Santa Monica Arts on the Road to Recovery
A business with boarded-up windows is surrounded by center dividers on Main Street, Santa Monica, Calif., on Mon. Nov. 2, 2020. In addition to accommodating outdoor dining, the dividers will also serve as canvases for art installations commissioned by the city of Santa Monica, as part of its road to recovery. (Marco Pallotti / The Corsair)
On Monday, Nov. 16, The Broad Stage hosted its second event of the IN FOCUS virtual series titled, "LA Voices & The Road to Recovery." It was an intimate panel of esteemed leaders within the Santa Monica and L.A. arts communities who discussed how their institutions and organizations have evolved to continue their work amid COVID-19. Artists on this panel were able to showcase their programs as shining examples of the Santa Monica and L.A. performing arts communities’ efforts to continue creating and performing, in spite of the pandemic.
“[IN FOCUS] is our new speakers platform to bring together thought leaders and artists on the biggest ideas and most pressing concerns of our day,” said Rob Bailis, the event’s moderator as well as the Artistic and Executive Director of The Broad Stage.
When COVID-19 restrictions were implemented in California, the state prohibited indoor gatherings to slow the spread of the virus. Many L.A. County performing arts centers and foundations were affected, including The Broad Stage — the main stage of Santa Monica College’s (SMC) state-of-the-art performing arts center.
To continue their work using art to service, educate, and connect with the Santa Monica and greater L.A. community, The Broad Stage modified their 2020 season and moved their events online. This included the IN FOCUS virtual series.
“This panel today looks at the road to recovery for our arts organizations and cultural institutions,” said Bailis, whose opening remarks introduced the panel of leaders that included SMC Superintendent/President Dr. Kathryn Jeffery; Shannon Daut, Manager of Cultural Affairs for the City of Santa Monica; Jean Davidson, President & CEO of the L.A. Master Chorale; and Melissa Barak, Choreographer & Artistic Director of the Barak Ballet.
Davidson and Barak discussed how video and digital media allowed their programs to continue amid the pandemic and reach new audiences. The L.A. Master Chorale created short form videos of their pieces, such as "Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal," that was previewed during the panel. Davidson explained that each member contributed to the piece by recording their parts at home using their own equipment. The clips were edited together to make a digital video that now lives on the L.A. Master Chorale’s social media channels.
“What’s been interesting about the digital content is that in a normal year, we’re reaching about 175,000. Our first video reached 100,000 people in a week,” said Davidson.
Melissa Barak received a similar response to her company’s short film, called “Breathe In.” It was shot at Pan Pacific Park in L.A. with choreography that maintained social distancing between the performers. Barak said, “It was great to create again and be together again, and people loved the movie. I was shocked at the response that it got.” It inspired Barak to make another film, “Reclamation,” that premiered at her ballet company’s first virtual gala.
Dr. Jeffery talked about how virtual learning was SMC’s innovative response to COVID-19. “The move to use remote modalities of instruction enabled SMC to continue offering classes in a way that adhered to the state and local guidelines for social distancing, and ensure the safety of our students and personnel.”
“An unfortunate outcome was when we moved to remote operations, key public facing arms of the college such as The Broad Stage and KCRW, were significantly impacted,” said Dr. Jeffery.
She noted that public radio was deemed essential by the state’s health department and continued in-person with reduced staff, but “the arts didn’t fall into that [essential] category.”
She went on to praise The Broad Stage for its innovation of virtual events that have created a safe performing arts alternative — continuing its mission to connect with the Santa Monica and L.A. communities through art.
Shannon Daut, the Manager of Cultural Affairs at the City of Santa Monica, discussed how her department took a different approach to handle the pandemic. They positioned art as part of the city’s recovery efforts and identified $500,000 in private funds to endorse meaningful art projects around the city. “It’s really to address our three crises that we’re in right now — the pandemic, the economic collapse, and the racial injustice and inequity,” said Daut.
After connecting with local artists to learn their needs, Daut and her department formed a network of businesses and external stakeholders for the artists to collaborate with. The program will showcase a diverse slate of work from artists throughout Santa Monica and L.A. “By design [its] allowing different types of projects to be proposed,” said Daut. A few of the projects coming down the pipeline are murals on center dividers in outdoor dining areas, vacant storefront art installations, and interactive projects that address issues such as mental health.
In addition, the city of Santa Monica recently approved drive-in live performances at certain, yet to be confirmed, sites. They’re working on providing the infrastructure for these events as Daut noted that it’s not sustainable for Santa Monica’s smaller arts organizations to rent their own equipment and fund their own events.
As for the panel’s future outlook of L.A.’s art community, there was a collective sentiment to continue using technology to increase efficiency and accessibility of their work, and use the arts as a vessel to work towards a more accepting, inclusive, and equitable future.
