NC arts community, facing losses in the millions, is forced to innovate to stay alive

In early March, Triangle musician and vocalist Shana Tucker was gearing up for her busiest tour to date, one that would bring her to bigger audiences.

But then the coronavirus disrupted her plans, and she started fielding calls to reschedule her spring tour.

“I went from having 12 touring dates to zero in a month and a half,” said Tucker in a phone interview with The News & Observer. “This was the first year I was going to larger markets and bigger cities.”

Tucker wasn’t the only one forced to dismantle tours, concerts, plays, dance productions, art shows and festivals. When the coronavirus started spreading in March, being in a crowd wasn’t safe, health officials said, and limitations were put on gatherings.

Nearly every event on the calendar was postponed, canceled or put on hold indefinitely. That included major events in the Triangle, like the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, the American Dance Festival and the rest of the seasons for the Carolina Ballet, N.C. Symphony and countless theater companies.

Now, as North Carolina and the rest of the country slowly ease stay-at-home restrictions, artists and those who run arts organizations are taking stock of the financial losses. State and county budgets are expected to take a revenue hit, which means less for nonprofit arts organizations.

“We have historic unemployment, said Charles Phaneuf, president of the United Arts Council of Raleigh and Wake County. “Artists still have rent, utilities and bills to pay.”

The pandemic has devastated the creative economy, too. While art often is created in solitude, the sharing of the form demands proximity and community, meaning up-close and personal interaction.

“It’s a very different experience than what I am used to,” said Tucker, who also is a cellist. She has learned how to livestream solo concerts from her home rather than perform with a quartet of musicians on a stage.

Support funds for artists have sprung up across the Triangle and North Carolina, but they might not be enough. Those direct losses to statewide art organizations are likely between $50 to $100 million from March through May, said Wayne Martin, executive director of the North Carolina Arts Council.

That estimate doesn’t include the direct economic impact to the region — the restaurants and hotels often associated with the performing arts, Martin said.

“The impact on the state’s economy is much greater,” Martin said in a telephone interview.

Take Full Frame, originally scheduled for April 2-5, which generally kicks off Durham’s major festival season. In 2019, the four-day event drew about 10,000 people, said Deirdre Haj, festival director, in an email. The total economic impact of Full Frame was about $3.8 million last year, added Margaret Pentrack, director of content and public relations for Discover Durham, in phone interview.

The American Dance Festival, one of Durham’s signature summer events, also draws in large numbers of outside visitors. During the 2019 season, 27,000 tickets were sold to the season’s dance performances, said Jodee Nimerichter, the executive director of the ADF, in an email. In 2019, the total economic impact of ADF was more than $6.3 million, she wrote.

J. Cole’s Dreamville Festival was just canceled for 2020, having already been postponed from April to August. The inaugural festival at Raleigh’s Dix Park attracted 40,000 people last year, with about 70% coming from out of town.

First to close, last to open

Artists are living with an uncertain future. Phase Two of Gov. Roy Cooper’s reopening plan went into effect May 22, but entertainment venues and movie theaters are not included. Mass gatherings are limited to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors.

When it’s safe to be in group settings again, performing arts organizations and venues will need to dramatically adapt to implement new safeguards for patrons. COVID-19 is spread through airborne droplets.

“A lot of arts organizations were among the first to close and will be the last to open,” Phaneuf said in a phone interview. “The reason why is because our business model requires people to show up in person.”

Organizations and artists have had to improvise to keep their programming going — and to keep funds coming in. They’ve adapted to new technology and fostered new virtual ways of connecting to their audiences. Auditions are conducted virtually. Musicians livestream concerts. Past performances — including large-scale ballets, classical concerts and plays — have found new life in online videos.

“They are forced to be creative,” Phaneuf said of the arts community. “Some of our artists are teaching for a fee from home. It’s challenging, though, figuring out if people are interested in experiences — what are they willing to pay?”

Tucker, a full-time singer-songwriter, has received two grants, one from the North Carolina Artist Relief Fund and $1,000 from the Jazz Road Quick Assist Fund. During the stay-at-home order, she has spent time figuring out how to make her streaming performances consistent with the quality of her live concerts. Tucker doesn’t want to disappoint herself or her audience.

“I would rather stay silent than show up in a way less than,” she said. Tucker has participated in both livestream fundraisers and her own concerts with a fee comparable to a jazz club, starting at $10 for “standing room only” and up to $500 for a “Backstage Pass.” That includes song requests and custom-written songs.

Her self-described genre of ChamberSoul is a fusion of classical, jazz and soul. She typically performs as part of a quartet, and she has learned to adjust to performing without a piano, bass and drums.

“It’s not the same song,” she said. “I have to rearrange the music.”

Tucker bought some additional lighting and sound equipment for her computer to create the best sound quality.

“It’s been a challenge,” she says. “There’s a lot that goes into showing up — how it sounds, how it looks. What kind of lighting you need in the house?”

But she understands the landscape for working artists has changed. “Livestreaming is no longer an optional part of the performance portfolio,” she says.

Navigating a new economy

With no sponsorships and limited programming, the ability for artists and organizations to earn income has “extremely diminished,” Martin said.

“The spigot has been turned off,” he said.

But organizations haven’t given up. Ed Southern, the executive director of North Carolina Writers’ Network, canceled his organization’s annual spring conference in April. Instead, the organization offered an online Cabin Fever Conference featuring 90-minute Zoom presentations.

It was attended by 130 people, instead of the 160 to 170 registrants he was hoping for at the in-person conference. While Southern considers the online conference a success, the organization missed out on money from sponsorships and exhibitor tables.

So he turned to the Network’s members to ask for financial support, receiving more than $17,500 from more than 150 donors. It’s been one of the most successful fundraisers the group has had, he said.

“We are ineligible for the (National Endowment for the Arts)‘s emergency grants, and we were one of the many nonprofits and small businesses shut out of the Payroll Protection loans offered through the CARES Act,” Southern said.

The group has since received some PPP funds in the second round of funding, which will help but likely won’t last the full eight weeks it’s supposed to, he said.

“We’re not eligible for NEA because it’s only taking applications from those who applied during the last six years,” he said.

Many full-time artists are gig-workers, and they’re finding it tough to access unemployment benefits as well as Payment Protection loans and other funding.

Greg Whitt, who has been self-employed for 10 years, is the owner of Raleigh-based Drum for Change, which offers corporate team-building, education and wellness programs using drums. Whitt typically charges $300 to $500 per hour for his youth and adult programming in schools, boardrooms and retreats.

He has tried to apply for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance through the state, and he’s slowly making progress. His bank told him he wasn’t eligible for the Payment Protection Program because he hasn’t filed his 2019 taxes. The requirements have changed for PPP since the program was announced.

Phaneuf said Whitt is an example of someone using what he already has to keep programming going. Whitt reflected on what he could offer that would pay the bills and be helpful to his clients. He was on a Zoom meeting with some of his peers when he got an idea, he told The N&O in a phone interview.

“We were talking about how to serve the world,” Whitt said. “Everyone is locked down; all our drums are sitting in storage. If I were a retailer, I would be selling drums.

“Maybe I can lend these drums and create a little video,” he said.

Whitt has about 25 to 30 modern African hand drums made with Mylar-type heads. He reached out to United Arts, school contacts and other sources and started hearing of interest for online lessons.

“Greg, I need you to save me from my kids,” he recalls someone writing him. “Entertain them so I can get some work done while at home.”

Whitt now offers virtual lessons for $120 a month. He sanitizes the drum and delivers it to the doorstep of whoever is taking the lesson.

Juggling priorities

Meanwhile, the North Carolina Arts Council has shifted some of its funding to help stabilize the state’s nonprofit arts organizations and artists.

Martin said the N.C. Arts Council will maintain full funding levels for organizations, even though programming will be greatly reduced. It will also redirect resources that normally support organizational project grants to create a stabilization fund that will support staff and facility costs, he said.

The Arts Council will increase the number of regional grants for individual artists throughout the state. But it’s suspending its annual $10,000 artist’s fellowships and the Heritage Awards, which includes a cash award, he said.

“People need to stay connected to their local artists, not just the Lady Gagas,” Phaneuf said. “Focus on the local arts, the local art galleries, theaters. We can’t lose that.”

Last month, a roster of prominent North Carolina musicians took part in Under One Roof, a three-hour livestreamed concert held over three days to raise money for the North Carolina Arts Foundation.

The event, presented by Come Hear North Carolina and Charlotte-based entertainment publication CLTure, raised $50,000 to support artists across North Carolina whose work has been disrupted by COVID-19. The nonprofit North Carolina Arts Foundation is dispersing the donations.

Participating artists included Anthony Hamilton, 9th Wonder, Ben Folds, Fantasia, Tift Merritt and Little Brother.

Musician Phonte is half of the hip-hop duo Little Brother with Big Pooh. He said he was happy to donate his time to the benefit because he knew it would help a lot of his fellow artists.

The shutdown happened just as Little Brother was ready to embark on a European tour, promoting their fifth studio album released last summer, “May the Lord Watch.” The duo had dates in Paris, London, Amsterdam and Berlin, and it would have been Little Brother’s first visit to Europe in a decade.

“Our last shows were in early March in Philadelphia and Baltimore,” he says during a telephone interview from his Raleigh home. “When they canceled South by Southwest, I knew it was like the canary in the coal mine.”

When the popular Coachella concert event was postponed from April to the fall, “I knew then we needed to cancel the European tour,” Phonte said. “2020 is done. It’s over.”

“Anytime you see big brands do things like that, they set the tone for everyone else,” he explained. “No one else wants to be held liable. God forbid someone got sick at your event. You look negligent.”

He’s using this time to reset and for now is managing financially.

Phonte warns musicians and other artists not to rush to release new work, just because they need money. “I think this is the time to focus on purpose and intention,” he said.

“It’s a war of patience,” Phonte says. “The biggest hurdle as a society is gradually understanding that the life we once knew is gone forever. Once, we emerge again, it’s going to be different.”

Phaneuf and Martin hope people support their favorite artists, now and when they return to their recording studios, concert halls, museums and theaters.

“People need to stay connected to their local artists, not just the Lady Gagas,” Phaneuf said. “Focus on the local arts, the local art galleries, theaters. We can’t lose that.”

That’s what Phonte is counting on, he said.

“The biggest resource you have are people, it’s not money. People are your most valuable resource,” he said. “This is God, calling in everybody’s bets. If you have served other people, and showed your value, I don’t think your community is going let you fall.”

How to help

Here are websites of relief funds for artists in the Triangle and North Carolina:

▪ North Carolina Arts Foundation: ncarts.org/leadership/arts-council-foundation

▪ NC Artist Relief Fund: A collaboration between Artspace, PineCone, Theatre Raleigh, United Arts Council and VAE Raleigh. vaeraleigh.org/artist-relief-fund

▪ Durham Arts Council Arts Recovery Fund: Managed by the Durham Arts Council in partnership with the Durham Artist Relief Fund. durhamarts.org/ArtsRecoveryFund.html

▪ Durham Artist Relief Fund: Managed by NorthStar Church of the Arts. funds go to artists and arts presenters in Durham, with priority given to black, indigenous, people of color, transgender and nonbinary artists as well as artists with disabilities. northstardurham.com/artistrelief

▪ Orange County Arts Support Fund: Managed by Orange County Arts Commission. artsorange.org/supportfund

▪ Chatham Artist and Arts-Worker Relief Effort (CAARE): Managed by Chatham Arts Council for county artists. chathamartscouncil.org/donations/chatham-artist-relief-effort-care

▪ North Carolina Writers Collective: ncwriters.org/ncwnsecure/reg/donationForm.php

This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 8:00 AM with the headline "NC arts community, facing losses in the millions, is forced to innovate to stay alive."