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Arts & Communication Artists recreating our world

COVID-19 has imposed a time of self-reflection, giving became most obvious when art galleries were closed and
us an opportunity to imagine the kind of world we want to live performances were canceled.
inhabit. Although we can return to life as we know it, the Convery reported a sense of frustration at not being able
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pandemic also offers the gift of time and space to reflect to attend the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra’s canceled
and change course. Questions about the future revolve concert featuring Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade in
around the financial survival of families and businesses, March 2020. She also reported being deeply affected as
with economic considerations driving discussions. What, she watched the live-streamed performance, noting the
though, of the arts?
“moment of beauty and relief [offered] to anyone who
Assessing the place of artists in society has become needed it.” Convery’s testimonial reflects the sense of loss
a compelling agenda during and post the COVID-19 we feel when art is removed and the ability of artists to fill
pandemic. Community shutdowns across the globe that gap by available means.
placed an unwelcome full stop on public activities of all The COVID-19 pandemic has affirmed the centrality
kinds. The arts sector suffered as much, if not more, than
others because artists already work under tight financial of the arts in human affairs. To be sure, this is not a
constraints. The prospect of no work for several years sent new discovery; they have always been focal, despite
shockwaves through the industry, and this occurred in preoccupations with financial concerns. Several historical
most jurisdictions. For example, Caust notes that in her events confirm this stance.
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Australian experience, even though the arts are central to Young, in his movie The Art of Recovery, explores the
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collective well-being and identity, the federal government role artists played in reviving a barren landscape after
was unable or unwilling to support the sector already the 2011 disastrous earthquakes in Christchurch, New
suffering from inadequate investment during COVID-19. Zealand. Citizens found ways to sing, dance, make visual
Notwithstanding this paucity, Lee et al. observed that art, and grow vegetables amidst the destruction. These
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across the globe, disabled artists found ways of using digital activities became essential morale boosters and provided
platforms to express their creativity, while Bell explored the social glue necessary to ensure community solidarity
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how musicians used enforced isolation to experiment on when all else was uncertain.
digital platforms. Jacobs et al. go further and advocate for A further example of the sense of consolation that the arts
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a social revolution in a post-pandemic world, led by artists.
bring is in Ernst Gordon’s first-hand account of working as a
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Fomenting revolution is a major agenda, and in prisoner of war on the infamous Death Railway from Burma
straightened times, when money is tight, the arts take a to Thailand during World War II. The story that Gordon
back seat. This is especially the case with live performances, recounts is of men exhausted from marching, suffering from
where, notwithstanding the health risks of large crowds dysentery and starvation, looking forward to their ration of
gathering in enclosed spaces, funds from audience rice. A makeshift orchestra was playing Schubert’s Unfinished
members barely cover costs. In the case of symphony Symphony, and as they heard the sounds, they stopped and
orchestras, funding can be divided into three roughly sat down to listen. “The rice could wait,” Gordon wrote. He
equal segments: local and State governments, sponsorships summed up the extraordinary experience:
and donations, and box office receipts. Although during
lockdowns across the globe, many orchestras live-streamed “While they listened, their faces came to life. When
concerts, some without charge, the lack of paying public the music had ended, they rose reluctantly, one by one.
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placed these companies at risk. I heard a little skeleton of a man say to his companion
with feeling, ‘God, that was lovely – bloody lovely!’”
Given the sum of economic factors and the limited (p. 143) 9
discretionary money available to families, are the arts
in general, and live music performances in particular, Himself a prisoner, Gordon understood the importance
necessary? Can they be kept in the shadows until prosperity of this encounter music amidst death and squalor. He
returns and societies are on a more stable financial footing? reflected that “there are two kinds of food – one for the
body and one for the soul,” noting that the “latter is more
2. The foundational role of the arts satisfying.” (p. 143) 9
Taking the gift of time and space that the pandemic It is not surprising, then, that when communities
offered, we might rethink the place of the arts in the new shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic, people
post-COVID-19 world, we choose to create. Rather than turned to internet streaming services to access music
being optional, frivolous add-ons to busy lives, the arts performances. Denk et al. explored live and streamed
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are crucial to our collective sense of well-being, and this music performances in the German context before and

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2024) 2 https://doi.org/10.36922/ac.2126