BACK‘On the brink of devastation’: UK creative industries projected to lose 400,000 jobs
The UK’s creative sector is “on the brink of devastation”, according to a report from the Creative Industries Federation.
Due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the UK is looking down the barrel of “cultural catastrophe”, according to the research, which projects that the creative sector will be hit “twice as hard” as the wider economy in 2020.
Looking at the impact of COVID-19 on the music, theatre, architecture, film, TV, publishing and museum sectors, the report, which was published today (Wednesday 17 June), warns that the creative industries could see the loss of £74 billion in revenue – and 400,000 jobs (1 out 5).
The projected loss equates to £1.4 billion a week in 2020.
Praemium Imperiale wird verschoben
Der Kulturpreis Praemium Imperiale wird in diesem Jahr nicht vergeben. Aufgrund der Corona-Pandemie gab die Japan Art Association bekannt, dass die Verkündung der nächsten Preisträger auf September 2021 verschoben würde. Die Auszeichnung soll demnach im Oktober des kommenden Jahres in Tokio verliehen werden. Bis dahin habe sich die Welt “hoffentlich […] von der globalen Krise erholt und die Bedrohung durch das Coronavirus überwunden”, so Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, Präsident des Goethe-Instituts und internationaler Berater des Praemium Imperiale in Deutschland. Auch Geigerin Anne-Sophie Mutter, die den Preis im vergangenen Jahr erhielt, unterstützte die Entscheidung.
Die häufig als “Nobelpreis der Künste” bezeichnete Auszeichnung Praemium Imperiale wurde 1989 auf Anregung des japanischen Kaiserhauses zum Andenken an Prinz Takamatsu gestiftet. Der Preis steht unter der Schirmherrschaft des japanischen Kaiserhauses und wird von der Japanese Art Association jährlich an große Künstler der Bereiche Musik, Malerei, Skulptur, Architektur und Theater/Film vergeben. Umgerechnet ist die Auszeichnung mit 126.000 Euro dotiert.
Praemium Imperiale is postponed
The cultural prize Praemium Imperiale will not be awarded this year. Due to the corona pandemic, the Japan Art Association announced that the announcement of the next winners would be postponed until September 2021. The award is therefore to be presented in Tokyo in October of next year. By then the world “will hopefully have recovered […] from the global crisis and overcome the threat of the corona virus,” says Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, president of the Goethe-Institut and international adviser to the Praemium Imperiale in Germany. Violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, who received the prize last year, also supported the decision.
The Praemium Imperiale, often referred to as the “Nobel Prize for the Arts”, was donated in 1989 at the suggestion of the Japanese imperial family in memory of Prince Takamatsu. The prize is under the patronage of the Japanese imperial family and is awarded annually by the Japanese Art Association to great artists in the fields of music, painting, sculpture, architecture and theatre/film. The award is endowed with 126,000 euros.
Quels festivals de musique classique se tiendront cet été?
« Préserver ce qui pouvait l’être »: quelques dizaines de festivals de spectacle vivant en France veulent faire bonne figure durant cet été perturbé par la crise du coronavirus, se réinventant avec jauge réduite, concerts diffusés sur internet ou en plein air.
Parmi les manifestations maintenues cet été: le Festival des Heures Musicales de l’Abbaye de Lessay en Normandie avec 270 spectateurs dans l’église romane, le Festival des Forêts, qui propose des « bains de forêts musicaux » avec 20 personnes par groupe à Laigue et Compiègne, ou encore le festival de cirque annuel du Centre international des arts en mouvement à Aix-en-Provence (200 personnes en plein air chaque soir). De même, les Rencontres musicales d’Evian proposeront six concerts (4-9 juillet), la moitié de sa programmation initiale. La Grange au Lac, salle de 1100 places, célèbre pour son lien avec le légendaire Rostropovitch, accueillera 150 spectateurs pour des concerts retransmis en direct sur Radio Classique et la plateforme Medici.tv.
Which classical music festivals will be held this summer?
“Preserving what could be preserved”: a few dozen performing arts festivals in France want to put on a good show during this summer disrupted by the coronavirus crisis, reinventing themselves with reduced gauges, concerts broadcast on the internet or in the open air.
Among the events held this summer: the Festival des Heures Musicales de l’Abbaye de Lessay in Normandy with 270 spectators in the Romanesque church, the Festival des Forêts, which offers “musical forest baths” with 20 people per group in Laigue and Compiègne, or the annual circus festival of the Centre international des arts en mouvement in Aix-en-Provence (200 people in the open air each evening). Similarly, the Rencontres musicales d’Evian will offer six concerts (4-9 July), half of its initial programme. La Grange au Lac, a hall with 1100 seats, famous for its link with the legendary Rostropovich, will welcome 150 spectators for concerts broadcast live on Radio Classique and the Medici.tv platform.
Spotify Is Killing Beethoven … Here’s How You Can Save Him!
Laboring over Spotify unable to find the Rachmaninoff piano concerto played by a favorite soloist, attending a Mahler’s symphony surrounded by empty seats … such is the reality that we classical music enthusiasts face.
Since the start of this century, the popularity of all traditional classical music platforms has been plummeting. The percentage of adults attending classical music performances declined from 11.6 percent to 8.6 percent between 2002 and 2017, whereas participation in all other genres rose by as high as 15.7 percent. In the year 2012 alone, classical album sales decreased by 21 percent. The ingenuity of Beethoven is becoming increasingly impotent against the ferocious attraction of pop music.
In this age of the internet, one can easily avoid the blame of such tragedy by claiming that classical pieces moved online. However, it is precisely metadata — the algorithm based on the album, song and artist that popular music streaming platforms use — that has been impeding their digital growth. How can Spotify accurately place into its categories the second movement of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 played by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted by Gustavo Dudamel? As a result, classical music presently constitutes less than one percent of all streaming services, lagging behind its 2.5 percent of American album sales.
