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 around the country have been 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.

Amanda Finn

Venues all over the country are coming together to ensure that protocols are safe as well as sufficient to keep the community at a lesser risk. Last week the League of Chicago Theatres, for example, announced recommended guidelines for shows opening this fall. Starting September 1, more than 65 Chicagoland theaters will require patrons to provide proof of vaccination or a negative Covid test taken in the last 3 days to enter.

Deb Clapp, executive director of the League, said in a statement, “The arts and cultural community is embedded in the fabric of Chicago. Not all of the League’s more than 200 member theatres will be able to open this fall. We are pleased that many members of our vibrant performing arts community that will be opening have come together to craft a unified response to this crisis so audiences can once again experience the joy of live performance without future disruption.”

This protocol is similar to others nationwide including one by The Broadway League in New York City which oversees 41 member theaters. Their protocol requires all audience members, performers, crew and staff to be vaccinated through at least October 2021 with masks required inside the theaters.

While artists all over the world have made impressive digital features during the pandemic, there is something unforgettably beautiful about gathering in a physical space together to enjoy a show. The tittering of laughter, collective deep breaths, and (heck) even the rustling of legs in a silent space is something I dearly miss.

The last thing these organizations need is an anti-protocol tirade that will not only endanger the artists and staff of the theaters, but our fellow patrons as well. Opting out of vaccinating or testing is absolutely a choice, though all choices have consequences. Just as public spaces have no shoes, no shirt, no service policies for public health, theaters have to be able to do the same.

Over the course of the last 18 months we have collectively learned a lot about choices. Those choices can sometimes be made easily while others are hard fought. Theaters that are going above and beyond the mandated protocols necessary to hold performances should be applauded, not booed into subservience.

As a theater critic I am inclined to follow my friend and colleague Cameron Kelsall’s lead in supporting these organizations that are actively looking out for their communities.

The performing arts is an intrinsically human gift. One that has been brought to its knees during the Covid-19 crisis. Introducing safety protocols is the only way to get our artists and staffers back to work without risking everything for our entertainment. When it comes to raising the curtains, we should do so with a plan in place that will mitigate the risk that we will have to lower them so quasipermanently again.

Our artists deserve nothing less.

Amanda Finn is an award winning arts, travel and lifestyle journalist based in Chicago. She is a proud member of the American Theatre Critics Association and the North American Travel Journalists Association.

Beautiful MADE AFFORDABLE

FLOORING • COUNTERTOPS • CABINETS

250 West Beltline Hwy • Madison • (608) 257-0291 • coylecarpet.com ‘76 years serving the Madison community’ this year!