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Musicians return to Bach as a home base. He is not only fundamental, but a composer of sheer beauty, delight and even complexity. As listeners, we can return with the Orchestra of St. Luke's to a series of online concerts for our home bound performance time.

Robots are with us, in fact, for the future and in decades of industry and popular culture. Dustin A. Abnet, assistant professor of American studies at Cal State Fullerton, takes us on a serious tour of robots in American industry and culture in his new book, The American Robot: A Cultural History.

Chris Busa, the son of the abstract expressionist, Peter Busa, cast a long shadow over the Provincetown artist’s colony. The 35th anniversary issue of Provincetown Arts Magazine will soon include a memorial to its publisher. He passed away in June 20 at the age of 73. We spoke and collaborated often here is an interview from April, 2015,

Maria Scarpini is multi-faceted to put it mildly. She is a trained restorer of old master paintings, monuments and frescos. She is also a self-taught painter who has been in group and solo exhibitions from Brooklyn, New York to the American University in Paris. Now she turns to the settings of opera.

The Antonyo Awards debuted recently with a spirited ceremony marked by a celebratory aura. Tina: The Tina Turner Musical won "Best Musical" honors.

Woodie King Jr.'s Rapping with Artist Series continues with a discussion of Larry Muhammed's acclaimed "Looking for Leroy." Director Petronia Paley and the playwright join King in a lively discussion of the play, one of the best Zoom theatrical pieces,

When I interviewed Alan Shestack in 1992 he had been MFA director for five years. It was a time of economic downturn and the museum faced an annual deficit of $3 million. We discussed ways in which the museum might meet this challenge including a relationship with a museum in Nagoya, Japan which it helped to launch and program. He spoke adamantly that selling works to cover costs violated the mission and covenant of museums and their donors.

The Drama Desk Awards ceremony was streamed live. The annual event honors the best of Broadway, off, and off-off Broadway. Matthew Lopez's The Inheritance wins Outstanding Play honors. A Strange Loop is named Outstanding Musical.

The real beauty of this engaging, powerful and achingly poignant film lies in the performances of its sublime ensemble cast. They’re experienced, talented, and spot-on in their portrayals, and all are in the thrall of the great 80-year-old (when she made the film) Vanessa Redgrave. The great ones never seem to lose that special gift of star quality.

MFA director Jan Fontein appointed Theodore E. Stebbins, Jr. as John Moors Cabot Curator of American Art. For three years he was also head of the departments of American and European painting as well as the department of 20th century art. He acquired 600 works for the museum including 100 from the Lane Collection of American modernism. In terms of acquisitions and exhibitions few curators compare to his impact on the museum. \

On April 14, 2020 Alan Shestack passed away at 81. From 1987 to 1993 he was director of the Museum of Fine Arts. He was notable as a mediator and problem solver. As director he presided over 26 departments with an uneven distribution of resources and power. This interview took place not long after he arrived at the museum.

Fresh basil mixed into the dough.

Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commissions financially supports artists and nurtures their creative process during these challenging times. Works & Process at the Guggenheim is granting over $150,000 for artists to create new works while observing social distancing. New works will be posted on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube (@worksandprocess) every Sunday and Monday at 7:30pm.

Long before we had heard of, or even imagined, viruses like Covid-19, Post-Minimal painter, multi-media artist and art theoretician Joseph Nechvatal was generating them. Not the contagious types, but computer-robotic assisted ones.

MoMA is streaming a restored print of Right On!, a classic film released in the early 1970s. Featuring The Last Poets, we are taken back to the origins of Hip Hop and of the first presentation of black culture by blacks. Felice Luciano, one of the original poets, speaks briefly about the prophetic poetry of the group. Fifty years ago they predicted today.

We Are All Contagious is an on line exhibition of U Mass Dartmouth. It was juried by Nato Thompson the Artistic Director of Philadelphia Contemporary. He started his career at MASS MoCA. Artists respond to COVID-19. Will the art of contagion be heroic, tragic, mythic, humorous? We are authoring our own history and future right now with this online exhibition.

For the first time in the festival’s history, ShortFest, will not host an in-person event. Instead, the Palm Springs ShortFest, one of the most prestigious film festivals and the largest film market for short films in the world, remains undaunted and will present a ‘virtual festival’ that will run from June 16 through June 22, 2020.

Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves. It is not for the sake of those we forgive; it is for our own sake. We take our anger and disappointment out of our backpack and toss it away. We stop carrying it with us, get unstuck from the past, and bring ourselves into the present.

The collage artist Lynn Gall divides time between the Berkshire and New York where she works and exhibits. Collage Brain: Insights, Ideas, Inspiration is her first book.

Canyon Ranch may be just down the road for Berkshireites, but in the time of Covid, it's as inaccessible as the moon. Jessica Robinson suggests how to satisfy a spa yearning safely.

HERE has always been on the cutting edge of multi-disciplinary art. In 2005, they produced Disposable Men by James Scruggs. Scruggs presented the black man as the object of fear in communities. People in turn rise up against innocent men of color. Amadou Diallo, shot 41 times on his doorstep in New York in February 1999 is Scruggs' jumping off point.

It's hard to deny Hairspray's timeliness during these days of discord. Protagonist Tracy Turnblad can serve as a role model for us all. Hairspray Live! recently streamed on Andrew Lloyd Webber's YouTube channel, The Shows Must Go On!"

New Federal Theatre is fifty years young and going strong. Even in this time of lock down, its founder, Woodie King Jr. persists. On Tuesdays at 3 during June he is discussing theatre with various artists. Not only are these captivating afternoons a superb introduction to aspirants in theatre and the performing arts, they show King at his best, drawing out talent and showing the path for others to follow.

Since the late 18th century, the Shakers have embraced individuals of all racial and cultural backgrounds as equals – including black, brown, and indigenous. We are a museum, not Shakers – but as a museum and in keeping with the historic Shaker values of equality and justice, we are appalled by what we see before our eyes across America.

It is tempting for current composers of new opera to use films as a jumping off place. In two recent efforts, the creative artists miss the strength of the film's story arc and flatten their effort to create opera. Marnie at the Metropolitan Opera (and English National Opera) and Breaking the Waves (Opera Philadelphia) both overlook the strengths which provide drama in the films on which they are based.