Pandemic thoughtstream 1 - Arts are Needed

What is the future of the arts? 

Some commentators and articles say that this time proves how vital the arts are. All these content producers (aka musicians/orchestras/performers) are putting themselves out on the internet. The Berlin Phil is free, from your living room. The Detroit Symphony opened up their content (which was already super-accessible and super-affordable). The Met Opera did the same, before laying off all the musicians… These are just a few.

Every day my Facebook feed is littered with starving artists performing from home. They are not yet starving for food (I hope), but they are starving for an outlet for their creative juices. We as performers need to constantly create or we go crazy. But creating something in one’s living room does not pay the bills, and as great as the DSO sounds from the comfort of my couch, there is no replacing the real thing. LIVE performance is not the same as being there on stage or in the audience. The sound may be mixed perfectly for your home theater, the visuals may be engaging, the performance may be flawless. And yet I ask, where is the electricity in the air? Where is that intangible element that binds the musicians onstage together as one, and somehow transcends the invisible boundary into the audience and wraps them up in sound and magic?  (Maybe VR is the pandemic answer…?)

So, now all this content is available. Much of it is free. Are the freelancers and orchestra subs getting paid? How do the musicians pay the rent? In a few months (I hope not more), we will stumble back to “reality.” Are all those listeners who currently get free access to the Philharmonics of the world, the countless yoga apps and workout apps, the drawing lessons, dance classes, and so forth – are they going to start paying for them? With what money? 

When we go back to normal life, the purse strings will be tighter. The gigs will not immediately be forthcoming. There are some lucky musicians who have concerts and gigs postponed instead of outright canceled. What does this actually mean? It means losing a year(?) of income and then being expected to jump right back in as if we don’t have bills to pay.

Who will fund the behemoth costs of some of these arts organizations when we return? Our government has not stepped in how some European governments have to save the arts. Yet, we have culture in every corner of the USA, more orchestras than you can imagine. More art studios and dance studios, and you name it. Each one of these organizations balances an incredibly fine line between paying the bills and being in the red. And we will depend on the generosity of individual giving and corporate giving more than ever.

I hope that what this period of time demonstrates is that people NEED the arts. We may not be obviously essential in the way that the nurses and doctors fighting on the front lines are essential. We may not be obviously essential the way that brave servicemen and women put their lives on the line to protect us on a daily basis. But if we are not essential, go ahead and imagine your life without us. Go about your days without a book, a poem, a TV show, the radio, a painting. Don’t read a story to your child. Don’t sing to yourself or tap out a rhythm on a make-shift drum. Certainly don’t listen to Spotify. The radio should be for talk only, not even a jingle or piece of music underscoring an ad. And whatever you do, when your kid wants to draw something on a scrap piece of paper, you’d better take away that crayon.

So where do we go when we get back to normal? I have ideas and will have to write more next time. When I have a few minutes free to sit down and jot some more stream of consciousness thoughts not interrupted by taking care of my two young boys while my wife is at the hospital caring for Covid patients.