Pandemic provides a pause to reflect, be creative and reimagine the future

Pandemic provides a pause to reflect, be creative and reimagine the future

By Shari Gasper

When it’s your mission to support and elevate the community’s creative culture, economy and quality of life through the arts but you can’t welcome guests into your facility or gather in person, you’ve got to get creative.

But that’s not so difficult for the artistic staff at Overture Center for the Arts in Madison.

Digital successes

Overture Center was about to publicly announce its 2020/21 season when the arts industry—and nation—shut down this past spring due to COVID-19. Overture’s creative teams quickly turned their season announcement into a virtual show via Facebook Live. Featuring an indepth overview of the season along with videos from the season’s featured artists and special guests, the show attracted thousands of viewers across the region versus the several hundred they usually bring in for the onsite season launch.

At the same time, the programming team was preparing for its annual Jerry Awards show, which encourages, recognizes and honors excellence in high school musical theater throughout the state. The annual show brings a full house of excited students, families and friends to Overture Hall year after year. This spring, with schools closed and Overture closed, some may have considered canceling the event. Not Overture.

“We understood how much work went into these school productions and how much our students were looking forward to this night recognizing their achievements,” said Tim Sauers, Overture’s vice president of programming and community engagement. “We wanted to give them the honors and recognitions they deserved.”

Overture collected performance videos from participating schools and students and created a virtual awards show. In 2019/20, 101 schools and community theater groups from 32 counties across Wisconsin participated in the program with 85 productions adjudicated by trained Jerry Awards reviewers. Twentyfive of the musical theater programs were affected by school closures and could not be reviewed. More than 250 awards were presented in the virtual event.

The reception by the community to the season announcement and annual awards show was encouraging, giving patrons something to look forward to, and at the same time, attracting new audiences looking for something to do with their families from the comfort and safety of their homes.

Expanded audiences

“We noticed we were reaching a larger audience, and people were watching the videos more than once and well after the initial shows,” said Sauers. “For the Jerry Awards, families who wouldn’t normally drive to Madison were able to watch the show and could share it with their family and friends—grandparents, aunts and uncles, and neighbors could see the students performing—extending our reach.”

Overture began to look for other creative ways to engage audiences in the arts. They found a unique opportunity when Christopher Jackson agreed to put on a virtual show, Live from the West Side from New York City.

“Putting on our first digital concert in August—Live from the West Side with Christopher Jackson, we did really well, and we saw how hungry our patrons were for arts experiences,” said Sauers. “That encouraged us to offer more digital programming, which we did with our monthly Live from the West Side: Women of Broadway series in October, November and December and our Under the Ghost Light Paranormal E-Venture around Halloween.”

Under the Ghost Light stands out to Sauers as a highlight of Overture’s year. The interactive show told the story and history of Overture Center with ghost stories and a look at places within the building not normally seen by guests. People who attended said it was a unique, great experience.

“For years, we’ve wanted to include digital in our programs in some way but never have the time. Now we’re being more creative than ever,” said Sauers.

A recent study on digital performances from JCA Marketing reported 43 percent of audience members were new digital only buyers and 16 percent were recent subscribers. Overture’s numbers showed a slightly different story: subscribers made up 38 percent of their viewership while 19 percent were new buyers.

“We have such a large and loyal fan base,” said Sauers. “We enjoyed interacting with them through these shows, and we were thrilled, at the same time, to attract so many new patrons, giving them a chance to experience Overture Center.”

Motivated by mission

While Overture Center, like all arts organizations across the country, has been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 health crisis—closing its building since March 13, canceling all in-person shows, reducing its staff by 60 percent and slashing expenses—its remaining “small but scrappy” staff are not sitting back and waiting for the pandemic to end to continue the organization’s mission.

“The arts play a vital role in our lives, especially in times of uncertainty, so we are going to keep nourishing our audiences with quality programming, opportunities to grow, learn, laugh and connect with others,” said Sauers.

An appealing opportunity came from National Geographic Live, which provides thought-provoking presentations by today’s leading explorers, scientists and photographers. Overture Center has presented National Geographic Live shows for the past eight seasons.

Mars Rover

Courtesy of NASA JPL Caltech

This month, Overture presents “National Geographic Live - Life on Other Worlds with Kobie Boykins and Kevin Hand” on Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 6 p.m. and Wednesday, Jan. 20 at 9 p.m. And next month, “National Geographic Live - Reimagining Dinosaurs with Nizar Ibrahim & Sebastián Rozadilla” will be presented on Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 6 p.m. and Wednesday, Feb. 24 at 9 p.m. Tickets are only $20 per household.

“Our objective is not to make a lot of money on these shows; instead, it’s to give people something interesting to watch, a reason to gather together as a family and be inspired,” said Sauers.

The National Geographic shows will be followed by the 2021 International Festival, Feb. 27-28.

One of the biggest events of Overture’s season is International Festival, held every February for the past 40 years, celebrating the community’s rich cultural heritage. Last year’s event represented 50-plus cultures and featured nearly 40 performances throughout Overture by artists who call Dane County home along with 37 arts and crafts vendors and 10 food vendors, attracting nearly 15,000 guests.

“People love International Festival! It showcases the diversity of cultures existing in our community,” said Alanna Medearis, director of education and community engagement. “But the event has become so large that guests often find themselves waiting in long lines or being turned away from fullhouse performances.”

Congestion won’t be an issue next month when Overture hosts its 2021 International Festival: Your Virtual Passport to the Arts. The free event opens to the public with an opening ceremony on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 10 a.m. The event officially runs through Sunday, Feb. 28, yet the access link will remain available for two weeks afterward.

Due to limited resources and staffing, the virtual event will be downsized from past years; however, viewers will still be able to enjoy cultural arts performances, cooking demonstrations, visual arts galleries, discussions and more. Guests will access a global map and can “travel the world” at their convenience, participating in shows and activities that fit their personal interests.

“We will present a variety of online performances, short language lessons, interactive discussions, activities for kids, lots of music and dance—really something for everyone,” said Medearis.

And because the event is hosted online, people can share the links and spread the joy of the arts across the region, state and country—even across the world. Weather, traffic, travel and crowds are not an issue with the virtual format, so more people can attend the festival, even those who are homebound or in hospitals and nursing homes.

Looking forward

Sauers is proud of his creative teams and how they continue to adapt programming to best serve and engage their audiences. He understands that digital programming will be sticking around for a while.

“We all need art in our lives, so we will keep finding ways to present virtual shows and events to stay connected with our patrons,” said Sauers.

He also understands it will take time for the organization to recover from the fallout of the pandemic, especially the loss of earned revenue for almost a year—a $12 million deficit. The organization is surviving on the generosity of its donors as well as state and federal grants.

“It’s not realistic to think we can pick up all of Overture’s 20-plus programs again when we reopen,” said Sauers. “But that’s okay. This down time is a time to pause and reevaluate what’s working and what’s not, what should continue, what will be reduced and what will be retired. It gives us time to think strategically, reimagine our future and be more purposeful in our programming.”

As we welcome a new year, arts leaders across the nation are faced with a “new normal” – one in which anything is possible. Last winter, Overture was closing up on a record year, until COVID-19 came to town and everything changed. Overture Center realizes change can be challenging and painful at times, but good things can come when we’re open to new possibilities.