ask kitty
Vol 6
Timea P., Los Angeles
Where do you think our industry goes? What are the biggest changes that we will face? Performing arts in general.
Matthew L., Birmingham, UK
Do you think artists must suffer?
Dear Timea and Matthew,
Thank you! I share your questions and concerns.
I’m scared yet optimistic. I’m reading about other plague times (Shakespeare lived through a few) and learning that as frightening as these times may be they will no doubt seed some incredible creativity. Things will be different - they have already changed so significantly - but no one is better at ‘pivoting’ than artists. It may be a few before I will cram myself into the elevator with 15 opera singers to get out of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion a few minutes early. It may be a few before I can lose myself in a room full of sweaty humans sharing time and space. It may be a few - but we will get there.
I think folks will need us to grapple with the story of this plague and the emotional toll of living through it and grieving those who did not. They will need us to shape it into something that provides empathy, perspective and communal healing. So, to answer your question Matthew, yes. We must suffer along with the rest - we can’t fly high, numb ourselves or avoid the truth. We must take it in, manipulate it and offer it up in a way that we can all heal from it.
We have each other, for that I am supremely grateful. We have the fortitude to steadily work through the most challenging situations (anyone who has taken a dance class knows this is true!) What we fear now will fuel us later.
Stay Well,
Kitty