Serving the Community

WISCONSIN FILM FESTIVAL STREAMING & OUTREACH

In early March 2020, the Wisconsin Film Festival (WFF) was poised to offer over 150 films that would air on seven screens across Madison during the festival’s scheduled eight-day run in early April. However, after the traditional in-person WFF was canceled on March 13 in response to COVID-19, programmers chose to make two of the festival’s regular programs— Wisconsin’s Own and Big Screens, Little Folks— available for online streaming.

The modified Wisconsin Own’s program, running from April 2 to May 2 under the rubric Stay at Home with Wisconsin’s Own, streamed 23 films made in Wisconsin or by Wisconsinites. Each film was introduced by festival staff and streamed for 24 hours. Programmers were pleased to discover that the films attracted a total of 10,665 viewers, many more than the festival would have been able to accommodate at traditional in-person screenings alone. Separately, the Big Screens, Little Folks program, running this year under rubric Big Streams, Little Folks, offered 13 short films and one featurelength film for children. Films in the Shorter and Sweeter program series were appropriate for ages 4 – 8, while films in the Short and Sweet program series were suited for ages 8 – 11. One short film, My Brother Luca, was offered in both English and the original Spanish. Most of the children’s films streamed for one week. Big Streams, Little Folks films attracted 2,857 viewers during the festival’s online run and provided welcome entertainment, education, and excitement for children and parents who were working and schooling from home at the time.

WFF outreach over the 2019–20 academic year included contacting area educators who reserved seats for the 2020 Big Screens, Little Folks student matinees and received a study guide designed to help them integrate film studies into

Background photo by Jeff Miller / UW–MadisonBackground photo by Jeff Miller / UW–Madison

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Anonymous Fund | Brittingham Trust | Destination Madison | Goethe-Institut | Inventiva Works | MGE Foundation | Wildwood Productions

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The Wisconsin Film Festival is presented by the University of Wisconsin–Madison Division of the Arts in collaboration with the Department of Communication Arts. To request accommodations, please contact venue@wifilmfest.org or 608-262-9009.

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their curricula. Additional resources for exploring the themes and subjects of the children’s films were posted on the WFF website after the festival moved online.

The 2020 WFF also reached out to enlist the time and talents of more than 250 volunteers who participated in a general orientation session before the festival’s programming moved online and eagerly await the opportunity to assist WFF when it returns to its traditional in-person format.

The festival is proud that the 2020 online program attracted many longstanding and new viewers, creating a valuable sense of community and continuity at a time when people were feeling isolated and anxious. The Wisconsin Film Festival remains committed to big screen cinema viewing, but it is fully prepared to launch an online program again if it is still not safe to gather in theaters during the festival’s next run scheduled for May 2021.

E-communications: 15,445 subscribers : 11,468 followers : 60,857 views

wifilmfest.org 2020.wifilmfest.org

MADISON EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL STREAMING

The Madison Early Music Festival (MEMF) was created in 1999 to provide an opportunity for musicians, scholars, teachers, students, and music enthusiasts to study medieval, Renaissance, and baroque music in its social, cultural, and political contexts and to present concerts by acclaimed artists who specialize in historically inspired performance of early music. Since 2015, the Division of the Arts has presented MEMF in partnership with the Mead Witter School of Music.

Due to the COVID-19 shutdown, the festival moved its planned in-person workshops and performances to its website and a social media platform hosted by Facebook Premier. The festival shared videos of past performances and workshops, as well as MEMF Spotify playlists, through June and July, then, from July 11–18, 2020, hosted MEMF 2020 Online! Guest ensembles participating in this year’s virtual concerts submitted performance videos and digital program notes, while faculty provided videos of lectures on our planned theme, “Musical Life at the Burgundian Court.” Other MEMF faculty members created a virtual ensemble, the Pastyme Players, which performed throughout the week. The festival’s final night culminated with a Zoom singalong with the Pastyme Players that served as a farewell to MEMF 2020 Online!

Guest Artists

f Orlando Consort

f Piffaro, The Renaissance Band

f Trefoil

f Nota Bene Viol Consort

Key Highlights

f 18 videos of performances and lectures f 1 virtual ensemble created by MEMF faculty f 8 video statements from MEMF board members and staff f 30 guest artists, faculty, and lecturers f 9,220 Facebook Premiere views

E-communications: 2,300 subscribers MEMF Website: 1,145 visitors from July 10–20, 2020 : 1,325 followers

madisonearlymusic.org memf.wisc.edu/annual/online-program/