7_np6udR4xPmC_edxiTeMS-WEGqpcyrTRTLcmpdyQ31GU9mUeMyG13W-94NZNrw7wkV9ODJ04NLQtcC7shJxRUBs/s1600/Jessica+Burgess.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="596" data-original-width="421" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAyT1Bgc0X_acJ9bQhUP4yXSPaa3HaTx6i4ff7m3MFdlPdiIk9mPJ7_np6udR4xPmC_edxiTeMS-WEGqpcyrTRTLcmpdyQ31GU9mUeMyG13W-94NZNrw7wkV9ODJ04NLQtcC7shJxRUBs/s320/Jessica+Burgess.jpg" width="226" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">
Jessica Burgess eats, dreams, and breathes stories. She's an
award winning producer for agencies like Vice, Vaynermedia, and Gravity Media;
co-owner of Little Animals Pictures, a Brooklyn-based production company;
director of fever-dream content; teacher at Tisch School of the Arts; and
podcast creator, essayist, and daily admirer of life's idiosyncrasies. She
doesn't like to brag, but she can also make a mean meatloaf. Check out her
southern-fried brainchildren <a href="http://www.jessburgessfilm.com/" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
Jai Krishna Ponnappanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02699917895019277960noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457481119874865460.post-72730567479427527712020-05-05T09:29:00.003-07:002021-01-26T04:05:03.335-08:00Baryshnikov Arts Center Free Parlor Broadcast: The Westerlies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br />
</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYR61d7dafm6mINSJrjOi2VWi9d4wyNmLjbQM0qvXSkt1HQ0R2BFQBRjm9b0YwrmpltOUNH0MCeFY6QTk4dfGMXWmWa_iKqxsz8PPSdW4fXfUI8JFBoTLBD-o0umLKngaZ1-uFWXIw0Z8/s1600/The+Westerlies+-+Live+on+Zoom+-+Free+-+Jai+Krishna+Ponnappan.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="535" data-original-width="955" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYR61d7dafm6mINSJrjOi2VWi9d4wyNmLjbQM0qvXSkt1HQ0R2BFQBRjm9b0YwrmpltOUNH0MCeFY6QTk4dfGMXWmWa_iKqxsz8PPSdW4fXfUI8JFBoTLBD-o0umLKngaZ1-uFWXIw0Z8/s400/The+Westerlies+-+Live+on+Zoom+-+Free+-+Jai+Krishna+Ponnappan.png" width="400" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Join us on Zoom for Parlor Broadcasts with The
Westerlies, the acclaimed New York-based brass quartet known for
"folk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous” music (<i>NPR
Music</i>).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">In lieu of their originally scheduled BAC Salon concerts in
the John Cage & Merce Cunningham Studio, the members of The
Westerlies—childhood friends Riley Mulherkar (trumpet), Chloe Rowlands
(trumpet), Andy Clausen (trombone), and Willem de Koch (trombone)—will
broadcast live two evenings of conversation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/D4aTlPjraJI/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/D4aTlPjraJI?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">On May 1, the musicians will talk about the group’s origins
and share songs from the newly released album "Wherein Lies the
Good,” which incorporates folk music, gospel music, hymns, and original songs.
On May 8, the members will discuss their influences, and share tracks
showcasing the ensemble’s unique approach to adapting and arranging music from
various sources, such as solo piano, voice and cello, and a cappella.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><span><br /></span>
</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/tvKByGmoOE4/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tvKByGmoOE4?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><span><br /></span>
<span><br /></span>
<br />
</span><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: large;">About the Artists</span></b></h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The Westerlies are a New York-based brass quartet comprised
of childhood friends from Seattle: Riley Mulherkar and Chloe Rowlands on
trumpet, and Andy Clausen and Willem de Koch on trombone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCUNUcbOrzwa-z_GpjDAk32u8GLi_UNN8bTk4tRHdm9DSWD6Ypq9I5XzhHWR3YwhOk6wkJT5o0Kk36nhF7jIOcIQJ3PmAS3UE5afLXu0100A0hBQBB1iDxphn6TiEsfj8XmCk5wEcPU_Q/s1600/s20_westerlies_bio.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="260" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCUNUcbOrzwa-z_GpjDAk32u8GLi_UNN8bTk4tRHdm9DSWD6Ypq9I5XzhHWR3YwhOk6wkJT5o0Kk36nhF7jIOcIQJ3PmAS3UE5afLXu0100A0hBQBB1iDxphn6TiEsfj8XmCk5wEcPU_Q/s1600/s20_westerlies_bio.jpg" /></span></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">Formed in 2011, the self-described “accidental brass
quartet” takes its name from the prevailing winds that travel from the West to
the East. The Westerlies explore jazz, roots, and chamber music influences to
create the rarest of hybrids: music that is both "folk-like and
composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous” (NPR Music). Equally at home in
concert halls and living rooms, The Westerlies navigate a wide array of venues
and projects with the precision of a string quartet, the audacity of a rock
band, and the charm of a family sing-along. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The ensemble has produced two
critically acclaimed albums: its 2014 debut, <i>Wish the Children Would
Come On Home: The Music of Wayne Horvitz</i> (Songlines), and a 2016
double-CD of primarily original compositions, The
Westerlies (Songlines). Sought-after collaborators, The Westerlies are
also featured on recordings by Fleet Foxes (Nonesuch), Vieux Farka Touré (Six
Degrees Records), Common (Lakeshore), and Dave Douglas (Greenleaf). </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The
Westerlies’ 2019-20 season includes engagements at Dumbarton Concerts,
Soundings: New Music at the Nasher, Noe Valley Chamber Music, Earshot Jazz
Festival, Mayo Performing Arts Center, and Choate Rosemary Hall. In addition,
the ensemble is producing the second annual Westerlies Fest, February 3-9, 2020
in Seattle. Recent performances include the Norton Center for the Arts, the
Moore Theatre, Shenandoah University, Purdue Convocations, the Oxford
Performing Arts Center, Luther College, the Schubert Club, St. John’s
University, and the University of Washington. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;">The ensemble was featured with
Fleet Foxes at Coachella, the Hollywood Bowl, the Greek Theatre Berkeley, Red
Rocks, the Newport Folk Festival, Merriweather Post Pavilion, the Santa Fe
Opera, Outside Lands in San Francisco, Panorama New York City, and the
Pitchfork Music Festival.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Baskervville; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div>
<br /></div>
Jai Krishna Ponnappanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02699917895019277960noreply@blogger.com