The pandemic leaves millions in losses to this sector; and it is not known whether small minority companies will survive
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit arts and culture pretty hard, after performances, movies, movie theaters and cultural venues had to stop and close immediately in March, causing millions in losses.
“Impact on arts and culture nationwide exceeds $ 12 billion in lost revenue and unforeseen expenses. We also know that there are more than 5 million creative workers, many of them unemployed, in Los Angeles County, ”said Kristin Sakoda, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.
Along with other artists, he spoke of the impact of the coronavirus on the arts at the national level during the videoconference: “On life support from COVID-19, the arts and culture will need a new agreement to survive,” organized by Ethnic Media Services.
Sakoda specified that only 250 non-profit organizations have had an impact of more than $ 20 million, 40% have rested their staff; while 78% are concerned about a decline in philanthropic giving.
“Sad to say, but close to 50% are concerned because they don’t know if they will survive as organizations after COVID-19”.
And he explained that even before the pandemic, nonprofits serving minorities were undercapitalized because they do not have access to donors or large amounts of capital.
Despite everything, and still unpaid as a result of the coronavirus, some arts organizations are providing programs and services on-line in innovative ways.
He announced that they will dedicate $ 10 million from the Relief Act to the most impacted nonprofit arts sector organizations in Los Angeles County.
Masks and artists
Kristina Wong, a comedian caught in the middle of her tour by COVID-19, says she was giving a show at a community college when 30 minutes before finishing, all the students received a text message saying classes would be on-line starting the next day.
“The tour was postponed and I had no income and no way to stream it online,” he said.
However, Kristina now has a show on the electoral issue that you can see onlineand, inspired by the moment in which he found out that the next day the classes at school were going to be online.
But in addition, for five months he has directed a group called the Anti Sewing Squad, made up of artists with no income whose lives were turned upside down because of the health crisis.
“We may have used our tailoring skills to sew costumes or decorate pieces, but we have used them to make masks for front-line workers in hospitals in big cities.”
The idea came after he learned from a newspaper article that there was a shortage of masks for doctors and nurses.
Now they are making masks for indigenous communities, and they have brought fabrics to a group of Navajo Nation seamstresses, as well as hygiene products to keep them clean of the virus.
They have also distributed masks to farm workers, including those affected by the fires and even prisoners.
“The sad irony is that our parents and grandparents worked sewing in search of the American dream; And now this country that did not prepare us for this pandemic has put us in a position where we are using Hello Kitty sewing machines and old T-shirts to make masks for doctors.
Impact on the theater
Jose Luis Valenzuela, artistic director of LA Theater Center, who spoke about the future of small and medium-sized theaters devastated by closures around the country, said that they are trying to build an online audience, although that doesn’t bring them income.
“Most of the minority companies in Los Angeles County have super low or very small budgets,” he said.
He noted that the Latino Theater Company, which has been around for 35 years, is one of the most established with a larger budget and is experimenting with digital programming, but they don’t make money.
Valenzuela said that his concern is that many of the small theater companies cannot survive. “We don’t even know when we will be able to open or they will be able to work togethers “.
However, he hopes they will survive because he says that small Latino theaters are very important to the community because they are the only way they have access to art.
“But it is getting more and more difficult. It is very difficult at the national level for some of the smallest Latino companies in the country. “
Art and hope
Roberto Pozos, an artist and graphic designer from Calexico, who organized a virtual show in Imperial County on the impact of COVID-19, explained that they set it up to allow the artist to present his art, as long as it has to do with the theme of hope. and the resistance in the Imperial Valley.
“It is an opportunity for artists to volunteer to join in and react. We’ve been through a lot. We have many disparities, but we are going to get out of this and we want to give people a ray of light”.
He noted that they as artists may not be able to help a patient or are essential workers, but he considered art and expression to be essential.
