ROB SIDNER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AND CEO, MINGEI INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM JESSICA HANSON YORK, DEPUTY DIRECTOR AND CHIEF ADVANCEMENT OFFICER, MINGEI INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM

Creation is an act of care, one that can lift our spirits and calm our thoughts.

We are writing this, socially distanced from each other, the day after the announcement that most of the art museums, theaters, concert halls and other music venues of San Diego have been shuttered, likely for the duration of the COVID-19 contagion.

It’s clear that we’re not entirely facing a spring without the arts, despite all the closures. If we’re mostly quarantined in our homes, we are still able — and fortunately so — to experience our “golden age” of television, listen to music in a variety of analog and digital formats, stream movies and access great theater, music, dance and visual art online. All of these may well be emotional and mental life sustainers during this difficult time of common anxiety and isolation.

So none of us will have to go cold turkey abstaining from the arts during this awful outbreak, however long it lasts. Almost all arts and culture institutions have been putting much of our content online over the last decade and more, believing there is great value even in an indirect encounter.

That said, what we will all be lacking and sorely missing is the directness of live theater, the immediacy of live concerts, the beauty of museum exhibitions — shared with family or friends — that no digital experience can replace. Concert halls, theaters and museums give us priceless encounters with the real, the actual, the here and now in experiences that can touch our minds, our hearts, our bodies viscerally and our spirits profoundly.

Only in these special spaces — places set aside and cared for, protected, kept open and refreshed by generous members, friends and committed communities — can we all connect with live actors exploring their roles right before us in a unique moment, musicians and dancers playing their hearts out for us in moving performance, and tangible objects made with great imagination and skill by artists and craftspeople of past or present.

We are fortunate to have a rich, dynamic arts and culture ecosystem in our region, and it will be missed. May this spring of closures last only the season.

Until we can reconvene, continue to let art be a part of how you see the world. Connect with creativity, beauty and inspiration in whatever way you can. Make something, for yourself or with your family. Many local cultural institutions, Mingei included, are sharing hands-on home projects via social media and websites.

Creation is an act of care, one that can lift our spirits and calm our thoughts.

For those who have been and continue to be supporters of our nonprofit arts organizations: We need you. Please stay with us, and be ready to help in even greater measure when we are on the other side of this turmoil. Let’s ensure that our vibrant and essential creative community sustains itself and thrives again.

We all need the arts now, more than ever.