Arts Entrepreneurship Internationally and in the Age of COVID-19

Abstract

What brings the two halves of our expanded, double issue together, other than rigorous scholarship and shared commitment to our growing field, is this moment of crisis and change. During our editorial process, the world went into quarantine, and like many arts scholars we found ourselves asking how the journal's field-building aims would contribute to the resilience of arts organizations facing unparalleled crisis. Dance studies and arts policy scholar Sarah Wilbur writes eloquently of the challenges facing her as a professor for in an op-ed for Duke University Arts 1 : My biggest challenge, honestly, was trying to avoid showing my own sense of devastation in seminar about the dire and still-changing statistics on the US cultural workforce under COVID-19. We already know: 30 percent of museums that have closed will not reopen2; a projected $4.51 Wilbur, S. (2020). "It's Hard to Stay Optimistic." Duke Arts. https://arts.duke.edu/news/sarah-wilbur-it-ishard-to-stay-optimistic/.

Strategies in Managing Challenges of The Kuala Lumpur Performing Arts Centre (KLPAC) during Uncertain Times: A Reflection and A Way Forward

“…Artistes are a resilient, and empathetic group of people, as recounted in Rodriguez and Vakharia's (2020) study. In responding to the lockdowns, performing artistes worldwide educated themselves on online sharing platforms to create and entertain the masses in isolation; many of them doing it for free.…”

“…The groups affected include the people working for the arts centres, the freelance performers who depend on the productions staged at the centre, and arts teachers who teach the classes offered there (IIesanmi, 2021). The lockdowns imposed at the beginning of the pandemic demonstrated the resilience and adaptability of arts fraternity (Rodriguez & Vakharia, 2020). Performance groups began to digitalise their performances, many learning to use online technology for the first time.…”

“…There was a lack of discussion between the state administration and performance centres on the best operating procedures to ensure patrons' safety, and the performing arts ecosystem's sustainability. Rodriguez and Vakharia's (2020) paper suggests a revamp of the performing arts centres' operating systems and call for ingenuity in adaptation, to prepare for future challenges. There will be a need to reflect on: (a) what past values and cultures should we retain, (b) what are the new policies, and how do they fit into the centre's long-term sustainability, as well as (c) how can the centre become more resilient to challenges in the future.…”

“…Cancellation and postponement of performances, festivals and residencies had left theatre halls empty, and arts workers unemployed. While the full-time staff of arts centres experienced pay cuts, freelance performers had to find employment outside of the arts to sustain themselves (Rodriguez & Vakharia, 2020).…”