The holiday season is coming quickly, and for most of us, there are many traditions that won’t look the same this year. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of the holiday events we treasure won’t happen the same way they have in the past.
The OKC Ballet production of The Nutcracker will be shortened to one act without an intermission and with socially distanced seating, Lyric Theatre’s A Christmas Carol will take place outdoors at the historic Harn Homestead, and many of the concerts and choral events we normally attend to ring in the season have been canceled.
In fact, nonprofit arts organizations across the metro, and beyond, are struggling with how to survive the year (or more) it will take for larger group gatherings to be safe again. Americans for the Arts, a nonprofit advocacy group for the arts, predicts that 12,000 arts organizations across the country will not survive the pandemic.
These organizations, who give life to our communities, are in danger of closing permanently. This includes community theatres, art galleries, fairs and festivals, live music venues and more that make up the fabric of every community. When companies look at moving their operations in a new location, one of the major drivers for decision-making is the quality of life available in the community. The arts in our community make up a large portion of the quality of life experienced by our citizens, providing entertainment and educational opportunities for citizens of all ages, abilities and income levels.
The Norman Arts Council recently surveyed the 25 arts organizations it supports, and found that since March, those organizations have lost more than $670,000 in revenue from canceled programs and events, including the Medieval Fair, Norman Music Festival, Jazz in June, Native Crossroads Film Festival, and Summer Breeze Concert Series.
The Norman Arts Council receives half of its own annual budget dollars from a percentage of Norman’s hotel/motel tax, so when the pandemic hit and hotel stays suddenly dropped by 90%, it crushed NAC’s budget as well. There will likely be no grants in NAC’s budget to support arts organizations this fiscal year. That means that the organizations supported in part by the Norman Arts Council have been told they should not count on receiving grant money from the organization this year.
Jennifer Baker, producing artistic director of The Sooner Theatre, said, “We saw what was happening with closures and quarantines in March, and immediately began thinking of ways we could adapt our programming. We were able to move our performing arts classes online for the last month of the school-year schedule, and our first session of summer camps were also virtual.”
Jennifer and her team worked tirelessly to make sure some in-person summer camps could happen because parents reached out for help with their children who were not handling isolation well.
“We had several of our studio parents reach out, begging us to have a production camp so their kids could see their friends and have some sense of normalcy.”
Despite having to move final performances to Zoom or recorded shows, the theatre was able to offer something this summer. But, not having the ability to offer a full range of summer camps, need for social distancing and no live shows has cost The Sooner Theatre—due to capacity restrictions and limits on group gatherings, the theatre has canceled 28 performances and has lost an estimated $275,000 in revenue since March.
That doesn’t mean they have given up.
“We are in rehearsals now for our first community theatre production since this began—and, fingers crossed—we will be presenting Annie Dec. 11-18 for the holidays,” Jennifer said. “The cast is fully masked and socially distanced during all rehearsals, the theatre is roomy and therefore has ventilation, and we will offer a live-stream ticket to the shows, so you can come in-person, or you can enjoy the show online!
“We are determined to keep moving forward, until we simply cannot. We will continue to think outside the box for solutions that will allow us to meet our mission and be able to survive as an organization. We are after all, creatives. If we can’t come up with a way to make it happen, who can?”
What can you do to help? Donate what you would normally spend on tickets to events that aren’t happening. Make an arts-themed advent calendar, where each day is a small gift to a local arts organization. Purchase gift certificates to your favorite art gallery or theatre for stocking stuffers—get creative!
Nancy Coggins is the PR and development director for the Sooner Theatre of Norman.