Re-Inventing the Live Arts Event with Local Arts Communities: Covid 19

Has Covid-19 killed the live event? Many in the Creative Industries fear so. An alternative view, however, could be: 'Long live the live event!' The proposed research will interrogate this dynamic by exploring how artists can re-invent the live event by asking the following questions: How do pandemic-related changes to conditions of production affect art-making for live events? What are the creative solutions explored by artists across genres to re-invent live events (e.g. site-specific, multi-media, participatory) under Covid-19 restrictions? How do Covid-19 restrictions affect the intrinsic power of live events to generate a sense of community and enable shared experiences? How do audiences respond to innovative live arts events, which might appear experimental and unfamiliar to them? How does the pandemic change people's understanding and appreciation of live arts events? How can pandemic-related changes be harnessed to improve future resilience in the creative sector? In order to explore these questions, the PI will organise a local arts festival in North Wales (June 2021), bringing together artists and performers with the shared aim of creating a series of live outdoor and indoor events. The PI will shadow, document and discuss the artistic work-in-progress and the art works during the preparations for the festival as well as after the festival. Collaborating artists will document their work-in-progress and discuss their work with academics and stakeholders in an online conference. The PI will collaborate with artists on a co-authored article, making the research findings available to key stakeholders and informing future practice. All aspects of the research project will be available online.