Writer Arundathi Roy describes the pandemic as a portal to another world. I’ve been thinking about this image a lot lately, picturing us survivors emerging one day from the wreckage. What pieces will we salvage? What should we leave behind? And most critically, how can we start planning for our ideal society now?
The pandemic has peeled back the curtain to reveal layers of injustice. It has also magnified the importance of community (if I don’t wear a mask, what impact does that have on my neighbor?). As an arts organization, we’re thinking hard about how to, one, better engage and serve our audience. Second, we are working to take care of and support artists whose lives (and livelihoods) have been upended.
While this has been an enormously difficult year for the performing arts, Pivot Arts has risen to meet these challenges. Last spring we quickly “pivoted” to an on-line festival providing work for over 60 artists and technicians whose projects had otherwise been cancelled. The Pivot Arts Festival amplified BIPOC artists during perhaps the largest social justice movement since the 1960s, not because we changed our programming, but because we are an organization that has consistently told the stories of people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, women, and other traditionally marginalized groups.
We cut our budget in half to adjust to current times but simply cannot manage this coming year without increased support of individual donors to replace major losses from ticket sales and an in-person fundraiser.
As you’re thinking about life during and post-pandemic, please consider supporting Pivot Arts. Your contribution will help us create the kind of equitable and imaginative world we want to live in through upcoming projects like “Reimagining Utopia,” a performance tour with safe live events and digital works where artists and audiences will reimagine our world anew.
Thank you for your support of Pivot Arts and recognition of the importance of the arts in a creative and just society. To donate and make a difference please visit:
Image of Artistic Associate, Ayako Kato, by Daniel Guidara.