How do you prepare artists for a future with deserted performance venues, reduced audiences and budget cuts? This summer, student teams and faculty members from the University of Michigan have been exploring the possibilities of learning, design and performance in the digital space.
“Performing arts have all but shut down in a traditional sense,” said Mark Clague, associate dean at the U-M School of Music, Theatre & Dance. “Venues that anticipated audiences of several thousand people are now suddenly in a situation where they can’t have more than 10 people in a room.
“Do we just give up and say art is impossible? Art and creativity is what makes us human. Do we stop being human because of COVID? We set out to explore the implications of a parallel artistic environment.”