The Performing Arts: Another Casualty of the Pandemic
By Natalie Drum
One of Christel Stevens’ largest signature programs, Prince George’s Shakespeare in the Parks, was canceled last July due to the pandemic. Stevens, a dance specialist at the Arts and Culture Division at the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, felt pressured trying to create heavily restricted arts programs. However, this did not stop the show from going on. Instead, Stevens and her team created a script that was edited down and produced into an audio drama podcast.
“It’s a service to the public but it’s also a service to the actors because everyone is out of work now,” Stevens said.
The pandemic forced the government agency overseeing arts and culture in Prince George’s County to get creative with the programs they provide the community with.
Prince George’s County in Maryland borders eastern Washington, D.C., and has a vibrant arts scene.
The performing and fine arts industry, which depend on live performances, have been affected the most during the coronavirus pandemic, a study by the Metropolitan Policy Program found.
Figuring out what can be presented virtually and finding artists willing to perform in that environment is challenging, according to Deletta Gillespie, who was a solo artist for almost 35 years and just recently joined the M-NCPPC as an arts specialist.
“One of the things that’s helped lift me during this time was being able to provide some sort of income for our Prince George’s artists,” Gillespie said.
To Zoom or Not to Zoom?
Jared Michael Swain lent his voice to last year’s virtual performance of Macbeth for Prince George’s Shakespeare in the Parks.
While he enjoyed himself, performing virtually was a struggle and Swain expressed he had to dig deep to create in that type of space.
Some of the biggest losses are to students and musicians who cannot be with their creative teams in person, revealed Melissa Sites, executive director of the College Park Arts Exchange.
“As professionally creative people, we try to make the best of things, but it is a whole different world,” Sites said.
Sites, who was able to transition her music lesson business online, said it’s also been difficult for students to go through yet another Zoom session, instead of being in person.
But not everyone has had the opportunity or ability to teach, said Akua Allrich, a Jazz vocalist living in Maryland.
“Everybody is not a teacher, there aren’t jobs like that, just teaching all the time for gig workers and/or for artists. As essential as the arts are in our country and in our society, it’s really, really disheartening the way that we [gig workers] are treated,” Allrich said.
She believes while there has been outreach from nonprofits, even the arts world is not as well funded as it needs to be.
For the creative economy to thrive and survive, a study found, relief programs must be implemented throughout the nation, its states, and its cities.
Phil Davis, the countywide arts coordinator for M-NCPPC, said he is lucky to be funded by the Department of Parks and Recreation.
It All Came Down to a Faulty Application
But not all artists and venue operators have had luck with getting financial support during the coronavirus pandemic. On April 8, not long after the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, a $16 billion program providing emergency relief for eligible venues, opened its application portal, it crashed.
Audrey Fix Schaefer, the communications director for I.M.P. which owns and operates venues like the 9:30 Club, The Anthem, Lincoln Theatre, and Merriweather Post Pavilion, said the crash of the application is devastating for independent small business venues.
I.M.P. had to furlough 98 percent of its employees and has been shuttered since March 11, 2020, said Fix Schaefer, who also serves as a board member and communications director for NIVA (the National Independent Venue Association).
The Small Business Administration launched the portal application, tweeted an hour and 40 minutes after it opened that they were experiencing “technical issues.”
“People are out of money, they’re out of energy, they’re out of patience and they’re out of hope,” Fix Schaefer said, her voice strengthening with each word.
Phil Davis could see it taking several years for programs to be running at full capacity again and even so, some things may never come back, he says.
“In Prince George’s Parks and Recreation there is a lot of hesitancy to say yes to start planning stuff without knowing how things are going to be,” Davis said.
No Room at the Theater
Davis worries about the audience capacity but also how many performers will fit on the stage while remaining socially distanced. Dressing rooms are cramped and not designed for social distancing, Davis said.
For Fix Schaefer, the only thing more financially devastating than being completely shuttered is being partially open.
“The Anthem is a 6,000 person venue, there’s absolutely no way to put on anything there for 500 people and not lose money, she said. “The economics just don’t work.”
Performers get their energy from the audience, Allrich said.
Davis also does not believe the margins are big enough to bring in a crowd of 50 percent capacity. “There is just not enough money there to do a show,” he insisted.
Davis is hopeful but very uncertain about what reopening will look like.
“We are just waiting nervously to find out when that can happen and have some programming that we can snap into place as soon as we have permission and as soon as everybody feels safe,” Stevens said.
Live College Park Arts Exchange in person events began mid April, and some things like class offerings will be kept online because they reach more people, Sites said.
“We want to make the arts accessible to people during this time, because bringing art to the people of College Park has always been the mission”, Sites said.
Natalie Drum is a freelance reporter and graduate student at the University of Maryland. She is an investigative reporter at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland. Previously she attended Saint Joseph’s University and worked in multiple positions at The Hawk Newspaper. While reporting in South Africa for a month in 2018, Drum realized her passion for journalism. She is a proud born and raised Annapolitian. She can be reached at ndrum@umd.edu.
This originally appeared on COVID-19 Wall of Memories on May 22, 2021.
Featured photo credit: Natalie Drum
