Supporting the Arts And Music Communities Online and Off
A blog post by Li Tang
When the pandemic broke out suddenly in 2020, all industries were severely impacted. The art industry was no exception. Many artists lost their livelihoods due to lost performance and teaching opportunities.
Northwest Folklife is best known for the great Northwest Folklife festival which, like so many other opportunities for artists and musicians had to stop due to the pandemic. When Tanimura (Managing Director at Northwest Folklife) and her staff reached out to communities to see how they were doing during the pandemic lock down, they found much art and music was happening through zoom. Among many creative adaptations to our arts life during the pandemic people filmed videos at home of their dances. They offered small workshops online and played music in their living rooms. Watching people and their mates dancing in their yards or dancing with their cats, or just interacting with musicians and interacting with each other made them happy in the midst of difficult times. People didn’t give up their art and music because of the canceled classes and performances.
But there were some artists who did not appear in these online meetings, and they suffered financially and emotionally during the pandemic. In order to give artists and musicians more resources and more places to connect, Northwest Folklife used the relationships it had built in the arts and culture field to provide artists and musicians with a list of community resources such as financial and lost employment resources, advocacy and mutual aid efforts, informational resources, community resource for families, legal resources and regional resources. These resources helped artists and musicians to adapt during the pandemic, including digital literacy skills that helped them maintain their professional livelihoods in an online form.
Now that we are two and a half years into the pandemic, many artists have truly entered the digital age. For example, Tanimura is exploring how to collaborate online among people who are playing multiple instruments. She is exploring collaborations with artists through digital technologies that are widely available such as mailing music that other musicians can add onto or simply as a means of sharing music with other people. Even so, many artists and musicians still find technology intimidating and don't want to spend time on it. Therefore, Northwest Folklife is building digital production capabilities, including staffing and equipment to create a safe environment that can attract more artists.
Tanimura believes:
True digital equity means music creation, communication programs that can help artists collaborate globally or nationally, or even in two states over. During the pandemic, these tools are still not available for everyone. They are expensive, or they only run on certain types of computers with certain operating systems. So when we think about fairness, there are many layers and hurdles to overcome. Obviously, access to basic tools like computers and the internet is still important. Then I think about how we can create more equity for people to grow in their respective careers. It's also about accessing the tools that help with that growth.
