January 4, 2024

One of the sectors hit hardest by the pandemic was the arts industry. By 2021 the prolonged closure cost Massachusetts close to 600 million dollars. Now that we’re on the other side of the shutdown, how are the arts sector and the creative ecosystem faring? Michael J. Bobbitt, head of the Mass Cultural Council, joins us for that and more. From there, a conversation about music as memory. The Boston Globe’s Jeremy Eichler joins us to talk about his new book, which looks at how four composers used classical music to not only articulate the unspeakable horrors of WWII but to also memorialize the victims of the Holocaust. Finally, it’s an adaptation of Moby Dick with strings attached. Told with 50 puppets, seven actors and video projections and in a minnow-sized 95 minutes, the artistic director behind this innovative show previews the upcoming ArtsEmerson production..