The live arts are reeling — at all levels. The culprit: the coronavirus.
It has impacted Broadway shows and local theaters, rock concerts, resort stage shows, corporate event planners, corporate event producers, agents, talent managers, concert producers, comedians, fairs, festivals and many other performers who do live entertainment.
I should know: I’m an entertainer and most of my schedule was wiped out. Like many, I had to start learning the technology to do shows on zoom and am devoting myself now to producing videos for my YouTube channel. Among the many classes of entertainers decimated by the coronavirus are performers who’ve dedicated their lives to making the bulk of their livelihood doing live entertainment at fairs and festivals.
I have many wonderful friends who are superb performers and human beings who have a passion for preforming at fairs and festivals and they’ve seen a key source of their income vanish overnight and they trying to adjust. Here are a few: here, here, here, here, here and performers like here and here. To note only a FEW.
On Twitter, Howard Sherman, Arts admin & advocate. Dir. @ArtsIntegrity. Columnist @TheStage. Contrib.Ed. @StageDirections. Author, “Another Day’s Begun,” Methuen Drama, 2021, wrote a long thread about the crisis in the live arts and those who work in them:
I think I need to put this as plainly as I can, and I apologize for shouting: PEOPLE WHO WORK IN THE LIVE PERFORMING ARTS AREN'T JUST 'NOT WORKING' – THEY ARE *PREVENTED* FROM ENGAGING IN THE WORK AND CAREERS FOR WHICH THEY WERE TRAINED.
— Howard Sherman (@HESherman) October 9, 2020
THE ARTS ARE NOT EXPENDABLE, NOR ARE THE TENS OF THOUSANDS WHO WORK IN THE LIVE PERFORMING ARTS AROUND THE COUNTRY. MAKE NO MISTAKE, THIS IS AN IMPORTANT INDUSTRY, LIKE AIRLINES, LIKE LIKE PRO SPORTS. OTHER INDUSTRIES RELY ON THE ARTS TO DRIVE THEIR BUSINESSES.
— Howard Sherman (@HESherman) October 9, 2020
ASK ANYONE WHO OWNS A RESTAURANT OR A PARKING GARAGE OR A SHOP NEAR A THEATRE HOW THIS HAS AFFECTED THEIR BUSINESS, EVEN IF THEY'VE BEEN ALLOWED TO REOPEN. THEY'LL TELL YOU HOW HARD IT IS TO STAY AFLOAT WITHOUT THE ARTS DRIVING TRAFFIC TO THEM.
— Howard Sherman (@HESherman) October 9, 2020
THOSE WHO WORK IN THE ARTS ARE NOT SECOND CLASS CITIZENS. THEY ARE YOUR NEIGHBORS AND FRIENDS, THEY ARE RESIDENTS OF THE CITIES AND TOWN IN WHICH THEY WORK AND LIVE, PUMPING DOLLARS INTO THE ECONOMY AND OFFERING THEIR TALENTS TO ENRICH THE LIFE OF THE COMMUNITY.
— Howard Sherman (@HESherman) October 9, 2020
WE DON'T NEED PICTURES OF DARK MARQUEES – THOSE ARE BUILDINGS. WE NEED OUR POLITICIANS, OUR LEADERS, OUR MEDIA TO MAKE THIS NOT ABOUT EMPTY REAL ESTATE, BUT ABOUT WORKERS IN CRISIS. NO GLITZ, NO GLAMOR, NO GREASEPAINT. PARENTS, CHILDREN, CAREGIVERS, WHO ARE LEFT HIGH AND DRY.
— Howard Sherman (@HESherman) October 9, 2020
IT'S NOT AS IF THEY CAN JUST SHIFT TO OTHER FIELDS, ESPECIALLY AT A TIME WHEN UNEMPLOYMENT IS HIGH. KEEP IN MIND: WITHOUT WORK, THEY LOSE HEALTH INSURANCE, JUST WHEN IT IS PERHAPS MOST NEEDED. IF THEY CAN KEEP IT, IT COSTS A LOT, WHEN THEIR INCOME HAS DROPPED TO NOTHING.
— Howard Sherman (@HESherman) October 9, 2020
I will return to my normal voice to say that everyone, whether they love the live performing arts or not, must recognize that this is no small industry, no frivolity. We are just like everyone else in this country, we work for our livings, we have regular lives.
— Howard Sherman (@HESherman) October 9, 2020
As Shakespeare wrote, "If you prick us, do we not bleed?" We are all in this together, we are all fundamentally the same, no matter how we have chosen to make our way, our lives, in this world. The arts need compassion – and help.
— Howard Sherman (@HESherman) October 9, 2020
This is not about shows shutting down. This is about people fighting to stay afloat, like so many others in the country, in the world. I'm not saying to elevate us above others in need, but please remember that those in the live performing arts have the same needs. And we hurt.
— Howard Sherman (@HESherman) October 9, 2020
The live performing arts will, eventually be back, but without targeted, meaningful support, that return will be ever harder, ever slower. And how many people might we lose in the interim? Not just in the field, but in this life. The arts are, always, about people. Thanks.
— Howard Sherman (@HESherman) October 9, 2020
And by the way: the people who may survive this best are people of greater or independent means, and consequently elitism within the field will be further privileged at a time when we are poised to truly embrace equality and representation in the field.
— Howard Sherman (@HESherman) October 9, 2020
If everyone in the live arts don't get meaningful support to make it through this, they will return even more stratified and exclusionary than before. I'll go into that further in another thread. Thx again.
— Howard Sherman (@HESherman) October 9, 2020
And by the way: pic.twitter.com/PcYaDoabDT
— Howard Sherman (@HESherman) October 9, 2020
If you share this thread, perhaps you can quote tweet it and put in the twitter names of media people, locally or nationally. Not the arts writers, they already understand. We have to get this message beyond the arts bubble. @LesterHoltNBC @GayleKing @NorahODonnell @DavidMuir
— Howard Sherman (@HESherman) October 9, 2020
GO HERE to read various articles about the impact of the coronavirus on live performances.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.