Jessica Ryan

Digital technologies can be powerful instruments of growth in artsand culture, capable of catalysing innovation and widening creators’and consumers’ access to publicly funded cultural activities. Prepandemic reports, sectoral overviews and digital strategies fromcultural organisations often demonstrated significant optimismin this respect

The original videos remain on TikTok, and the independently produced album is on Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services, but the musical has yet to actually be staged. (This is far from the norm for the musical theater album category, which has typically gone to big-name Broadway musicals such as “Hamilton,” “Jersey Boys” and “The Lion K... See more

The cast is a group of women and nonbinary people originating at ART, a very specific institution that has a recent, problematic history with how they approach representation for nonbinary people. What did ART learn or not learn from past experiences?

When the lyricist-composer duo behind “The Unofficial Bridgerton Musical” stepped onstage Sunday to accept their Grammy for best musical theater album, the list of people they wanted to thank did not start with a record label or producer, but with their social media followers.

Speaking on a video call from their hotel rooms in Las Vegas, where the Grammys were held, Barlow, now 23, and Bear, 20, discussed their album’s unanticipated success, their practice of collaborating creatively with fans and where their careers are headed (starting with a Broadway-bound musical that they can’t yet discuss). Here are edited excerpts... See more

Where were you each at before this came into your lives?BARLOW We were both really depressed. It is hard to break into the music industry, and I was ready to give up. I was applying for record-label receptionist jobs and crying to my parents because they had been helping to support me in Los Angeles and they were like, “You need to get a real job. ... See more

"Seeing a much wider opportunity, he asked Baidu if he could solicit other offers before accepting the $12 million (to come work for Baidu "for a few years"), and when Baidu agreed, he flipped the situation upside down. Spurred on by his students and realizing that Baidu and its rivals were much more likely to pay enormous sums of money to acquire ... See more

That’s one form of approval, but how does it feel getting this form of institutional approval from the Grammys? BEAR The powerful executives follow what the people want. Of course it feels good when someone who brushed you off for the same exact music you were writing two years ago now wants to buy it. But it’s more than that. We want to make way f... See more