Furloughed Musicians and A New Digital Frontier: Performing Arts in the COVID-19 Shutdown

Artists and administrators wrestle with how to make art—and money—in the age of coronavirus.

By Anne Midgette: “Performing artists have no idea when and how they’ll be going back to work at all.

“For every organization that’s saying this is just an intermission, we’ll be back,” says Jenny Bilfield, president and CEO of Washington Performing Arts, “I think that’s magical thinking.”

The main problems the performing arts face today are not with the art, but with the institutions that propagate it. Now those institutions, already struggling with a declining audience, have taken a direct hit. The absence of performances, combined with the tanking economy, have threatened or eliminated their three main sources of revenue: private donations, corporate and foundation funding, and ticket sales.”

Source: Vanity Fair