Weekend reading: September 11 edition

Around Columbus

• According to Ohio Citizens for the Arts Executive Director Angela Meleca, Ohio’s arts economy has lost $3.1 billion due to the pandemic.
• Franklinton Fridays tonight includes the first show of new work by Brian Reaume since the artist left Columbus to run his family’s farm in Michigan.
• For the Dream Desk project, Maroon Arts Group worked with local artists to paint desks for kids learning remotely and the organization is distributing them Saturday.
• All day Saturday starting at 11 AM, 934 Fest (pictured in a previous year at top of page) is forging ahead virtually.
• All People Arts, a new gallery and cafe on the south side, has an online opening Saturday.
• The CAPA Summer Movie Series made it just under the wire, season-wise; an abbreviated edition is happening at the Ohio Theatre September 17–27 with selections such as To Catch a Thief and Sunset Blvd.
• Congrats to filmmaker Jon Sherman and his writing/life partner Melissa Vogley Woods for wrapping COVID-safe shooting on their feature film They/Them/Us.
• Columbus drag godmother Virginia West is opening a new performance venue.
• And writer/Streetlight Guild operator Scott Woods has made a case for parallels between Columbus and the HBO hit series Lovecraft Country.

Around the globe

• There’s a new interview with LaToya Ruby Frazier about the billboard campaign she’s participating in and her work photographing the family of Breonna Taylor for the September issue of Vanity Fair.
• Check out some of the work from the all-star lineup of artists collaborating with vote.org on a get-out-the-vote campaign. Contributors include Christine Sun Kim, Julie Mehretu, Wangechi Mutu, and Patti Smith.
• For all you cinema-loving looky-loos, a pared-down version of the Toronto International Film Festival is happening now and you’ll find a couple of different opinions about selections to look out for later here and here.
• A virtual script reading of The Princess Bride with the original cast, and with a post-show Q&A moderated by Patton Oswalt, is happening Sunday.
• The Whitney is hosting an online event Wednesday centered on Black filmmaking as a radical tradition with virtual screenings of work by Cinetracts ’20 contributors Christopher Harris and Cauleen Smith, among other artists.
• The Secret of NIMH director Don Bluth is opening a studio to bring back the art of hand-drawn animation.
• Here’s a guide to watching sports movies with an eye for racial equality, using films like 42 and Hoosiers as examples.
• Here’s what’s up next from the "Art of Activism" virtual speaker series hosted by public arts powerhouse Mural Arts Philadelphia.
• The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revealed some controversial diversity requirements for best picture nominees, effective in 2024.
• And speaking of the Academy, a 2021 opening date has been set for its museum and the Hayao Miyazaki exhibition that will launch it.
• Dorothy Parker’s ashes have at long last made their way to a final resting place in New York.
• Young Jean Lee and other theater professionals have ideas on how to transform their industry for the better.
• The Studio Museum of Harlem is going remote with its artists in residence program.
• Pipilotti Rist talked to The New Yorker’s Calvin Tomkins about the evolution of her video work.
• Mark Bradford’s Quarantine Paintings is now on view. Here’s an interview with the artist about the virtual show.
• The Museum of Fine Arts Boston, site of a notorious incident of racial insensitivity last year, has hired Rosa Rodriguez-Williams to be its first Director of Belonging and Inclusion. 
• Hauser & Wirth Gallery has rallied artists including Jenny Holzer and Lorna Simpson to donate work to help save struggling New York City art institutions.
• Holzer is also experimenting with augmented reality for an installation debuting next month at the University of Chicago.
• If you’ve ever wanted to get closer to Gregor Samsa, Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis is now in video game form.
• There’s a new weapon in the war against hate speech: bad jazz.
• New York Dolls legend David Johansen has released his latest music video, and there are art history Easter eggs.
• It was revealed this week that in 2018, replica art valued at about $750,000 traveled to America from the home of a US Ambassador residing in France, via Air Force One. 
• British actress Dame Diana Rigg passed away at the age of 82.
• Lastly, Sheila E., speaking for multitudes, said, “I’m mad that Prince isn’t here anymore.”

Stay well 'til next week.