Just a couple of updates crossed my desk by way of my inbox this week, so we'll get to those today and some other thoughts on the current state of things regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week we wrote about updates including the online edition of the In The Soil Festival and a new appointment of an old friend at The Foster Festival. Both have brief updates to offer this week as well, so let's start there.
ITS Online, or the reimagined Mult (p)Arts festival that replaced the traditional In The Soil Arts Festival for this year, is still suspended as of this writing but hopefully will be resumed at some point in the near future. The announcement from June 3rd to postpone the majority of the remaining programming came in response to the racial unrest felt not only in America but also here in Canada and elsewhere in the world.
The show of respect and support for their community of artists, audiences, colleagues and others at this difficult time is also being backed up by a pledge to offer 50% of all donations made to In the Soil to the Niagara Region Anti-Racism Association (NRARA) through to June 15th. So there are still a couple of days left to donate and have half the money go to NRARA.
This is an important decision on the part of organizers of In The Soil and their parent organization Suitcase in Point Theatre. At a time when arts organizations everywhere are feeling the pinch from suspended performances and no audiences they are doing their part to help others in a meaningful way.
One interesting byproduct of the online version of In The Soil is the fact people not only across Ontario but across Canada and beyond can view the work of the artists involved, rather than just those who traditionally would flood into the downtown core of St. Catharines for the on-the-street version of the Festival. The increased exposure can only help these artists at a time they need all the help they can get.
You can view all of the performances during ITS Online for free by visiting In The Soil's Youtube and Facebook channels.
Over at The Foster Festival, which of course cancelled their entire summer season at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines earlier this spring, they announced this week their new Normflix series. This is a three-part online series that will continue to deliver the humour with heart both playwright Norm Foster and The Foster Festival have, well, fostered over the past few years.
The first instalment of Normflix invites viewers and fans to ask Norm Foster a question about his writing process, his early career or even something as off the wall as what his favourite food is. Looking at Norm Foster both the playwright and the person, you're being invited to send in your questions for Norm via video submission via Google Drive, Dropbox or WeTransfer.
The Festival asks you to keep one of these three themes in mind: The Early Years, Storytelling, and Order out of Chaos (How COVID has changed our world). With each episode of Normflix you'll be invited to watch Norm listen to your questions for the first time and answer on the spot and in the moment.
I'm not sure if Norm will be briefed on some of the questions beforehand or not, but either way knowing his comedic mind it should be a fun experience. Hopefully Norm will be comfortable being in the video hot seat during these sessions as well!
You can email your video submissions for Ask a Legend to the Festival directly at info@fosterfestival.com. The deadline for submissions is this Friday, June 19th.
These are a couple of great examples of the local arts community being incredibly resourceful in finding ways to reach out to their patrons in order to keep them engaged and in touch during a time of great upheaval in the community. There are others of course, but these two are certainly worthy of note this weekend.
In general, although things are not opening as quickly as some would like here in Niagara and the rest of the GTA, I am willing to wait it out and be ready when these areas graduate to Stage Two of the reopening process. Yes it is difficult and a hardship for many in the area, especially small business owners and especially those in the food service industry, but hopefully the second stage will begin for us sooner rather than later.
I personally will be keeping my distance as I have been all through this pandemic and only shopping when I have to, and of course patronizing our local restaurants for take out on a weekly basis as we have done from the beginning. I encourage everyone to do the same and slowly allow the recovery to take its course.
Have a great weekend and stay safe. Better days are ahead!
June 13th, 2020.
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