Anna Jackson: This episode is brought to you by the gender studies program at Westminster College. I'm Anna Jackson, and I will be the host of this episode. Salt Lake City is home to a wonderful performing arts scene from its mix of bands, unique venues, and a community hungry for entertainment, Due to the current pandemic these local artists are being impacted, and we wanted to know how. So we'll be taking a look into the local art scene and find out the impact these times have had on the Salt Lake, the performing arts community. In this podcast, we are going to focus on the struggling SLarts. That is struggling, Salt Lake arts. Spencer Potter: It's eerie, kind of spooky that there's no one here. It’s sad. Anna Jackson: That's the voice of Spencer Potter. He is the resident designer at Westminster and is soon to be crowned the associate professor of theater. He currently teaches costume and scenic design and is co-chair of the program. He was getting ready to put on a student production that had been months in the work. Spencer Potter: We, we do four shows a year, so two in the fall semester and two in the spring. We got through the first shows of spring semester, Gloria, right before spring break. And then we have two or three more weeks of rehearsals that we're going to pick up after break. And we were going to open our musical Sweet Charity. So it was just bizarre because we sent out the students, we were expecting everyone to come back. Just you walk into that theater and there's just for awhile, there were just tools where people put them down and never came back to. There's a tech table set up as we were getting ready for rehearsals. And it's just like, everything froze. Anna Jackson: But it wasn’t as simple as people not returning. Everyone understood the risks and we were responsible about it. But what surprised Spencer was the speed of this response. We spent a year in advance planning these shows. We have several months of meetings to select scripts, read through scripts, see how scripts line up to our program, learning goals, see how they line up to our artistic mission as a program. And then we start a design process. So it's been in process really for nearly a year. So to put the breaks on a big project like that, you know, a cast of 16 plus people just as many students working backstage, it took about two weeks once campus announced it was going to close to really slow it down. There are so many, so many moving parts that it took attention to bring it to a stop. Spencer Potter: It was interesting because when you're in the thick of running a show, yeah, you don't realize how much work it took to build that. But when you had to pull the break, I realized, wow, there's so much momentum behind this. There's so many people. Kind of helps you appreciate the scale of the work. We do, you know, two weeks shut down felt like it took forever. You know. Anna Jackson: Other productions and competitions were in full swing. One of these competitions in Salt Lake was a regional drama competition on Thursday, March 12th at Kearns high school. Cameron Garner, a local actor for 27 years and teacher at Taylorsville high school had his students prepped and at a competition when the words came down from on high. Cameron Garner: We were over at Kearns high school, a whole bunch of schools all at the same time, when we got the news that we were not supposed to be gathered in groups of more than 50. We, of course, had a group of somewhere around two or three hundred kids and teachers all in the same school, we went, ‘uh, w-what would you like us to do?’ The district said, 'Well, since you're already there, go ahead and keep going. If you've caught anything, you've caught it already.’ And so we kept going, we finished our region competition. And all went our separate ways. Anna Jackson: The school’s stage wasn't the only empty one. Professional artists find themselves alone, and Fran Pruyn the artistic director of Pygmalion Theater Company for over a decade. And currently at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center located downtown talks about the stress these artists finds themselves in and as well as what she feels the responsibility of every individual during this crisis. Fran Pruyn: It's the right thing to do. Everybody agrees that it's the right thing to do. If I had to rely on it for my sole source of income, I'd be terrified. You know? And many of my colleagues are terrified. Fortunately, most of us have other jobs, at least in Salt Lake City. We teach or right. Anna Jackson: This is forcing artists to get more creative. Fran Pruyn: I think people are using technology better than they have in the past. I, on the other hand, am developing a script with a playwright out of New York, and we're doing everything, like everybody elsem via Zoom or some form of teleconference. You can develop a script that way, you can rehearse the script that way, we're going to try to do some scene work next week that way. It's weird, but we're all getting better. Anna Jackson: Spencer's also moving along. Spencer Potter: We're working through a lot of plans for our productions, because they're important to what we do. We want to gauge student desire and comfort before we start to really finalize anything. But we've got everything, you know, I think we're under no illusions that we're going to be back to normal. So we've got some plans for how to adapt productions to be as safe as possible though. Anna Jackson: Though he claims that it's still too early to quote him on anything. He assures us that there should be no worries. Spencer Potter: We've got plans for anything from somewhat typical arrangements to being ready to go fully online if we had to. Different experiences, different types of theater, but worth learning. And it'll be exciting to have a chance to experiment. Anna Jackson: So the stages are empty, but the creative process continues. The real question is will the doors be able to open once the pandemic calms down? Do they have enough finances to keep their doors open? For the Rose Wagner and local small venues, things seem to be stable for now. Fran Pruyn: None of the granting organizations asked for their money back. The money that they can get from the small business loans has sustained them for a while. I don't know that there are many arts organizations that aren't small businesses. Anna Jackson: Westminster is in a similar spot. Spencer Potter: We, we operate primarily programmatic funding from the college. So we do have a little bit of a safety net there, but that will also, how campus wide budgets are impacted by this, I don't know. So fingers crossed that we're okay. You know, I think arts and humanities folks, when times get tight, we are always very naturally concerned. We don't have a lot of costs to operate our venues because they're smaller. So we, we managed to produce a lot and really offer a vibrant on campus, cultural arts spread all the way from theater to dance and music. So fingers crossed. I think we'll be okay. Anna Jackson: And grant and garner ads that high school theater programs don't get a lot of funding to begin with. So they're continuing to struggle as they did before. So the doors are unlikely to remain closed, but will they make enough money once they reopen to stay afloat? Fran Pruyn: Who's going to come? To do theater in any of our venues is going to need radically, radically reduced audience sizes. The black box where we largely performed is, uh, only going to allow 16 people in at a time. Anna Jackson: And the people who tend to come to shows at Rose Wagner are college aged and those in their fifties, a high risk group. Spencer Potter: There are some guidelines from our governor of the state that really talk about the first, however many rows of the uh, the theater can not be used so that the audience is in close to the actors. Even then, the rows behind that and you have to use every other row and then you have to have a certain number of empty seats between every group of people. So I don't know. I think that there are feasible ways to do it. I think that once our state goes to a more green status, I think that a lot of those regulations will be relaxed, but I don't know how wise it will be even then to gather together. It's a tricky thing, and part of me wants to trust the government. They are looking at a lot different numbers than we are. As far as the distant future. I think the biggest impact is going to be seeing smaller theater companies fold, and then new companies reemerge. Fran Pruyn: But I think they’re, they're going to have to be willing to say, ‘It costs money to do live art and they can't stay, if you really, really want it, you're going to have to pay for it online. Or you're going to have to be willing to be one of the 16 people in the audience who pays a little bit more.’ Spencer Potter: The first step that I think anybody could take to support performing arts right now, th-there's, there's the organizations and then the individual artists. You could buy a season, uh, subscription to the theater that, you know, you pay a chunk of change upfront for a series of tickets that will come in the next year. So that's one way to either support the future. But that, if you buy, um, if you buy tickets in advance for their delayed season, that will help give them some cash flow to keep things running. Also, if you're, and I want to be clear too, that this isn't maybe just theater, this could be concerts, drag shows, anything that's people getting together in a room. You could consider rather than asking for a refund, donating your ticket. You know, it's money you've already paid, but not asking for it back as a way to help keep them with an operating budget. That'd be the way to help organizations. And the other thing would be just like, I don't want to get on a soapbox, but the other thing would be: follow the public safety health guidelines. If we work together to keep the spread of COVID down, the sooner we'll get back to normal. Okay. If I put out a hope into the universe for people, I would say, go, go watch your local high school’s production. Um, they need a butt in the seat, and they need your ticket money, and they need you to buy three candy bars at intermission, because we want to give these kids the opportunity to experience what it's like to create art like this. I do think that one of the positive things that's going to come out of this is some intensified enthusiasm for the arts, and hopefully some more appreciation for the work that goes into this. It's not magic. It doesn't come together and in a week or a month, um, it takes a lot of planning and a lot of effort, uh, to make art happen just like it takes to make anything happen. Every theater organization from big to small needs help. I've worked for. The Hale Center theater that's currently in Sandy for 23 years. They have one of the biggest budgets and some of the most expensive production values of any arts organization out there. They are the bestselling arts organization in the state, and it's going to take them about four years to recoup the losses from this, give or take. That's, that's an estimate that I've heard, but all the way down to the teeny arts organizations that are in cities. So if you happen to be a rich person, then, then donate a lot of money to a lot of arts organizations. If you are not a rich person, like most of us, I would say, as soon as you feel safe, go watch a play somewhere. As soon as you feel safe, go watch a play somewhere. And if you know of an arts organization like Hale Center Theater Orem, that is streaming stuff online, it's a great way to help sustain those companies. If you can't be in a seat, I would also say, like, as soon as you are able to support a high school or a junior high theater program. Help sew costumes, go, go paint, a set piece, donate a fancy old antique chair, do something that can support, because we can use just about any kind of help. So anytime you can as a community member, anytime that you can go, ‘you know what? I bet my local high school theater would love if I brought my whole youth group to see their show.’ Fran Pruyn: I don't think theater will die. I think theater will be small for a while, but. Spencer Potter: Everybody probably knows that the term, the show will go on, right? The show must go on. So that's kind of the ethos that's baked into our art form for better or for worse. So with that being such an important mantra for our art form, to see everything across the world shut down is pretty spooky. And not just theater but, you think about how many people have been relying on Netflix and Amazon for, for entertainment and really right now? Well, we’re not much more than a year out from not having content. And that's a huge, not only are we an art form, but it's a huge industry. So the entire arts and entertainment sector has just ground to a screeching halt. Fran Pruyn: The film industry is completely shut down too. And they're just, you know, struggling, so it's not just the art itself or getting to do it. It's people's livelihoods. That is really troubling. Theater is just such a different animal than film, and film is struggling too. I think it will be really telling in a year when there's not the product, you know, we haven't been able to really create the product that the new product that people are looking for. We only have streaming, whether libraries or recorded streaming. Spencer Potter: I also think that long-term, we're going to see some technology being developed specific to the arts. I think we're going to see a lot of streaming technology. And I think that a lot of organizations are going to go, ‘Hey, look, we need the opportunity to sell tickets to our recorded shows. We need to be able to record things and broadcast them. We need to be able to stream things live. We need to be able to do stuff like that as an in-between.’ And I think that it's probably going to be a struggle between the rights holding organizations and the producing organizations for quite a while. The sort of thing that happened between film studios and television studios, uh, where they had to wrestle back and forth for quite a long time to figure out what the rights situation was going to be and who was going to get paid and how advertising worked and stuff like that. I pray that we don't start getting commercials in the midst of plays, but I do think that that's a possibility. Fran Pruyn: People are going to have to be less demanding of the technical resources? You know, you watch film and film is such a beautiful and wonderful art form. It is so different than live performance, and that's why you have both, but once you start recording something and putting it online, it's always going to be equated. And you can't equate it. You can't equate that experience. And so we're going to have to find another something in between, that captures live art, but doesn't have the expectations of editing and post-production and all that. Dylan Bowen: If we did not. If we didn't have any creative expression, then we would devolve as a species, like, If we had no way to express our bright side creative brain and we have no way of expressing half of all of our thoughts, all of you leaving us with just left brain robotic and very neutral world where barely anything happened. We have our- Anna Jackson: That was Dylan Bowen, vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the band Prismada, explaining the necessity of art as part of any human's life. Dylan Bowen: And we have music to express what is live within our soul. If we did not have the support and if we did not have help, like, spreading our soul, then what is the point? We’re just running ourselves into the ground. Anna Jackson: Since the pandemic musicians have had to make large changes: show cancellations, rescheduling tours, and finding ways to make a living while at home. Streaming doesn't provide much to artists. Dylan Bowen: Well, it kind of affected it drastically. Uh, my previous implementation of Prismada band quit around the beginning of the quarantine. And they were unable to keep playing. We weren't able to get any shows. We weren't much of anything because we can't even get together. Anna Jackson: Youtubers and Twitch streaming musicians with large followings are safe. with this transition to online. What happens to the venues that once housed the high energy crowds and artists? Where are they now? One venue in particular is danger: Kilby Court. Kilby Court is Salt Lake City's oldest, all ages venues. And after two decades of providing entertainment to the community, as well as providing local artists a way to grow, they face possible closure. You can go to kilbycourt.com to make a donation to help support this part of the music. Dylan Bowen: Yeah. That's. . . Man, like the decreasing of venues in general, suck. Like I always want more, like, since I turned 21, all of these venues and all of these things just opened up and it was like, “Woah.” Like I remember my first time at the Metro and that man, that is a really incredible place. So hearing about the venues being like shut down or run out of money, it just, like, man, that was awful. Anna Jackson: During this time we spoke to Isaac Lauren, who is a local artist/ multi-instrumentalist slash composer in Salt Lake city. He's the co-founder of Lorton media here. He talks about Twitch becoming the mainstream music platform. But what about the artists that aren't as big? Artists who don't have the same kind of following? Dylan says that new artists are lucky to be paid $50 in total, and they were mostly spending money out of pocket to get their stage set up to provide audiences with a show. This lack of performances and live music has affected local musicians greatly. So how do we support local musicians? What can we do to support a local artist? Isaac Lauren: It’s between the Twitch stuff that, um, that they've been doing, like the live streams, that's one really good way. And then the other good way I think is instead of going and just streaming the music, go to iTunes, go to, um, Amazon or where you can actually buy music and go buy the single, I mean, it's like a dollar. You know, you walk out the gas station, as you're walking out, you see a candy bar for about 50ish, you’re like, yeahwhatever. Then you go and go get a candy bar. I mean, it's, to me, it's the same concept. We're selling a song for a dollar. Dylan Bowen: We need support. We need all the help we can get, because art and music they’re, they're not that profitable, but the passion of these outlets are so great that people are willing to spend their entire lives to achieving the goals of that. They want to. Isaac Lauren: You know, you mean before the quarantine people were doing similar things anyways, I mean, it wasn't, like, as dedicated as it is now, but I mean, this has always been going on. And so I think it'll still be there. Just not as strong. But I think, yeah, I hope it'll go back to having some, like, coffee house type stuff. I think that would be a very bad, sad thing to have happen. Um, I've performed at Kilby Court. I've been to a few concerts at Kilby Court. I mean, that's kind of like the local music go to for, especially for people just starting out. I mean, besides playing out of your garage, I mean, that's like your first step into the real music performing roles. Anna Jackson: So there you have it. The struggling SLarts right from the artists and the producers themselves. You've heard about theater production from a high school teacher, a college professor, and from a venue host. You have also heard about music and what it means to the musicians and producers that fill your sound waves. If you want to reach out, it would be greatly appreciated. Hopefully you've learned what it's like during the pandemic for these artists and creators. Thank you for listening. Music and sound design by Gabriel Perez. This episode was hosted by Anna Jackson. Our show was written and produced by Angela Fields, Gabriel Perez and Anna Jackson. Special thanks to Spencer Potter, Cameron garner, Fran Pruyn, Dylan Bowen, and Isaac Lauren for being our guest. Jared Winn: This episode was produced by the gender studies program in the sociology department at Westminster College. Editing and sound design by Jared Winn, music by Lou Crumbo, and our logo was created by Catherine Nielson.