Florence McCrae

In January of this year, Tyree Boyd-Pates joined the staff of Autry Museum of the American West following a successful tenure at the California African American Museum. His new role as associate curator could not have come at a more important time, coinciding almost directly with the outbreak of Covid-19 across the US.

The outbreak of Covid-19 could see theatre companies kiss autographs goodbye, according to Andrew Lloyd Webber.

More used to performing magic than most, JK Rowling, author of the renowned Harry Potter series, has announced the publication of a new book, The Ickabog, during lockdown.

During Charles Hill’s career he has recovered works from Munch’s The Scream to Vermeer’s Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid. As one of the country’s most respected art detectives, he is particularly dismayed by the fact that in there remain 80,000 unrecovered pieces in the UK over the past 30 years.

At the beginning of 2020, it seemed that the Southbank Centre had a promising year ahead. An estimated 3,500 events were planned, and the centre had hoped to build upon their already impressive yearly visitor numbers. As the impact of Covid-19 is increasingly clear, the centre is now attempting to plan for the future.

At the turn of the millennium, Amy Herman was working on Fifth Avenue as the Frick’s head of education. At the time, recent research conducted by Yale University had indicated that encouraging doctors to analyse works of art could serve to improve their diagnostic skills. Some two decades later, Herman’s “The Art of Perception” seminar is used by doctors, FBI officers and CEOs of Fortune 500 companies alike.

At the beginning of April, a man started to walk around his garden. He had hoped to raise £1,000 for the NHS, a small thanks, he said, for their work in treating him across a lifetime. By the end of April, the man, Captain Thomas Moore had raised over £30 million, achieved a hit number one single, and had joined the elusive ranks that made him a national treasure.

Of all the people to be optimistic in the face of a global pandemic, the co-creator of Black Mirror would be low down on the list. Yet Charlie Brooker remains in uncharacteristically high spirits amid the outbreak of Covid-19.

The sale of two urns in 2009 has become part of a Supreme Court ruling that could see historic items freely sold across the country.

Online shopping has changed somewhat during the pandemic. No longer reserved for the purchase of books, clothes, and groceries, it is now possible to virtually purchase a Lichtenstein or Picasso, should the inclination strike you.

In 2014, the singles chart calculations changed. Originally intended to reflect the week’s most successful performer based on sales of CDs and even Radio performances, the decision was made to allocate due recognition to streaming services such as Spotify and iTunes.

Entering a raffle, the more conventional prizes one might win include boxes of chocolates, questionably elaborate bath bombs, or perhaps a bottle of bubbly. Claudia Borgogno won a Picasso.

At the beginning of the year, the closure of 70 per cent of the UK’s performing arts companies seemed overly dramatic. Yet now, nine weeks into a country wide lockdown, this is an entirely possible eventuality.

Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak masks were reserved for superheroes and the cast of Phantom of the Opera. Now, as much an object of health and safety as an item of fashion, Frieze London and the Contemporary Art Society have come together to commission artists to design four different masks.