BY DANA DUGAN
Throughout the country, due to the COVID-19 crisis, countless communities and businesses are at risk due to cancelations, shutdowns, and the need for physical distancing. Included in these numbers are arts organizations, and performers who make their living in front of audiences, appearing at events, venues and schools. From musicians to lecturers, to actors, performers, and even freelance writers, cancelations are now the norm. Because working artists are contract workers, they have little recourse when gigs are canceled.
Actors, who are members of an appropriate union, such as the Screen Actors Guild or Actors’ Equity Association, may be able to receive benefits during this time if they qualify. Locally, that is seldom an option.
Scott Palmer, Company of Fools’ producing artistic director, and the COF team were prepping for its annual Fools’ Day celebration at the Liberty Theatre. This is the day COF traditionally announces its upcoming season. Of course, that event is canceled. Instead, at 5:30 p.m.,Wednesday, April 1, COF will host an online Virtual Fools’ Day, reachable through Facebook or the Sun Valley Museum of Art (SVMoA) website.
The online event will be hosted by Palmer, SVMoA Artistic Director Kristin Poole, SVMoA Performing Arts Director Kristine Bretall, and SVMoA Executive Director Christine Davis Jeffers.
“The upcoming season included a repertoire of three shows with people coming from all over the country, dedicated children’s performances, and the holiday show,” Palmer said. “We’ve had to make significant changes.”
Palmer said it has been a “hectic couple of weeks trying to make these decisions.”
One of those ways COF is managing this is to reach out to actors who live in the Valley. Before the COVID-19 crisis blew up, there were a total of 14 actors for this summer’s repertoire. Now, that number is down to four.
“We’re encouraging all of our artists to look at all the union opportunities like Equity for relief,” Palmer said. “But we’re lucky because so many actors who live here also have other jobs.”
Also, SVMoA will offer a variety of online interactive and entertaining activities, including “Stay Home. Art at Home” with daily themes, past exhibition videos, and live music from the Hemingway House sessions, co-produced by The Community Library.
COF will offer more video content and a podcast with Palmer interviewing actors, artists and directors discussing how the current crisis is affecting people across the country.
“Low on virus, high on hope,” Palmer said.
Recently, the Sun Valley Music Festival reached out to its community by urging people to contact their representatives to include the support for the arts in the federal relief package.
“While the Sun Valley Music Festival continues to plan to present its full summer season, including concerts and education programs, the coronavirus has already had a devastating economic impact on America’s nonprofit arts sector with financial losses to date estimated at $3.2 billion,” according to an email.
R.L. Rowsey is the artistic director of the Sun Valley Music Festival School of Music, a Core Company Artist with Company of Fools, and the music director for Light on the Mountains Spiritual Center. All classes are on hiatus, and the Caritas Chorale concert in April is postponed.
“I know these are challenging times for everyone, and we’re all looking to see what we can do to support one another,” Rowsey said. “Because that’s what we do.”
Singer-songwriter Michaela French, who plays several live shows a week, said she’s mulling over “livestreaming from my desert hideaway.”
“To me, a vital aspect of playing music for folks is sharing the moment and physical space and comradery with other humans,” she said. “As a player, I really do enjoy the sound of friendly chatter, a sense of joy and celebration of the little extra and the occasional interaction with my fellow restaurant attendees.”
For festival producers, the situation is murkier, as it involves many performers, with events in the nebulous future.
“Bandcamp is a great outlet to support musicians on a more direct level,” said James Fowler, Sawtooth Valley Gathering director, who still plans to host the event in July. “In a bittersweet way, this is a great time for singer-songwriters who want to make an extra buck via a social media livestream. These are happening regularly. Viewers can donate directly to the artist by way of Venmo or PayPal.”
Sun Valley Records had both a Songwriting Festival and an associated concert planned for early May.
“Everything has been postponed or outright canceled,” co-founder Don Zimmer said. “If you are a tech-savvy artist with some sort of following, there is a lot of Internet livestreaming. This connects you to an audience, with a ‘tip jar’ function embedded in the system, so you can get paid from your viewers.”
In Boise, Opera Idaho’s General Director Mark Junkert said several events have been postponed or canceled, including the production of Jake Heggie’s “Dead Man Walking,” which is rescheduled for the 2021-22 season.
“I’m working with all the artists to find workable dates for next season,” Junkert said. “If we can, we will offer an advance on their contracts. There’s the legal part, and there’s the ethical part of a contract. We hope we can pay some percentage of the postponed contracts now. Our major upcoming fundraiser gala was canceled, and will be online on Friday, April 3.”
According to an article in Money magazine, “freelance workers—which can include everyone from journalists and photographers to teachers and truckers—contribute $1 trillion to the economy, according to a recent study by Upwork and the Freelancers Union.”