Arts Migration
- Serena Fyvie
- Apr 30, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 9, 2022
As the spread of Coronavirus and the COVID-19 pandemic continues, the world of culture, art and performance is in the midst of a major transformational shift in creative thinking with venues closed, performers out of work and audiences confined to home. Fears trickling through the networks that the live entertainment industry will be another casualty in the global crisis.
Whilst performing artists have been flocking online to experiment, present or perform their individual work or band together for collaborative projects in virtual arenas, it is not always the best quality for audiences to fully enjoy or engage with. Videos of ballet dancers pirouetting in their kitchens and living rooms. Eerily empty outdoor spaces and musicians virtually jamming in online meeting rooms have brought forward an insight into the lives and comradery of the creative arts. Performance tributes to frontline workers have generated interest in watching recorded performances of live shows and exhibitions. l’Opéra de Paris, one of many organisations, have paid tribute to front-line workers in specially recorded, socially distanced, performances from the institution's Orchestra, Chorus and Ballet.
Here in the UK, The National Theatre, Royal Opera House and Sadler’s Wells are broadcasting free online performances through their websites, You Tube channels and Facebook pages. A free streaming programme “From Their Homes to Yours”, courtesy of The Royal Albert Hall, includes music and storytelling sessions for a range of ages and tastes, with an archive of past productions still available for viewing. The Recording Academy, the organisation behind the music industry’s Grammy Awards, is ensuring the recording arts are represented with their offer of free online concerts during quarantine.
Options to explore The Tate Modern, peruse a current catalogue of 43 exhibitions at the British Library and watch a video tour of the ‘Picasso and Paper’ exhibition at The Royal Academy, whilst the galleries are temporarily closed, are another area of the arts with free online content for stuck at home consumers. This is just a dip in the cultural pool of reformatted entertainment available to view on digital platforms.
Of course, not all shows transferring to a virtual platform are free, or of the same quality and experience you’d expect when visiting an auditorium for a live performance or exhibition, but the online streaming is no doubt helping to keep the arts in motion and accessible during these challenging times.
Whilst arts and culture producers, especially those in the live venue arena, evaluate not only their own business, but the industry globally, this is a time to get creative with thinking, formatting and planning for the post pandemic era. Performance and art have pushed limits and boundaries over the years with expanding the range of content, mediums and platforms, which has fuelled a growing market of hungry consumers which, in many areas, has now come d to a complete standstill. Now is the time for creative think engines to get creative, reconsider binding structures, experiment with new ideas and formats, and look beyond the current state of non-play. Let’s look for new opportunities to produce, pitch and inspire confined audiences. People across the globe have woken up to a place where wants have been exposed as unnecessary and basic needs are increasingly far more dependent on others. Retail shop workers, manufacturing and logistics companies, public servants and care workers have now joined the growing ranks of key workers along with medical and emergency services. Face to face real time, human interaction in service areas is still required. Somethings just cannot be replaced, to the same level, re-invented or even swallowed up by digitalisation.
Shifts in attitude and perspective means the world will be a very different place, post pandemic, and how we use any newfound awareness and experience will depend on how creative we can be in developing a sustainable way of working without compromising the most basic needs of the people we work with and the audiences we reach out to.
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