5 Arts and Culture Online Experiences

5 Arts & Culture Online Experiences During COVID-19 by Daniela Piangiolino

The outbreak of COVID-19 brought an explosion of ideas from the Creative Industries in order to appeal to the masses relegated at home. Arts and Culture has become a means to explore, connect, and communicate with the world from home, through various platforms. Hereby, I will present you my favourite Arts and Culture links that helped me get through self-isolation for the last few months.

1. Google Arts and Culture

Do you miss museums and exhibitions? Google Arts and Culture comes and rescues you with its high-resolution images from more than 1,200 museums from all around the world! It’s a real journey throughout global artworks, accompanied by captions, stories and facts that guide you. You can lose yourself into the van Gogh Museum, the Uffizi Gallery, the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Museum Frida Kahlo, and so much more, just looking at your devices from your home!

2. Cirque du Soleil

If the museums are not really your cup of tea and you want to experience art on your skin, then immerse yourself into the thrilling experience of the Cirque du Soleil, the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. The official Cirque du Soleil YouTube channel has already uploaded four 60-minutes-special performances that will make you feel part and parcel of the show, with live music, extravagant mise-en-scene, and crazy acrobatics.

3. Arts Podcasts

There’s nothing better than a good art-focused podcast while you are drinking your cup of tea! In the last few years, many art podcasts have been

released, focusing either on the curatorial side of the coin or on the general facts on art. I would recommend these four to you: ArtCurious - about the unexpected and marvelous stories of famous artists and their artworks; The Jealous Curator: Art for Your Ear - inside scoop-stories about artists told by other artists; The Modern Art Notes Podcast - a weekly, hour-long interview program featuring artists, historians, authors, curators and conservators, where you can get a taste of all things contemporary modern art; 99% Invisible - focused on the stories of all the ‘invisible’ things around us, from city design, elevators, fortune cookies, everything to boost your inspiration.

4. BroadwayHD

Miss all your favourite Broadway shows? No worries! Subscribe to the free 7-day trial of BroadwayHD and access all the wonderful performances unlimited for a week! Some titles? Be ready to get yourself into performances like Gypsy, Putting It Together, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Cats, Phantom Of The Opera, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat, and so much more. And if you’re obsessed with Hamilton like me, you’ll finally be able to watch it from July 3rd on Disney Plus!

5. Animal Crossings - van Gogh Museum

Have you been living on your Animal Crossing island more than in your room? Now you can bring some art with you into your virtual home! Decorate your house with van Gogh’s paintings, or wear dresses inspired by his magnificent artworks, or create your own exhibition inside the game. Go to the Nintendo Switch app on your smartphone, enable the Nooklink on your Nintendo Switch, and select all the designs that you prefer! You can find more information on the official website of the van Gogh Museum. Not to be missed!