The show will go on: Theater and entertainment during times of crisis

On this beautiful and complicated planet that we humans call "Home," performing arts and entertainment sustain us during times of crisis. This is discussed through my lens as an actor and instructor of performance and theater history. We have gathered to hear and tell stories and entertain for ten thousand years in groups of one form or another. Throughout history, we have been repeatedly put through incredible hardships, natural challenges, devastating wars, plagues, and diseases. Yet we have always managed to survive, to overcome, and to carry on. As advances are made in Science and Medicine, the great and sweeping mortality rates of the early plagues and global pandemics, including the Spanish Flu epidemic, have been mitigated - thankfully - but the battle continues. We shall look at how through successive generations, faced with insurmountable deprivations, the wholesale destruction of life and property, during times when hope had been almost crushed and no one could see a way out, life has carried on. Poets still wrote, often more eloquently than in times of peace;theater, shows, and operas were still mounted;television programs and films continued to get made. These have often carried poignant messages and clarification of our problems, challenging us to look at things another way, using our minds, words, and images to make things better. Their relevance is examined historically here during these critical times of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2021. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021. All rights reserved.

Performing arts as a non-pharmacological intervention for people with dementia and care-partners: a community case study.

Participation in psychosocial enrichment activities, such as music and arts programming, have shown potential to delay or reduce functional decline - without adverse effects that can be associated with pharmaceuticals. The performing-arts programming described in this community case study was inspired by a community music program called B-Sharp Music Wellness, located in Phoenix, Arizona, which involved small groups of musicians who provided symphony performances for people with dementia. Our community programming sought to engage people with dementia and their informal care partner (typically a spouse) in existing performing-arts programs in their local community, providing social hours and season tickets for either symphony, dance (ballet), or non-musical theater performances. This case study describes the program history and design, including outcomes and lessons learned from the program evaluation of the last full season (2018-19) and partial season (2019-20), when the program was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Program outcomes suggest strategies for, and benefits of, design for performing-arts programs as psychosocial interventions in other communities.

Innovations in COVID times: which lessons to learn for the cultural industry?

The COVID-19 pandemic, and the lockdown of populations and businesses that followed, disrupted the operations of many industries. It also paved the way for a large number of innovations and for an overall technological acceleration, both from companies and from consumers. More than other sectors, culture was largely affected by the crisis through the closing of theatres and of borders and had no other solution than adaptation and innovation in order to survive. This paper discusses a number of such innovations, both in terms of technology and of business models for the cultural industry (i.e. performing arts). Consumers' evaluation of such innovations is assessed through a quantitative survey involving streaming experiences with theatre programs and broadcasted concerts.

LOST (1.5 m) by Cordula Däuper and Johannes Müller (review)

The singer, in an extravagant black-tie concert event ballgown, continuously interrupted herself and started over. [...]the crisis more directly addressed by Cordula Däuper and Johannes Müller's concept and adapted libretto was the sluggish response to climate change in a world where the ruling class is superbly distracted by their own comfort. Except for mild discontent, the heaps of plastic bags, bottles, and crumpled soda cans did not greatly seem to bother any of them.

On the Benefits of Plague: Polish Fringe Theatre in 2020

The aim of this essay is to demonstrate the significant function played by theatres during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland. It examines three pandemic projects created by fringe theatre companies and individual performers in Poland that address political and social questions, such as women's reproductive rights, excessive government control over private lives, and the social exclusion of disabled and immigrant communities: Arti Grabowski's Improvised Lecture, Usta Usta Republika Theatre's Embassy 2.0, and Adam Ziajski and Scena Robocza's Don't Tell Anyone: The Quarantine. The essay traces how these artists rediscovered the new relevance of earlier work and explored the potential of multimedia practices to reach larger or different audiences. Its discussion is grounded in Antonin Artaud's concept of theatre as the plague and Susan Neiman's perspective of "corona as chance," whereby emphasizing the major alteration of perspective and commitment to change brought about or facilitated by the pandemic.

Reimagining communities of care in the performing arts: A call for a community-based task-sharing approach to address the mental health needs of performing artists

Performing artists are known for playing a critical role in the cultural and intellectual richness and wellbeing of society. Additionally, whereas engaging in art and performance can offer a myriad of mental health benefits, mental health and substance abuse disorders are common in this industry yet significant barriers, such as stigma, financial constraints, and lack of relevant training, appear to negatively impact access to mental healthcare. Moreover, the profound changes and uncertainty in the performing arts sector throughout the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need to enhance systems of mental health support in this community. Although changing perceptions around mental health and increasing access to care are complex and multi-faceted, approaches from global mental health may offer novel solutions to promote greater access and equity to mental healthcare for performing artists. In particular, capacity building strategies, such as task-sharing, may help to facilitate both the identification of individuals in need of care, and the delivery of basic forms of support, through training of individuals working in the performing arts community. If adopted, task-sharing approaches in the performing arts, could lead to the introduction of new roles that performers can adopt, which in turn, may lead to new job categories within this industry, while still contributing to the sociocultural fabric of the arts. Efforts to engage performing artists in the co-design and adaptation of materials and intervention strategies will play a critical role in the translation of current evidence-based and evidence-informed interventions to contexts and cultures within the arts. Importantly, while certain aspects of the entertainment industry have long been associated with poor mental health, movements among artists and performers are calling for a change in culture. Integrating scalable mental health strategies into the spaces in which the performing arts take place, may offer a critical framework for reimagining mental health support within the arts community.

Concerts For Kids: Story Pirates dir. by Brendan O'Grady (review)

For the moment, however, there was palpable optimism and determination across the Lincoln Center campus, and the contribution of the Story Pirates to the Restart Stages programming offered a model for how all companies might navigate the months ahead as the Delta and Omicron variants continued to strain the performing arts industry. Tickets to the performance, won by lottery, were accompanied by COVID-19 liability waivers from Lincoln Center. Based on a story shared with the Story Pirates by a second-grader from New York named Michaela, it was called "I Love" and consisted of Michaela (played by Magula) telling the audience how she loves each member of her family, her pets, and a heart.

Advanced Dance Choreography System Using Bidirectional LSTMs

Recently, the craze of K-POP contents is promoting the development of Korea's cultural and artistic industries. In particular, with the development of various K-POP contents, including dance, as well as the popularity of K-POP online due to the non-face-to-face social phenomenon of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) era, interest in Korean dance and song has increased. Research on dance Artificial Intelligent (AI), such as artificial intelligence in a virtual environment, deepfake AI that transforms dancers into other people, and creative choreography AI that creates new dances by combining dance and music, is being actively conducted. Recently, the dance creative craze that creates new choreography is in the spotlight. Creative choreography AI technology requires the motions of various dancers to prepare a dance cover. This process causes problems, such as expensive input source datasets and the cost of switching to the target source to be used in the model. There is a problem in that different motions between various dance genres must be considered when converting. To solve this problem, it is necessary to promote creative choreography systems in a new direction while saving costs by enabling creative choreography without the use of expensive motion capture devices and minimizing the manpower of dancers according to consideration of various genres. This paper proposes a system in a virtual environment for automatically generating continuous K-POP creative choreography by deriving postures and gestures based on bidirectional long-short term memory (Bi-LSTM). K-POP dance videos and dance videos are collected in advance as input. Considering a dance video for defining a posture, users who want a choreography, a 3D dance character in the source movie, a new choreography is performed with Bi-LSTM and applied. For learning, considering creativity and popularity at the same time, the next motion is evaluated and selected with probability. If the proposed method is used, the effort for dataset collection can be reduced, and it is possible to provide an intensive AI research environment that generates creative choreography from various existing online dance videos.

Digital Skills for Performance: a framework for assessing current and future digital skills needs in the performing arts sector

PurposeThe COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the need to embrace digital ways of producing work and reaching audiences in the hard-hit sectors such as performing arts. In the context of post-pandemic recovery, this paper explores the notion of digital performance and proposes a framework for categorisation of digital skills currently associated with the digital making and sharing of performance work. It also aims to review the current digital skills offering in the performing arts training at Scottish universities and suggests strategies to drive accelerated digital skills development in performance education.Design/methodology/approachLiterature on digitalisations, digital skills and digital performance have been reviewed to provide the context and inform the proposed Digital Skills for Performance Framework. Subsequently, a pilot desk-based study selected 15 Scottish Higher Education Institutions in the area of performance and analysed their publicly available programme documentation for the presence of digital skills.FindingsWhile all of the programme specifications mentioned the use of "digital portfolios” and "digital performance”, there was little specific detail concerning "baseline” (transferable) and "specific” (technical) digital skills such as competency in the use of specific technologies. More notably, there was a complete absence of content relating to digital aesthetic identity.Originality/valueUpskilling future performance makers in digital competencies seems particularly important at present. This paper offers a useful categorisation of the digital skills in performing arts context, which higher education programmes can use to update their curricula, prepare the work-ready graduates and explore technological opportunities for the sector's long-term post-pandemic recovery.

Arts marketing during COVID-19: a critical review and theoretical integration

PurposeThis paper aims to provide clarity on arts marketing during COVID-19 by undertaking a critical review and theoretical integration of published cultural and creative industries (CCIs) data on the pandemic.Design/methodology/approachThe study draws on the findings from a content analysis of published refereed journal articles and research reports, between 2020 and 2022.FindingsThis study clarifies how scholars in the arts marketing field have examined the concept and identified core dimensions. It also brings together these conceptual categories into an integrative multilevel framework of relevance for arts marketing during COVID-19. The framework outlines interconnected processes as well as dualities, such as digitisation, monetisation and sustainability of the CCIs and poses a future centred on entrepreneurial actions.Originality/valueThe originality of the paper is that it provides clear-cut evidence for new frontiers for research in the field during a period of discontinuous change due to COVID-19, through a literature review that has not been undertaken previously. It links the need to be entrepreneurial as a means for the CCIs to survive and thrive during and after a global crisis.

Guest editorial: The online and offline impacts of Covid-19 on arts and cultural marketing

The aim of the study was to reflect upon the use of digital audio-visual content for the marketing of cultural events in the relative organisations and foundations during the turbulent times of the COVID-19 pandemic by drawing on insight from a series of expert interviews. Issues investigated included digital content creation, arts marketing, use of digital media and new technologies, brand identity and strategy building. An effective combination of interesting audio–visual content, precise brand aspirations in terms of identity and vision, are what will lead a foundation to the audience it desires.

The symphony orchestra in the time of COVID-19: will American orchestras rise from the ashes?

The finances of performing arts organizations are sensitive to economic recessions. We use data from the "Great Recession" to provide a window into the problems that symphony orchestras will need to circumvent during and following the COVID-19 recession. We estimate that for every 1 percent increase in unemployment, attendance will decrease by 2.4 percent. With audiences who will be slow to return to concert halls, orchestras should expect years of diminished numbers of ticket buyers. Symphony orchestras will need to practice cost-cutting measures, while reinventing themselves through innovative programmes, including increased streaming platforms, in order to prosper post-COVID. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Cultural Trends is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

L'innovation sociale en contexte de crise: Le cas des associations du spectacle vivant

L'article s'intéresse aux conditions de l'innovation sociale dans les associations du spectacle vivant face à la crise du Covid-19. Le modèle Compétences, Initiatives, Management, Environnement de travail (CIME) est mobilisé pour l'analyse de 102 témoignages recueillis par l'Agence pour le spectacle vivant en Rhône-Alpes et 12 entretiens. Nous discutons du caractère d'innovation sociale des nouvelles pratiques de travail et identifions des conditions de l'innovation sociale en association.Alternate :The article focuses on the conditions of social innovation in nonprofit performing arts organizations during the Covid-19 crisis. We use the MICE model (Management, Initiatives, Competencies, and Work Environment) to analyze 102 interviews collected by the Agency for Performing Arts in the Rhône-Alpes region, as well as 12 semi-directive interviews. We discuss the observed new work practices as social innovations and identify the conditions for social innovation in associations.

The Audiovisual Broadcast of Performing Arts: From the Stage to the Screen-Legal Issues.

This contribution focuses on legal issues raised by the audiovisual broadcasting of performing arts, which has significantly increased due to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. First, we contextualize this practice and briefly present the emergence and evolution of the practice of "filmed theater", as well as any other form of performances (e.g., concert, ballet, opera) originally conceived for the stage but subsequently diffused through other channels. Secondly, we address the current legal issues that have arisen because of the increase of such practice due to the containment measures taken by government. Two axes are of particular attention: the matter of copyrights and related rights, on the one hand, and the question of public financing, on the other. Concerning intellectual property, audiovisual broadcasting leads to several legal consequences and issues: effectiveness of related rights, emergence of new modes of exploitation and new authors, recognition of the recording as an original work, etc. This new practice is, moreover, likely to disrupt the categories established by public funding legal mechanisms, which are often poorly adapted to hybrid artistic objects. The objective of this part is therefore to analyze the new legal issues raised by the audiovisual distribution of performances. Finally, we go beyond exclusively legal issues to examine the very specificities of performing arts and, more specifically, the possible loss that would result from a fixation of a production on a reproducible medium, making its diffusion possible beyond the stage.

Leveraging the balanced scorecard to reformulate the strategy of a performing arts theater: a stakeholders' perspective

Purpose: This study expands the performance management literature by developing a strategy map and balanced scorecard (BSC) for a large performing arts theater (PAT). Design/methodology/approach: First, interviews with significant stakeholders identify key success factors (KSFs). Next, a survey is administered, and a structural model is employed to determine the importance of each KSF and their interdependent causal relationships within the PAT. Each KSF's controllability and room for improvement are also measured to facilitate implementation strategies. Findings: The results reveal that the Financial Perspective plays a critical role in the PAT's success, while significant changes can be enacted by focusing on the Internal Processes Perspective. Regarding the individual KSF, the following emerge as the most critical: excellent reputation, attendance growth, increasing sponsorship and donation, and supporting the local arts community;however, PAT managers will have to be creative to enact change through these KSF as some are difficult to control or have little perceived room for improvement. Research limitations/implications: The data were collected prior to, or at the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Post-pandemic priorities for the organization may have changed. Practical implications: By highlighting the relationships between different KSFs, this study provides PAT managers with a frame of reference for developing their BSC and performance metrics. It also offers PAT's managers a structured and adaptable approach for prioritizing their strategic choices and developing implementation plans for improved outcomes. Originality/value: This study exemplifies the need for applied BSC studies in various sectors, including nonprofit organizations. Specifically, this study extends the performance management literature by providing an example of a large PAT's performance measures, the inter-relationships among KSF and the resulting strategy map. The results are significant because arts management is a unique discipline based upon a specific body of knowledge (Weinstein and Bukovinsky, 2009). © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Dream by the Royal Shakespeare Company: a dystopian experience of live performance, between avatars and virtual reality

If, by definition, the performing event could not do without the co-presence in space and time of spectators and actors (Brook 21), history has shown us how profound reflections on the possibility of shifting the fundamental axes of theater have nevertheless come about. The increasingly substantial presence of video within performances, even if filmed in real-time, is one example that has called into question the fundamental concept of hie et nunc. The creation of performances for a single spectator has altered the anthropological binomial community/ritual in addition to the "non-human" entity of the performer, from metal theater to cyborg performance (Schrum). The Royal Shakespeare Company's new production (2021) Dream will be analyzed to discuss the particular artistic experimentation that has become widespread in the Covid era. This production, which is a technological performance watched by more than 20,000 people worldwide in just three days, brings performance and gaming technology together to explore new ways for the audience, a remote spectator, to experience live theater (Aebischer 21). As live play performances and readings continually crowd virtual platforms, theater is undergoing a radical shift from stage to screen and cyberspace. However, will these new formats survive in the post-pandemic times? © 2022 Universita degli Studi di Milano. All rights reserved.

Evolving into Chameleons: Survival Strategies for Tampere Theatre Festival during the COVID-19 Pandemic

From the point of view of the author Hilkka-Liisa Iivanainen, the coartistic director of Finland's Tampere Theatre Festival, the purpose of a performing arts festival is fundamentally challenged by the unforeseen and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In Tampere, the festival's core mission of coming together to celebrate theatre as an art form has almost become secondary to the constantly changing protective measures and regulations. Moreover, the pressure to make a strategic shift into digital or hybrid execution has profoundly changed the practice and goals of curating. After a cancelled festival edition in August 2020 and a downsized festival in August 2021, Iivanainen is rethinking the kinds of paradoxes hidden in the attempt to stay timely as a theatre festival.

Metaverse-Driven Interactive Performing Arts Content Development

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic necessitated platform diversification and the revitalization of interactive performance (the metaverse), a new paradigm for the performing arts. In 2019, the authors implemented an online, audience-participatory, interactive dance performance content using AI. This study analyzed the effect of the metaverse on performance content in terms of performer–audience interaction, examining the distinction between face-to-face performances using AI-based Korean dance content on the metaverse platform. Interactive metaverse performances break free from the unidirectional limitations of traditional face-to-face performances, which can only be viewed, and enables audiences guide the performance by expressing emotions through VR avatars during the performance and expressing opinions through chats. This study sought to derive a meaningful application plan after confirming the usefulness and limitations of metaverse convergence with the performing arts by focusing on an interactive Korean dance performance. The findings should enhance performing arts content development and academic and industrial values. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Digital audiovisual content in marketing and distributing cultural products during the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece

PurposeThe aim of the present study is to reflect upon the use of digital audiovisual content for the marketing of cultural events in the relative organisations and foundations during the turbulent times of the COVID-19 pandemic by conveying experts' interviews. The main question that the study seeks to touch upon is whether the digital audiovisual techniques implemented by cultural foundations and festivals in Greece during the COVID-19 pandemic were efficient in promoting artwork and stressing on social presence and whether their marketing and distributing processes of the artistic and cultural products manage to attract audience engagement and further enhance the foundations' brand. What the research seeks to examine is issues such as digital content creation, arts marketing, use of digital media and new technologies, brand identity and strategy building. Particular digital campaigns of foundations will be reviewed from a closer focus.Design/methodology/approachThe qualitative research is based on experts' interviews. The primary foundations that are in focus are the organisations of Thessaloniki International Film Festival (TIFF), Dimitria Festival in Thessaloniki, Greece and a major cultural foundation in Athens, Greece the Onassis Foundation.FindingsA proper combination of interesting audiovisual content and precise brand aspirations in terms of identity and vision are what will lead a foundation to the audience it desires. Adaptability is the element that defined the foundations in the turbulence of the times of a pandemic, and creativity is what made some foundations differentiate themselves from others. The digitization that the pandemic brought can be considered as a positive dimension as well, since foundations can combine digital and physical spectacles in the near future so that they can always be relevant.Research limitations/implicationsThis study identifies certain limitations that could be investigated by future research, the main one being the small number of the organisations and foundations under research and the limited number of interviewees. Furthermore, the fact that the research was performed in cultural institutions and that audiovisual features were integral in the artwork they serve could be considered as a limitation.Originality/valueThe originality of this research lies in the examination and registration of the implementation of innovative digital audiovisual techniques by cultural foundations in Greece to reach their audience during the COVID-19 pandemic.

An Overview on Technologies for the Distribution and Participation in Live Events

COVID-19 has impacted several sectors, designing news way of collaboration and interaction with customers and partners. The performing arts sector is one of the most affected;activities have been stopped for months and months but, at the same time, the sector has embarked on a systemic transition where old, unsustainable practices have been replaced with more sustainable and technology-based alternatives. Through a narrative literature review, the paper discusses needs, current studies based on immersive technologies, strengths and weakness to be managed, opportunities to be leveraged and threats to be overcome, in order to improve competitiveness and plan future actions. Academics and practitioners can benefit from the results to address their current research and activities. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.