The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
An outbreak of creativity
Amid pandemic, local artists look for new ways to spread hope and positivity
The coronavirus pandemic forced businesses to close their doors, but local arts organizations in Middletown have found ways to continue operating because, for some, art is an essential.
More than one-third of Americans have displayed signs of clinical anxiety, depression or both since the pandemic began, according to the Census Bureau. Local artists believe creativity may be the answer.
“When you are expressing yourself and allowing your creativity to flow, whether you are doing a painting or singing a song, you’re not worrying because you are in the creative mode and you can’t do both at the same time,” said Anne-Marie Cannata McEwen, executive director at The Buttonwood Tree performing arts center in Middletown.
While McEwen recognizes the importance of keeping the arts alive, this is coming at a financial cost to The Buttonwood Tree. The center is holding online events, but there is no fee to participate. McEwen said they are asking for donations but that’s not enough.
“We are going to be looking for corporate sponsors who want to align with our focus on positivity and joy and gratitude and being there for our community,” McEwen said.
Leaders in Middletown see the importance of the arts as a way to heal and are working on ways to support organizations like The Buttonwood Tree.
Mayor Ben Florsheim announced May 28 that the city is investing $250,000 in local businesses to help them recover from the financial fallout of the pandemic. He said there is no reason that arts organizations cannot apply for these loans and noted that the arts will be one key way to bring people back downtown.
“We need to give people a chance to get outside and get active in addition to being creative,” Floresheim said.
Until Middletown is ready to fully reopen, however, artists have been able to adapt and provide creative experiences virtually.
Odfellow’s Theater
Oddfellow’s Theater partnered with ARTFARM theater and the Russell Library to put on “A Midsummer Night’s Stream,” a four-part virtual rendition of Shakespeare’s classic on Fridays in May. ARTFARM supplied professional actors to assist the teen actors from Oddfellow’s. The library helped with funds and technical support.
Each virtual experience included five to seven minutes of live local music followed by one-quarter of the show. Dic Wheeler, executive artistic director at Oddfellow’s, said 1,500 to 2,000 people viewed the play on Facebook, and it had a loyal following of fans who couldn’t wait for the next edition.
Wheeler said they decided to keep the play short and simple since people already spend a lot of time looking at their computers these days.
“The idea of spending a Friday evening sitting around your Zoom for two hours is kind of discouraging, but the idea of after dinner, sitting down with your family and listening to a few songs and 30 minutes of Shakespeare, well that is a manageable little bite,” Wheeler said.
Oddfellow’s also had to think creatively about the upcoming summer and the Children’s Circus Camp. While they initially hoped to hold a modified camp in-person, Wheeler said the camp will be entirely online.
The details are still being ironed out, but from July 6 to Aug. 7, campers can sign in to camp, watch an instructional video on a skill such as juggling, and then spend the day outside practicing. At the end of the week, the group will come together to share the skills they have learned.
Wheeler said he will miss the trademark circus event, but this experience will give kids a way to be silly and creative in a difficult time.
“There has been a lot of pressure on kids the last few months to deal with school virtually, but to go to a Zoom tutorial about how to do clown makeup with berries from your backyard, it’s going to be fun and it’s going to be different and hopefully it is a temporary thing,” Wheeler said.
Other local artists and organizations
ARTFARM has been carrying on other activities,
as well. Marcella Trowbridge, artistic director at ARTFARM, said some of the teaching artists have been holding virtual training sessions for members of the teen circus. Trowbridge is working on creating an audio project with a local musician from home.
“We are crafting healing, reflective audio spaces for people that are in ICU, palliative care or hospice,” Trowbridge said.
At Buttonwood Tree, McEwen is also working on providing a virtual creative outlet for members of the Middletown community. One of the center’s trademark events, Laughter Yoga, has continued in an online format. Laughter Yoga doesn’t require poses or a mat, but it trains people to breathe and laugh as a way to cope with difficult times.
“If you can laugh, you change your physical state from one of worry or fear to a more positive state that allows for the goodness to flow through you,” McEwen said.
Kisha Michael, coordinator of the arts and culture office in Middletown, said one benefit of technology and social media is that she is able to network and collaborate with a larger group of arts organizations.
“This now allows me to bring back to this community a variety of resources from across the country,” Michael said. “For example, national funding opportunities, workshops, webinars, live performance or digital playwriting masterclasses happening 1,500 miles away are now shared beyond their state borders. It's bringing us closer together in some ways.”
Nekita Waller, the Connecticut state troubadour, found that singing to audiences virtually has some downfalls, but there are ways to make the experience healing and worthwhile.
“I’m not able to touch people and we have to stay away from each other,” Waller said. “We can still smile, we can still dance and show facial expression. We can create our own way of communicating with body movements and expression. It is making you tap into that other part you are not used to using as the audience. On virtual reality we are creating our own language.”
Trowbridge said another positive aspect is offering society a moment to slow down and appreciate time to do things such as paint or write poetry.
“Humanity, we’re in a pretty precarious moment,” Trowbridge said. “To be able to take the time and allow the insights to come, we have a great potential. We are on a great planet. As an artist it is my job to remind us and reflect.”
The road forward
The future of the virus and its effects on the world and its artists is still uncertain. But some local artists have ideas about ways to continue practicing and sharing art this summer.
Bryan Titus, a Middletown singer-songwriter, has been holding virtual concerts throughout the stay-at-home orders, but is hoping to expand to outdoor concerts sometime this summer with social distancing in place. He said families could hire him to come perform in their driveways or backyards.
“All I would need is an extension cord and I will provide the amplification and the music and nobody come near me and I won’t come near you and we will all have a fun time,” Titus said.
While Titus is waiting to hear further updates from the state about gatherings, this is an idea he is considering.
Over at the Buttonwood Tree, McEwen is looking outdoors, as well.
“We want to do more on our sidewalk,” McEwen said. “We just need tables and chairs.”
The pandemic alsohas taught some artists habits that they’d like to maintain even after quarantine. For Titus, the lack of human contact during the coronavirus has made cold-calling other musicians a necessity when trying to collaborate, but he realized this confidence is something he should keep with him post-pandemic.
“Before, I would always try to randomly meet people,” Titus said. “Now I have a little less shame about cold-calling other musicians I am interested in working with.”
Artists helping artists
Many artists are struggling financially right now because of lost gigs and inability to get out into the community to share their work. Noah Baerman, a local musician and artistic director at Resonant Motion Inc., started a program to encourage people to donate to local musicians who are struggling as a result of the pandemic.
If someone donates $100 to any organization supporting musicians or spends that money directly supporting artists by buying their music or taking online lessons with them, he will create a video of him performing a song request.
“It’s not going to be the same as being physically present with my fellow musicians or audiences but I will have my hands full for the foreseeable future drawing attention to that and creating these performances,” Baerman said.
While Baerman said he isn’t super tech-savvy, he has enough equipment to make this program successful. He said he’s lucky he has the means and financial stability to help others.
“In the short term I am not worried about keeping the lights on and I am trying to draw attention to the struggles of other musicians whose livelihoods are more weighted toward things that have been canceled for which there aren’t adequate alternatives.”