Thinking creatively forward
Members of the Capital Region’s art scene look at new normal in their world
When it comes to envisioning a POST-COVID bounce-back, no one on the Capital Region arts scene can predict what will happen, how it will happen, or when. But they all see the same thing.
Art.
Smaller events, at first. Smaller audiences. Some outdoor programming, maybe — in areas carefully mapped out for social distancing. A mix of virtual and in-person. An openness to pop-ups. A need to stay flexible, get creative, go local, scale down and hold back, at least for now, on fixed long-range plans.
All such possibilities are being floated across the arts community these days, as the phased reopening of businesses — and with them, public life — gets underway.
“I wish I could look into my crystal ball, and the clouds would part, and —
‘Oh my gosh, that’s how it’s going to be!’ Wouldn’t that be wonderful,” said Maggie Mancinelli-cahill, producing artistic director of Capital Repertory Theatre.
“It’s not easy right now. It’s not easy. But you know, a lot of people are having brainstorming ways to engage.
a hard time out there — not just the arts,” she said. “But we’ll find a way.”
The Rep is one of three spaces comprising Proctors Collaborative — along with Universal Preservation Hall, which had barely opened before New York state shut down in March, and Proctors itself. And it’s one of several regional arts organizations involved in “Restart Arts,” a weekly virtual discussion spearheaded by Proctors CEO Philip Morris.
Countless such conversations are ongoing among artists and arts orgs large and small these days, all of them wrestling with a wide range of issues as they squint through the haze ahead: How to plan programming, navigate financial pressures, engage the public, mount shows and make safety protocols work for audiences and artists alike while navigating entrances, exits, stairwells, bathrooms, alleyways and cramped backstages. Adding to all of that is the looming reality of as-yet-undetermined union guidelines — by, say, Actors Equity. Will people kiss or hold hands on stage? Share props? How will artists, crew, crowds proceed?
“The questions,” Morris said, “are huge.”
But so is the drive to innovate and adapt. Arts and entertainment venues are included in Phase Four of the region’s state-sanctioned, four-phase reopening and — with a two-week waiting period between each phase — are not likely to reawaken until July at the earliest. But organizations and institutions that already swiveled to digital programming are now poised to swivel again, moving into carefully distanced, in-person events with some probable virtual content in the mix.
Consider Caffe Lena. The iconic Saratoga Springs folk venue has been streaming nightly “Stay Home Sessions” throughout the crisis, with 6-foot buffers dividing a maximum of three performers — “and nobody in the room,” said executive director Sarah Craig. Whenever Lena’s eases back into in-person shows, she said, it may be “a continuation of that same configuration on stage. A continuation of live streaming and then having almost like a studio audience in the cafe — a few people who are able to actually be there with the live performance.”
And instead of selling individual tickets, attendees will reserve whole tables — no more than three at each, “so that people will be able to be close only with people that they feel safe with.”
Which raises another conundrum: How to reassure a hesitant public? When spaces finally reopen, Morris asked, “Will people show up? You might do everything as safely as possible, but will an audience show up?”
“We’re not entirely sure how much of our community will come back into classes . ... I think even past the point of vaccine, people will continue to want to do online instruction,” said Elizabeth Reiss, CEO of the Arts Center of the Capital Region, which “probably” won’t reopen brick-and-mortar lessons until Sept. 1.
But until that happens, it will continue to offer digital content — including some summer school programs — and brainstorm ways to engage the public. Many in the arts community are thinking in such terms, devising what-if scenarios that allow for different contingencies. “We’re planning for a full year of this kind of experimental quality,” she said.
Opening the doors to the public is one challenge. Another is how to book touring artists who aren’t yet willing to hit the road — or even plan for it. The region is lucky to boast a vital music scene with its own, accomplished artists, and proximity to major cities, Craig said. But the wider music industry “is just imploding,” with many managers out of work and many careers in suspended animation.
For artists to return to touring, “That means that the entire country has to be open. They have to be able to go from South Carolina to D.C. to Jersey to New York . ... So basically, unless it’s all over, they can’t tour in the same way they used to.” Jon Elbaum, executive director of Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, has been communicating with agents about potential acts for next spring — but so far, no contracts. No one wants to think that far ahead.
As a result, he said, “I think you’re going to see a lot of small-format” programming in the first stage of the rebound. “And maybe it’s not even inside. Maybe it’s on the street. I definitely think that’s going to be a part of it . ... There’s a potential
The Sanctuary for Independent Media for this whole kind of organic, homegrown kind of vibe” of the sort that’s happening virtually right now.
Organic and home-grown are familiar territory for the Sanctuary for Independent Media, which roots its programming in its North Troy neighborhood. But preparing the season took “months of planning,” said Steve Pierce, co-founder with his wife, Branda Miller. And in the new environment, “You don’t know what’s going to happen months ahead.”
The Sanctuary has continued and even expanded its community-based radio and online content during the pandemic. Before it hit they were already questioning the long-term programming model in favor of “pop-up events and things that don’t take the kind of formal, far-out planning,” Miller said. They wondered: “Should we be doing a brochure anymore?” But they did. “And the brochure hit people’s mailboxes the day everything closed down.” Moving forward, she said, they’ll be weighing it against a more spontaneous approach that allows for sudden pivots.
The pop-up, seat-of-the-pants approach is likely to be a popular option, Craig said. “At least in the near term, that’s going to be the model that people need to follow.” Added Reiss: “I think you’re going to see that this summer as we’re all trying to figure out the new normal.”
At The Rep in Albany, both a summer production of “Sister Act” and the 20202021 season have been postponed. Construction on its new space at 251 N. Pearl St. is due for completion by late August or early September. How it will open, and when, is unclear, but Mancinelli-cahill anticipates small-scale test-runs with reduced, socially distanced crowds before mounting “Sister Act” “in a glorious way,” she said.
In the meantime, she’s “tickled” by some of the virtual theater pieces she’s seen, including a Zoom-set play by Richard Nelson, and is keeping her options open. “What I see, moving forward, is a combination of things until we get to the point where we feel OK having 300 people in a room,” Mancinelli-cahill said. With social distancing, the new theater can probably seat 75. “But it will be different,” she said. “It will be different from our regular season offerings — how we deliver the season and what surprises we can concoct.”
But beyond that — quarantining cast members, regular testing, other health precautions — it’s all too early to say. “We will absolutely not have those answers now. And I don’t think that we’re going to have them in the next six months.”
Months, a year, maybe more — many on the arts scene expect a long wait. Morris sees closures for three, six, nine, months — maybe a year. Reiss said the Arts Center might not return to its usual, full slate of in-depth classes for a couple of years. Elbaum thinks it might take three before the live entertainment industry returns to its former state.
“But I do believe it will happen . ... We all want it to go on,” he said. “We all want to figure this out. But we don’t know what this looks like. We don’t know what the business model will look like — you know, given the potential impact on the economy.”
As for the innovative virtual programming taken up in COVID-19, “I think that’ll continue,” Elbaum said, “and perhaps be a more significant part of the whole way that people engage with the arts. But you still cannot duplicate that experience of the magic of being in that moment where the artist is on stage — and you know, it’s a special moment. And it’s like lightning striking.”
Craig agreed. “It’s more than just the songs that are coming off the stage” at Caffe Lena, she said. “It’s being in the room. It’s being next to these bricks. It’s seeing the head at the table across the way — you know, bopping at the same pace as yours. It’s all of those things. And feeling the room clap through. And that’s what we’re yearning for.”
Recently, the Arts Center started working with the TAP community design center on an idea aimed at opening up street life safely: “To paint on the roadways, most likely polka dots that separate people out,” Reiss said.
If approved, performers and artists would sit or stand 8 to 10 feet apart in demarcated, socially distanced safe zones. Restaurants are also part of the plan. “This is our first way of getting back into building-based work. It’s just to be outside,” Reiss said. “And there’s a lot to figure out. We don’t know a lot of things — bathrooms, whatnot.
“So maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t,” Reiss said. “But I have a dream.”