Rudaw: Music is at the heart of Yezidis’ lives: Baroness Emma Nicholson. “Efforts to preserve Yezidi music for future generations are making headway, says Baroness Emma Nicholson, a British politician and founder of a charity that has spearheaded a cultural digitization project with the minority group.”
endangered culture
Hyperallergic: Art in General, Beloved Brooklyn Arts Nonprofit, Announces Closure
Hyperallergic: Art in General, Beloved Brooklyn Arts Nonprofit, Announces Closure. “Art in General, the Brooklyn nonprofit dedicated to presenting new work by emerging and mid-career artists, has announced its closure after nearly four decades of operation. In a statement, Board President Leslie Ruff and Executive Director Irene Mei Zhi Shum cited the economic pressures of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.”
New York Times: Chinatown Museum Gets $3 Million After Fire Threatens Its Archives
New York Times: Chinatown Museum Gets $3 Million After Fire Threatens Its Archives. “In January, a fire ripped through the upper floors of the Chinatown building that held the museum’s archives, endangering roughly 85,000 artifacts. Then the coronavirus pandemic, which had prompted a surge in anti-Asian harassment, also shut the museum down for months. But in late September, Nancy Yao Maasbach, the museum’s president, got a call with some good news.”
‘There are no words’: As coronavirus kills Indigenous elders, endangered languages face extinction (Washington Post)
Washington Post: ‘There are no words’: As coronavirus kills Indigenous elders, endangered languages face extinction. “The old man knew he was dying. The disease he’d been warning of for weeks had taken hold, and it wouldn’t be long now. He looked to his son, who would soon be the leader of what remained of their people. The old man was fluent in five languages, but the one he chose to speak now was one that virtually no one else in the world could understand.”
Orthodox Christianity: Russian Church creating digital archive of ruined monuments of Church architecture
Orthodox Christianity: Russian Church creating digital archive of ruined monuments of Church architecture. “On Sunday, September 13, a moleben was held after the Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Holy Martyr Clement of Rome in Moscow on the occasion of the launch of significant new Church-wide project devoted to the many ruined churches and monasteries throughout Russia.”
Ocula: How to Support Artists and Galleries Impacted by the Beirut Explosion
Ocula: How to Support Artists and Galleries Impacted by the Beirut Explosion. “Relief funds have been established to help artists, galleries, and others impacted by the 4 August blast that killed over 200 people and left more than 300,000 homeless in Beirut, Lebanon. Letitia Gallery director Gaia Foudolian was reportedly killed in the blasts, while Marfa Gallery, Galerie Tanit, Opera Gallery, and Sfeir-Semler Gallery were severely damaged. The blast also hit major institutions including the Sursock Museum, Ashkal Alwan, the Arab Image Foundation, and the Beirut Art Centre.”
Voice of America: Notre Dame Cathedral to be Rebuilt Without Modern Touches
Voice of America: Notre Dame Cathedral to be Rebuilt Without Modern Touches. “Notre Dame Cathedral will be rebuilt just the way it stood before last year’s devastating fire. No swimming pool or organic garden on the roof of the medieval Paris monument, or contemporary glass spire, or other modern twists. And to stay historically accurate, it will again be built with potentially toxic lead.”
Library and Archives Canada Blog: Archives as resources for revitalizing First Nations languages
Library and Archives Canada Blog: Archives as resources for revitalizing First Nations languages. “Since colonial contact, government policies have caused the displacement and separation of our people from their families, communities, lands and languages. Attempts at assimilation, such as the establishment of residential schools and the ongoing Millennium Scoop, have distanced multiple generations from their languages and cultures. Canada recognizes only English and French as official languages. First Nations communities have therefore taken leadership in ensuring that their languages are maintained, relearned and passed down. The decline in the natural inheritance of language through kinship has led to the rise of language-preservation and language-revitalization projects.”
National Geographic: Disaster looms for indigenous Amazon tribes as COVID-19 cases multiply
National Geographic: Disaster looms for indigenous Amazon tribes as COVID-19 cases multiply. “According to figures compiled by the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), the country’s principal indigenous federation, deaths from COVID-19 in indigenous communities have risen from 46 on May 1 to 262 on June 9. Together with numbers tallied by state health departments around the country, APIB’s statistics show that 9.1 percent of indigenous people who contract the disease are dying, nearly double the 5.2 percent rate among the general Brazilian population.”
DCist: National Building Museum Lays Off Two-Thirds Of Its Staff
DCist: National Building Museum Lays Off Two-Thirds Of Its Staff. “Less than a month after it put much of its staff on furlough, the National Building Museum is permanently cutting two-thirds of its staff, citing loss of revenue due to the pandemic. More than 40 administrative and hourly visitor services positions will be eliminated, effective June 1, a museum spokesperson confirmed to DCist on Wednesday. That will leave just 18 core staff who are on partial furlough and two staff members working on grant-based projects.”
The Conservation: International film archives are streaming up a storm during lockdown. Australia’s movie trove isn’t even online
The Conservation: International film archives are streaming up a storm during lockdown. Australia’s movie trove isn’t even online. “Film archives began to be established in 1933 as archivists realised films needed to be safeguarded for their own sake, rather than for military or religious purposes. Nitrate film used from the early 1890s through the mid-1950s, and magnetic tape used from the mid-1940s to the early 2000s, cannot survive the test of time. So, in addition to managing storage environments, archives preserve films digitally. Commercial streaming services offer access to films, but they do not ensure this content is stored, saved and contextualised. They are not custodians of history or culture. Archives ensure recordings of the past remain meaningfully embedded in our contemporary life. In a time when the audiovisual is our primary mode of communication, the archive as an institution protecting and championing our shared history is more important than ever.”
The Scotsman: Unlocking the treasures that tell the story of the Highlands
The Scotsman: Unlocking the treasures that tell the story of the Highlands. “Highland Objects has been launched to open up the collections of the small independent museums in the Highlands, which are now facing a very uncertain future given the impact of the pandemic and the loss of vistitors from around the world this year. Running online, museums in the Highlands have been asked to put forward their favourite objects with the public to vote on their most loved out of a group of six.
California Literary Review: What coronavirus costs to the Italian cultural heritage.
California Literary Review: What coronavirus costs to the Italian cultural heritage.. “Given that Italy’s is generally considered the world’s richest cultural heritage, maintenance of its historic monuments and museum, with exhibits dating from the early Neolithic era through today’s avantgarde, is costly. But with international tourism virtually at the end for an indefinite period because of Covid-19, income to maintain the precious heritage is dangerously reduced. The Roman Colosseum, for one example, attracts some 7.6 million visitors a year. Ticket sells for $17, meaning that solely during the lockdown months from March through April, income lost for maintenance and staff wages was well over one million dollars. Air traffic to Rome has shut down one airport altogether, Ciampino, plus the important Terminal One at Leonardo Da Vinci airport.”
Condé Nast Traveler: Google’s New Tool Shows the Impact of Climate Change on World Heritage Sites
Condé Nast Traveler: Google’s New Tool Shows the Impact of Climate Change on World Heritage Sites. “The project, called ‘Heritage on the Edge,’ uses 3D mapping and other photo tools to capture images of World Heritage Sites that can be used for conservation support and raising awareness with tourists and the general public. Among the five heritage sites that were mapped are Rapa Nui (Easter Island); Kilwa Kisiwani on Tanzania’s Swahili Coast; the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh, Scotland; Mosque City of Bagerhat in Bangladesh; and the ancient city of Chan Chan in Peru.”
Arab News: Archive departments are too often neglected, says director of Saudi historical materials conservation center
Arab News: Archive departments are too often neglected, says director of Saudi historical materials conservation center. “Historical documents at risk of neglect are being restored with the help of the King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Center for Historical Materials Conservation, with many government and private entities seeking the center’s assistance. In an exclusive interview with Arab News, the director of the center, Abdulrahman Al-Baiz, described how archive departments at many governmental and private entities are neglected.”