The Changing Existence Of The Arts In The Face Of The Pandemic

When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, students were given very little time to transition from in-person to online learning. This quick switch not only impacted how students learned but also how they were able to engage with the arts. I was one of those students. 

The first time I had ever heard about Zoom theater was during the height of the pandemic when Broadway was still shut down. While scrolling on YouTube, I came across Acting For A Cause’s production of Pride & Prejudice. Debuting in May of last year, the piece was a reminder that the arts live on even in the face of the pandemic, albeit on a digitized platform. 

Although Zoom theater was something I wasn’t accustomed to, the idea of it thrilled me. Throughout the pandemic, people found ways to make life carry on despite the crisis -  this felt like a refreshing example of that. The creativity and raw talent out there could not be stopped even by a virus and the product was something tangible for anyone to enjoy and to connect with. 

Innovations led by College Artists

For many students returning to college in the Fall of 2020, the arts seemed to be in a precarious state as spikes in cases emerged across the country. Despite the unprecedented nature of the situation, students still found a way to create and showcase their artwork. 

Across the U.S. as colleges reopened and hybrid classes became available the question remained as to what the procedures would be moving forward when engaging with the arts. While many schools opted for various approaches, within these approaches students took it upon themselves to individualize these efforts to best fit their needs. For example, in an article by Playbill, the theater programs of various colleges and universities were investigated. Playbill found that among these top institutions, approaches to engaging with the arts during a pandemic varied greatly. 

While some schools, like Howard University, opted to remain fully remote. Other institutions, like the University of Michigan, offered innovative classroom structures to make room for some form of in-person learning. Some students have taken to the internet to share their experiences with the arts during these tumultuous times. One student attending City College took to The Campus to share how student efforts and activism has been vital to keeping the arts alive on campus. Such efforts have been key to not only maintaining a sense of on-campus community but also fulfillment in creativity.

As I completed my senior year, I witnessed the sheer amount of focus and ingenuity employed by my classmates to keep the arts alive on campus. From Zoom theater to taped live performances, various innovations were used to re-shape and re-create the way in which the arts are engaged with and shared including:

  • Zoom theatre: Theatre conducted only across digital platforms such as Zoom.

  • Hybrid Theatre: Theatre conducted partially in-person spaces combined with some digital spaces. 

  • Taped Performance: Theatre performed in-person while being taped for the viewing of a virtual audience. 

  • Limited Audience: A live performance with a limited in person audience. 

  • No Audience: A live performance with no audience. Typically used for the sake of the execution of senior theses.

Our Experimental Theatre Piece

The spirit of determination and imagination both awed and amazed me. These examples inspired me to get involved in my own creative project. Together with a group of peers, I helped to cast, write, produce, and direct an experimental theater piece performed live over Zoom: No Particular Person.

Though initially heading into the process with elevated skepticism, by the end of the process I was astounded by all that we had accomplished. The beginning of the process started with a lot of conversation as to how we would make this idea become a reality. Starting off with only a handful of students hailing from different backgrounds, at first it was easy to ensure that everyone’s voice was heard and listened to. However as we grew in size, our conversations were forced to evolve to satisfy the needs of our growing network and navigate the collaborative creation of something that felt like it belonged to all of us. 

It was more than just putting on a performance, but the act of creation that had bonded us together and allowed us to access new ideas and parts of ourselves that we hadn’t before. Through dramaturgy and collaboration we were able to move and explore in new ways that offered nuanced approaches and perspectives to our creation process.  In a way, the limitations and challenges the pandemic presented us offered us the opportunity to break from tradition and approach the craft of creation differently. Through doing so, we gained a new appreciation for the arts and for each other as collaborators, and what was learned along the way. However, we were hardly the only college, experiencing new ways to engage with the arts amid the pandemic.

The Essential Role of Young Creatives

On college campuses’ student groups have always played a critical role - whether in antiwar demonstrations or publishing new knowledge - and in 2020, this importance was in their engagement in the arts. 

In the wake of the pandemic, young creatives have become more important than ever in providing the expression of creativity during such a limiting time period and inventing the future of their practices. Especially now in the wake of substantial shifts in the operation of the theatre and film industry, the work of young creatives has become more important than ever. It is in these spaces that they are allotted the tools and resources to develop and build in ways that break from tradition. 

As we look to the future of arts education in colleges and universities post-pandemic, what is clear is the role of students in this process. Despite the precarity of the situation, student efforts helped to create the space for the arts to not only exist but thrive even in the face of the pandemic. Collaborative efforts and faith help to manifest a hope that allowed for the arts to come back in a way that broke from tradition yet offered students a new approach to their engagement with the arts. 

It is these efforts that propel the arts forward in a meaningful way by shifting creative autonomy back into the hands of students. Such autonomy lays the foundation for authentic expressions of creativity that foster an independence of thought that allows these young creatives to amass the skills necessary to lay a new foundation of what art is.