Essential Arts: Who will heal the artists?

This week: A dire report on COVID-19 and the creative economy; healthcare workers who turn to art; new leaders at CAAM, Colburn and Long Beach Opera. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ [Los Angeles Times] Essential Arts PRESENTED BY Park Row Books* February 27, 2021 [View in browser]( Greetings, I’m Charles McNulty, your friendly neighborhood theater critic, pinch-hitting for my colleague (and Times arts desk all-star) Carolina A. Miranda, who’s taking a well-deserved vacation. Before I run out of baseball metaphors, allow me to fill you in on the arts stories that have gripped our attention in the last week. A moment of silence The nation reached a mournful milestone on Monday, surpassing [500,000]( known coronavirus-related deaths. President Biden held a [moment of silence]( for the dead, ordered flags to be flown at half-staff and, speaking as a man intimately acquainted with grief, reminded Americans that “to heal we must remember.” Before we remember, however, we must first collectively acknowledge what is still happening — a mass casualty event every day for nearly a year. The scale of the pandemic defies comprehension but comprehend we must, if we’re to hold onto our humanity. [President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff honor the COVID-19 dead] President Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and second gentleman Doug Emhoff bow their heads during a White House ceremony to honor the 500,000 Americans who have died from COVID-19. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) That’s where artists play a vital role. We rely on them to memorialize our losses for history’s sake. But we also need them to awaken us to a reality we’re still semi-sleepwalking through. Information bombards us morning, noon and night; that’s not what’s missing. Artists help us process what the flood of news can’t tell us. Works of imagination, which give form to feeling, keep us from being that cynic who, in the immortal words of Oscar Wilde, knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. But to repair our broken psychological and spiritual state, artists themselves must be made financially whole. Otis College of Art and Design released an alarming [report]( on the economic impact of COVID-19 on the California creative economy. The level of destruction can be compared with only the Great Depression. In Los Angeles County, job losses in this sector between February and December 2020 reached 24%. The scope of the crisis demands massive federal intervention. As U.S. [Rep. Karen Bass]( said in her remarks at the report’s release event, “There’s no economic recovery in our area unless a working creative engine is driving it. So to rebuild after the devastating effects of COVID-19, we have to provide creative workers, both nationally and in Los Angeles, with both economic relief and recovery funding.” [Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa] Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa estimates a loss of more than $18 million in ticket revenue during the first 10 full months of the pandemic. (Segerstrom Center for the Arts) But predictably, Republicans in Congress, like [Sen. Marsha Blackburn]( of Tennessee, are [up in arms]( that Biden’s $1.9 trillion relief bill has allocated $335 million for such apparent superfluities as museums, arts organizations and libraries. Perhaps these politicians shrewdly realize that if our culture were stronger, their hold on power would be weaker. Still, begrudging an amount of money that amounts to little more than a rounding error of the total bill indicates a level of myopic miserliness that is itself a profound threat to national health. Unfortunately, there’s no vaccine against partisan benightedness. Art is the preventive medicine we need, but artists, those physicians of the soul, cannot help us if we do not help them. ADVERTISEMENT BY Park Row Books [Harlequin Enterprises]( Hidden in the depths of eighteenth-century London, a secret apothecary shop caters to an unusual clientele. Women across the city whisper of a mysterious figure named Nella who sells well-disguised poisons to use against the oppressive men in their lives. But the apothecary’s fate is jeopardized when her newest patron, a precocious twelve-year-old, makes a fatal mistake, sparking a string of consequences that echo through the centuries. Meanwhile in present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell stumbles upon a clue to the unsolved apothecary murders that haunted London two hundred years ago, her life collides with the apothecary’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive. [Order your copy today.]( End of advertisement Healthcare hero, heal thyself with art At least healthcare workers recognize the therapeutic value of the arts in maintaining psychic well-being. Arts writer Makeda Easter [reports]( on doctors and nurses who have turned to painting, photography, dance and illustration to relieve the stress and strain of “Covid Fatigue,” which is the title of a painting by Dr. Frank Candela. One of the subjects of the story, Dr. Bing Li, a medical resident and illustrator, summed up the impulse behind this artistic activity: “We all see a lot of suffering that doesn’t necessarily have a meaning. But then the desire to make art is kind of like a desire to put a meaning into something.” ["The Last Shift," a painting depicting a line of ghostly silhouettes. ] Dr. Michael Gibson painted “The Last Shift.” (Dr. Michael Gibson) (Are you a healthcare worker who has found a creative outlet for coping during the pandemic? We’d love to share your work in a follow-up story. Please submit it [here]( A new era of cultural leadership Top posts at Los Angeles cultural institutions have been filled, and Easter has the news. Cameron Shaw has been [named executive director]( of the California African American Museum. For Shaw, a native Angeleno who visited the museum as a child and has served as its deputy director and chief curator since 2019, this feels like a job that she has been “called” to do. Her mission: “to support Black artistic and scholarly practices more holistically and comprehensively ... to usher revolutionary ideas into the world.” [A woman smiling] Cameron Shaw, the new executive director of the California African American Museum. (Matt Sayles) Silas Farley, 26, an alumnus of New York City Ballet, [is the new dean]( of Colburn School’s Trudl Zipper Dance Institute. He will be reunited with his mentor Darleen Callaghan, who has been made associate dean. Callaghan spotted Farley’s talent when, as a 9-year-old, he joined a scholarship program she created for young male dancers at the North Carolina Dance Theatre School of Dance. As Farley told Easter, he’s determined to create an environment in which students “feel that they can bring all the different dimensions of their journey and their story to their art practice” and don’t “have to check their Blackness” or “any aspect of their identity at the door.” Changes are afoot in Long Beach as well. As Times contributor Catherine Womack [reports]( Long Beach Opera announced its new artistic director and chief creative officer will be James Darrah, a Los Angeles director known for producing digital classical concerts and streaming operas during COVID-19 closures. For his directorial debut with the company, Darrah will stage Philip Glass’ “Les Enfants Terribles,” part of a daring season curated by [Interim Artistic Director Yuval Sharon](. [James Darrah] James Darrah, the new artistic director of Long Beach Opera. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Enjoying this newsletter? Consider subscribing to the Los Angeles Times Your support helps us deliver the news that matters most. [Become a subscriber.]( ADVERTISEMENT A pandemic tale with a magical ending Times contributor Tim Grieving has a lost-and-found story involving a bassoonist, whose beloved instrument was stolen from his car last March. Anthony Parnther, the music director of the San Bernardino Symphony, [mourned the loss of his bassoon]( which his mother bought when he was in high school. Her death from cancer made the bassoon all the dearer to him. The ending of this tale, without giving too much away, has some of the redemptive magic of one of Shakespeare’s romances. (Excuse me for a second while I get a Kleenex.) Epistolary art make a comeback Remember letters? Epistolary style may be a casualty of the digital age, in which everyone’s too busy wasting time on the internet to wait around for a piece of mail. But, as Times staff writer [Julia Barajas]( reports, a new project pairing professional artists with students from Long Beach Unified School District finds inspiration in the poignant beauty of those envelopes that are personally addressed in a loved one’s handwriting. [An illustrated envelope called "Answers From Above" by Alepsis Hernández] Alepsis Hernández created her “Courier of Hope” artwork on a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services envelope. (Compound) “There’s something special about seeing my parents receive letters from my grandparents after being separated for decades,” acknowledged artist Diana L. Sánchez, whose work is part of the initiative. Sánchez hopes this creative exchange with young people will encourage more humane attitudes toward immigration policy in the U.S. and more compassion for those who come from elsewhere. A master plan that needs safeguards? Jon Christensen and Becky Nicolaides have issued an [op-ed]( appeal on the Los Angeles River Master Plan. The part of the renewal project that concerns them “centers on a Frank Gehry-designed set of elevated platform parks over the rivers and a $150-million cultural center on the riverbank.” While Christensen and Nicolaides applaud the intention of “bringing green space and cultural resources to working-class neighborhoods,” they argue that “this revitalization effort must prioritize residents’ essential needs for affordable housing, decent jobs and local businesses, safeguarding against green gentrification.” For your virtual delight As usual, our indispensable Matt Cooper has compiled the week’s [cultural highlights]( available in these long pandemic winter days on a streaming device near you. And last but not least ... In the Paris Review, John Freeman [has written a farewell]( to poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who [died]( Monday at 101. A short play by Julia Cho, written to be performed by the reader, has been published in the [Yale Review](. I’ve already tested it out on Zoom with my students at CalArts, who are much better actors than I am. Finally, the [stirring]( testimony of attorney general nominee Merrick Garland before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday reminded me of an overlooked detail in the judge’s superlative résumé. While at Harvard, [he wrote theater reviews](. With his humane brilliance, Garland could have been right up there with George Jean Nathan, Kenneth Tynan and [Eric Bentley](. But theater criticism’s loss has been the justice system’s gain. ADVERTISEMENT Thank you for reading the Los Angeles Times Essential Arts newsletter. Invite your friends, relatives, coworkers to sign up [here](. Not a subscriber? Get unlimited digital access to latimes.com. [Subscribe here](. [Los Angeles Times] Copyright © 2021, Los Angeles Times 2300 E. Imperial Highway, El Segundo, California, 90245 1-800-LA-TIMES | [latimes.com]( *Advertisers have no control over editorial decisions or content. 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