Arts world gets creative to reach audience amid pandemic
Arts world gets creative to reach audience during pandemic
Zack DeSantis remembers well the last gig he played before the COVID-19 lockdown took full effect last March.
It was a Saturday night, March 14, two days after Gov. Tom Wolf announced quarantines for several Pennsylvania counties.
And You, Brutus? — one of three local bands DeSantis leads — was playing a gig at Mike’s Tavern in Reading, where a sizable crowd would typically gather. But on this occasion, only a handful showed up. It was surreal to say the least, and foreboding about what may lie ahead.
A day earlier, Berks Jazz Fest general manager John Ernesto had made the difficult decision to postpone the 30th annual Boscov’s Berks Jazz Fest, which was scheduled for later in the month. A domino effect ensued, with virtually all in-person events for the foreseeable future being scrapped.
The writing was on the wall for one and all: The arts would be put on hold.
Rather than sit back and sulk, DeSantis, who would typically play a couple of shows a week and hit an open mic or two, took action.
The following week, he launched the Berks County Quarantine Open Mic, a Facebook group that gave local musicians a chance to play 30-minute sets for a virtual audience. Within weeks, the open mic attracted more than 10,000 followers, setting the tone for a reimagined local arts scene set in a virtual reality.
For DeSantis and other creative types who opted to seize the moment rather than cower from it, a whole new world of possibilities had opened up.
A blessing in disguise
Nobody could have guessed that a pandemic-forced quarantine would be a blessing in disguise. Make no mistake, anyone caught up in the gig economy suffered financial pain along the way, but for DeSantis and others who resolved to make the best of it, there was also abundant opportunity for growth as artists.
DeSantis discovered a new passion, diving deep into livestream looping, in which he plays various instruments and overlays tracks electronically to create what he calls “brainfood music.”
He said he has garnered so many new fans online that he has tripled his audience.
“It’s random people I don’t know,” he said, adding that some, including new musician friends he has made, are from far-away states such as Ohio, Illinois and Oregon.
He believes he has grown tremendously as a musician.
“I think I’ve improved so much on guitar and in composition just from having the time to put hours into playing,” he said.
‘Now what?’
A performer at heart, Caitlin Whelan got into theater as a student at Penn State Berks and went on to act with various local community theaters group. She says she was always on the hunt for her next gig. But when the lockdown happened, like so many other performers, she was left wondering, “now what?”
When a friend and fellow actor, Taylor Clark Housel, reached out to her about starting up the Pandemic Players of Pennsylvania, she was all in.
The group evolved from doing readings of public domain plays and radio shows to creating its own material: weekly reimaginations of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” “Match Game” and “Saturday Night Live.”
Whelan said she missed the give-and-take actors get with a live audience, but still enjoyed the adrenaline rush of going live.
“I think it really gave us structure and something to look forward to,” she said. “At the beginning it was more for us because we were going crazy and we had nothing to do, and creatively there is a need to express and perform, especially in times of crisis. And I think not only did it fulfill all of us in that sense, but I also think that being able to provide entertainment to other people was just as fulfilling because we knew that we were putting smiles on people’s faces.
“We knew that we were kind of pioneering some things in a way, and that also provided some sense of fulfillment.”
She said the group was pleasantly surprised by the response it got, drawing viewers from other states and countries.
“For a group of friends who were trying to get through a collective trauma together, we did OK,” she said.
They shut it down in July when some of the members got called back to work, but they continue to reunite occasionally, including for the Reading Theater Project’s “5 Minute Fringe Fest.”
‘Shocking and delightful’
Reading Theater Project artistic director Vicki Haller Graff characterized the response to Fringe Fest, held the last weekend of February, as shocking and delightful.
“We had over 800 people (YouTube unique views) watch our shows — we had three different nights of shows — which is way more than we’ve ever reached with one Fringe weekend,” she said. “And there’s people from all over the country, and other countries even, who are watching this.”
In a way, Graff said, it complicates their future decisions because they don’t want to abandon their new audience as they begin mulling a return to in-person shows.
“We’ve (always) been really locally focused,” she said, “so now our community is so much broader, so how can we continue to connect with them even as we’re able to do more in-person things locally?”
Embracing virtual productions has been a fascinating learning experience for the group, and one that has proved rewarding.
“I’ve been so surprised all year with what we can do, what our artists can do, and how the world is responding to the work — ours and everyone’s, really,” Graff said.
‘We have had a ball’
Visual artists also took to the virtual realm during the pandemic.
Among the leaders locally was Studio B in Boyertown. Gallery director Susan Biebuyck launched a virtual exhibit group on Facebook last March where artists could post images of their work.
Jane Stahl, the gallery’s director of community relations, said the response was amazing.
“We had 20 or 30 artists put up images of their work every day for a long time,” she said. “We are approaching 500 different artists who continue to put up work.”
Stahl said hundreds of people have tuned in to watch their various virtual events, which include her “B-Inspired” podcast, “Friday Night Live at the B” Facebook events and artist Lisa Muller’s women’s art history programs called “Let’s Talk About Art.”
“I tell you, we have had a ball,” Stahl said. “It has reinvigorated us. It has inspired us. And I know we will continue to do these kinds of things because they are very well-received.”
‘We build each other up’
A recurring theme among local artists who have thrived during the pandemic is one of embracing friendships and helping one another.
After the success of the Berks County Quarantine Open Mic, DeSantis and local sound engineer Mike Santarelli joined forces with photographer/videographer Karl McWherter and Anomalous Audio’s John Becker to create the Covert Concert Series, which presents livestreamed performances by regional bands that consistently draw 50 to 100 viewers and sometimes as many as 1,000.
“Your friends are huge in helping you be successful,” Santarelli said. “Everybody comes together and we build each other up.”
Santarelli, who operates SanCo Sound and Light and had invested in a state-of-the-art PA system just before the lockdown, recalled feeling anxious as he watched his entire summer of bookings vanish. The Covert Concert Series put a spring back in his step.
“For me, it kept me sane,” he said. “It gave me something to look forward to. As a sound person or audio engineer, you always want to be able to work. Even though it’s in a limited sense, it’s still an outlet for that. It keeps you sane during those months. Even though it’s not the same feel, it keeps you going until live gigs come back.”
He said he has built relationships during the pandemic that will lead to new work, adding that judging by the number of people asking him when live music will return, he expects the arts to come back with a vengeance.
“It’s going to be more powerful than ever, and people will not take it for granted anymore,” Santarelli said. “It’s like, if you want to support the arts, now is the time to just do it, because when it’s not there, you realize how empty it can be.”