The pandemic threatens arts groups bottom lines, but not their creative spirit.
December 17, 2020
JORDYN WALKER IN ALUMNI THEATER COMPANY’S ORIGINAL PRODUCTION “THE GRIND” IN JANUARY 2020 | PHOTO BY MARK SIMPSON
In June, 14-year-old Jordyn Walker stood on the stage of Alumni Theater Company in Homewood and performed her latest work: “Dear Black Child.”
“Dear Black Child,
so we guide you to do what’s right.
We trust you to pick back up what we left behind.
A change is gonna come but not this time.
I know this is a long race but we can’t leave anyone behind.
…
Listen to me.
December 17, 2020
While much has been written about how the pandemic has devastated restaurants and bars, the impact on the arts has not been given equal consideration.
According to experts at the RAND Corporation, a nonprofit research and analysis institution, “The structure of the arts and cultural industry leaves working artists and performers particularly vulnerable during catastrophes.”
Arts institutions, from galleries to theaters to performers, have faced months on end with little or no income with no plan for a return to the vibrancy of 2019.
RAND found that 27.4 percent of performing artists are unemployed while unemployment is at 14.5 percent for non-performing artists (visual artists, photographers, designers and writers). Making things worse is that self-employed worker eligibility for pandemic unemployment assistance will expire at the end of the year without Congressional action.