BOLD MEASURES By Elizabeth Nonemaker
The seismic challenges facing the performing arts extend beyond a speedy vaccine rollout for COVID-19. Here’s what today’s artists must do to prepare for the “next normal.”
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was like a time capsule from 2019: an invi- the conversations artists and presenters are having tation from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to collab- about adapting to COVID-19, and the answer orate in a multiday tour of concerts all over the city. would be no. When Zhang and Luby launched But this wasn’t from pre-pandemic days, nor was The Concert Truck in 2016, they wanted to it an ill-advised fever dream. Pianists Susan Zhang democratize the concert experience. They (GPD ’18, Piano) and Nick Luby knew that when they wanted to meet their audiences on their pulled out of their driveway in Baltimore, they would home turf — literally — and to play for make their way to Texas without rubbing elbows people who might not ordinarily attend (or exchanging air) with fellow travelers, and it was concerts of classical music. And as the unlikely their concerts would put audiences at risk of pandemic has ripped through the percontracting COVID-19. forming arts — decimating artists’ immeWhy? Zhang and Luby are the duo behind The diate ability to make a living as well as their Concert Truck: a 16-foot box truck painted a glossy long-term financial stability — it’s become concert black, its interior converted to a foldout clear that the challenges facing live performers stage complete with wood flooring, lighting, a sound extend beyond a speedy vaccine rollout. The entire system, and a digital mini-grand piano. After initially industry is facing a need to restructure itself: to enduring a slate of canceled performances during assess its values, to ask not just how it creates art, the first months of the pandemic, it occurred to but for whom, and why. them, as outdoor events proliferated, that their setup “I feel strongly that apart from COVID-19, there’s an already conformed to the limitations brought on by incredible amount of value that something like The the coronavirus. Concert Truck can bring to our communities,” Zhang In June, “everything took off,” Zhang says. “I basi- says. “It’s that opportunity to be closer to the people cally cold emailed every CEO of every major orchestra [presenters are] trying to reach out to, I think, that’s and presenter in the country that I could get contact really important.” information for. Some things panned out, and [we’ve] Should all musicians, then, go out and buy a truck? been gaining momentum since then.” Not necessarily. But the pandemic has underscored You might chalk it up to luck — the duo’s grow- just how important such audience-first thinking is ing success during a time so hostile to live perfor- — and how flexible it can prove, even in the face of mance. But is it sheer coincidence? Dig into any of unprecedented setbacks.
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