Save the Arts: The Power of Protocols By: Amanda Finn
After a year and a half of staying home, watching everything there is to watch on Netflix and eating way too much takeout, people are anxious to get back to doing the things they love. That feeling is all the more true for those who make a living in the performing arts which has effectively been down and out since the pandemic began. Ghost lights Am a nd around the country have been a Fin n working overtime while many artists haven’t been able to work in their crafts at all—at least, not in the traditional way. According to a study released in January 2021 by the National Endowment for the Arts, unemployment for 2020 was sizable. Employment data from the Artist Labor Force for quarter III (JulySeptember) between 2019 and 2020, unsurprisingly, showed a huge dip in artist employment. Unemployment skyrocketed to 52% of actors, nearly 55% of dancers and choreographers and 27% of musicians. For a lot of these, and other, unemployed performing artists getting back into venues is pivotal to continuing their careers on or behind the stage. That can only happen if theaters take precautions to keep them as well as their patrons safe.
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