Getting Creative

Getting Creative How arts, culture and entertainment will evolve as they recover from the pandemic — and how they will help society heal. Emily Shur “Culture gives us a way to properly grieve that the daily news cannot give us,” says Peter Sellars, distinguished professor in the UCLA Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance. John Harlow | Photography by Emily Shur | December 10, 2020 In the forthcoming movie Songbird, Hollywood producer Michael Bay flashes forward to Los Angeles in 2024, a city stricken by COVID-23 and locked down under violent martial law. It’s just one of several pandemic-themed films currently in the works. And while some of these movies might be dismissed as tone-deaf and quickly forgotten, the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to have a profound effect on the worlds of storytelling, art and entertainment.