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Friday, March 29, 2024

Performing arts navigate changes, safety during pandemic

Credit: KEZI
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Performing arts navigate changes, safety during pandemic
Performing arts navigate changes, safety during pandemic

Theaters and orchestras large and small all have their own challenges with how to navigate and recover from lost ticket sales and empty seats.

Lowercase.

Will "the arts" recover?

That's the question on the minds of many music and entertainment lovers during this pandemic.

Kezi 9 news reporter kennedy dendy spoke to those in our area about what the future looks like and how they plan to keep the joy within the community.

Scott: "the arts are what bind us together."

Left and right, local theaters and performing arts centers have had to make some tough decisions.

Will the show go on?

Scott: "music is vital to our sense of humanity."

Many i spoke to today, tell me*yes.

But it'll look much different than what you're used to.

Which is why*several groups are going virtual...for now.

6 bridge: performing arts is all about the experience and coming together as a community.

The question is: can you really get that thrill in the comfort of your own home?

Scott: "yes, it's true we're not able to give performances with an orchestra of 80 plus people and an audience of thousands here at the hult center but that doesn't mean we cant deliver on our mission."

For others like the cottage theatre in cottage grove...they hope to*reopen shows next summer.

In the meantime... it's intermission.

Susan:"we love what we do and we believe that it provides a wonderful community experience.

However, our collective safety is way more important.

So the first thing is that we will not reopen until we have a plan to really promote safety."

The theater can seat just under 150.

But with social distancing, that number would drop to around 30.

Susan: "it would take too much of the joy out of the live theater experience to try and produce under those kinds of circumstances."

Through grants and funding from the state..they're making progress.

Raising around 1.8 million dollars*so far... toward the total cost of 2.3 million dollars.

Susan: "people need to feel safe while they're here so we if that means we have to kind of hunker down and ride things out for another couple of months we will do that because thats the responsbile thing to do."

Reporting in lane

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