CAM reopening in July 2020.
MOVING PICTURES The Resilience of St. Louis’ Art Museums Written by Rob Levy At a time when as many as one-third of the country’s museums risk permanent closure due to the coronavirus, the exploration, discovery and reflection fostered by our local art museums has been sorely missed. Offering a refuge for contemplation and creativity, their absence during the pandemic has left a void for the visual arts and forced their staffs to rapidly adapt to maintain a connection with their patrons. Overcoming the stagnation of the lockdown by reopening, many of these prized jewels of our city are planning for the unknown by implementing new practices. Their innovation and resilience serve as another reminder that once again, the arts community is showing us the way. Closing their doors to the public in March and reopening in July, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis pivoted to deliver robust programming during the COVID-19 crisis. Embracing new technologies to engage their audience, CAM regularly generated new content through their website and social media, opened their archives for online access, and offered art sessions to students through ArtReach, an educational program offering online courses to Vashon and other K-12 affiliated schools. CAM also partnered with Tim Youd for The Tunnel: Retyped, a performance project in which he typed the William Gass novel live on video stream from his garage throughout the month of May. 20 slmag.net
Executive Director Lisa Melandri commented on how the pandemic has affected CAM. “I think it has taught us a lot, and we’re still learning. We’ve achieved real progress in getting more people into the museum and we have discovered new ways to connect with audiences. The coronavirus made us understand our need to reimagine how we can fulfill our mission in more ways for more people.” When the doors of the Saint Louis Art Museum closed, patrons were unsure of what lay ahead. The museum adopted a virtual platform that included the “Object of the Day,” an overwhelmingly popular program that continues even with the museum reopened. In May, the museum collaborated with Venture Café for an interactive program featuring Ethiopian artist Elias Sime. SLAM also revised their children’s programming to accommodate larger virtual audiences. Additionally, they launched the “At Home Film Series,” an interactive program supplemented with a 30 minute watch party, artmaking activities, movie trivia and Spotify playlists to set the party mood at home. They also transferred their immensely popular Wee Wednesdays and Wee Weekends programming online. Upon reopening, SLAM extended the Millet and Modern Art special exhibition into the fall.
