Webinar Recap: Turning The Page - Envisioning a Thriving Post-Pandemic Arts Journalism Landscape
April 8
On April 8th, Advisory Board for the Arts was thrilled to partner with The Wallis for the latest installment of their “Center Stage @ The Wallis” conversation series. During this engaging webinar, ABA’s Founder and CEO Christopher Denby let a discussion on the present and future of the arts and the pandemic with an esteemed panel of arts journalists, including:
Philip Kennicott, art & architecture critic at The Washington Post
Carolina A. Miranda, columnist at The Los Angeles Times
Alex Ross, music critic at The New Yorker
Cameron Shaw, executive director of the California African American Museum
Here we will be recapping this insightful webinar, with a video replay below.
Reflections on the Pandemic
Chris began the conversation with a look back over the past year, asking participants to describe what surprised them about how the arts world reacted to the pandemic.
For Carolina, the events of the past year emphasized the fragility of the financial scaffolding at many arts organizations. Seeing immediate layoffs, and now the potential of selling collections -- even at some of the largest institutions -- brought to the fore the industry’s need to innovate new funding models. Moving forward, she will be thinking a lot about financial architectures that will offer a more sustaining framework for museums and other arts organizations.
Philip was struck by the resiliency of the arts during this extremely challenging time. For him, the surprise was a positive one -- at the very start of the pandemic, he was unsure whether or not there would be an arts world left when we came out on the other side. A year later, there has been loss and damage, but fortunately the arts are still here. He has found inspiring the ingenuity of artists as they work through this difficult period.
Building off of Philip’s hopefulness and Carolina’s focus on funding models, Cameron shared how optimistic she has been about the number of conversations she has been having with individuals across the field around the deeper purpose of their work. From philanthropists thinking about how to be more targeted in their giving, curators focusing on building relationships centered around care, to artists talking about the urgency of bringing revolutionary ideas to the world and leaders working to make institutions safer for audiences, there are a lot of positive movements to be built out of this moment.
Finally, Alex highlighted the disappointing differences between the governmental response in the United States versus that of other countries, noting how artists here did not receive the same safety net and support system as their counterparts in Europe and elsewhere. “It’s a tragedy that needs to be recognized,” he insisted to the agreement of the panel.
A Key Moment for Art and Politics
Continuing off of Alex’s statements, the conversation turned to this stark difference in the role of art in society across different parts of the world -- especially at the government level. As Alex explained, there has been a difficult history in the United States regarding federal support for the arts. Despite several attempts over the years, we have not been able to develop an enduring system. That said, he sees the current moment as a potential breakthrough in turning the tides and an opportunity to reignite thinking around a new vision.
Philip’s role as a critic at the Washington Post puts him in a position to watch federal arts issues closely. He agreed that the argument at the government level has been a challenging one, but also emphasized that the pandemic “seems to have changed hearts and minds at a wider level,” with previously casual audiences developing a deeper relationship to different art forms. He has hope that we may come out of this with a broader sense that arts are necessary -- a promising place to start building a political argument.
Carolina followed by highlighting the importance of “getting people to think of arts workers as workers.” The effects of the pandemic on labor movements have been particularly noteworthy to her, and she thinks there is great potential in switching the debate around what art is and the language we use to make arts workers a relevant part of the workforce. Two years ago, she explained, no one was writing about museum guards the way they are now. This is a pivotal moment in framing the discussion.
Cameron shared her experience stepping into a leadership role at the first fully state supported museum of Black history and culture, and the privilege she felt to have such stability relative to her other museum peers. For her, this is the next stage of work and advocacy, thinking about what happens when arts workers are state workers and have those same rights and collective bargaining power.
Changes in Arts Journalism
Next, the panel dove into the topic of their own field: arts journalism. Chris shared an audience question about how the past year has affected the work of journalists, changed beats, and altered what they plan to cover as we work towards recovery.
Philip felt first and foremost extremely fortunate to be able to continue to do the work he loves, knowing that so many journalists lost their jobs during the pandemic. He also expressed gratitude for the space he has now found to write about stories he has always been interested in but did not have the time to report. Specifically, he has been able to cover the impact of the pandemic on artists, the work artists have done with dementia patients, and the artwork of incarcerated individuals. He feels that this time has helped the arts journalism world rethink its priorities in the stories it covers, and he hopes this change will be permanent.
Carolina agreed wholeheartedly, sharing that she has had just as much work as before the arts industry shut down. In particular, much of her writing has focused on labor stories, especially in the areas of diversity and inclusion (reckonings of the past year that have also entered the journalism space). She also has found that her work as a columnist of architecture has taken on even more relevance, with burning issues of housing and what it means to be in a social space came to the fore. Cameron also added the importance of noting how inextricably linked the pandemic is to the reverberation of the Movement for Black Lives.
She went on to share how arts journalism had a new, unique impact on her work as a curator during the pandemic. Specifically, Cameron highlighted the example of an exhibition she made that no one was able to come see in person, but in which journalists found new layers of meaning due to the fact that the art was being showcased virtually.
Finally, Alex noted that while it was challenging to write without the typical cycle of new performances, this period allowed him to broaden the scope of what he does and look away from big institutions. While he admitted he has misgivings about the internet and its domination over the world we live in, he was also grateful for the opportunity to sample amazing streams from all over the world. Going forward he hopes to continue writing about streaming music more and balancing the sustainability of his own work by not traveling as much.
The Future of Arts Criticism
A question about the trend of fewer arts critics and writers led to a variety of interesting perspectives from our panelists. Carolina pointed out that inequitable structures in many media companies have led to a recent wave of unionizations in the industry. Part of this instability, she explained, comes from the financial challenges legacy media still faces as it continues to emerge from the internet. At the Los Angeles Times, Carolina and her colleagues have focused on being indispensable to their communities in a way that makes them necessary for living in town. They have also seen that their most loyal readers are interested in the arts, which are primarily local experiences.
Philip had been considering the opposite: the potential to internationalize arts. As he noted, the pandemic has given us the freedom (and necessity) to review anything, anywhere since it is all streaming and equally intangible. Not covering what’s in our backyard, however, could risk local arts institutions feeling that they are losing attention. Alex added another shift he has seen in arts writing, which is the increase in issue driven, politically focused coverage. While this type of journalism is important, he wondered if there is now less interest in writing about new work on its own terms.
Cameron brought the conversation to the potential for partnerships between organizations and small or midsize media outlets to help them survive. Several panelists shared examples of educational or non-profit institutions forging relationships with local newspapers in which art and architecture critic positions are funded. The pandemic could be an opportunity for even larger outlets to consider similar structures.
Pandemic-Era Arts & Architecture
When asked about some of the creative pieces of art they have encountered over the past year, our panelists shared several fascinating discoveries, including:
A retelling of Hamlet through puppets by Chilean artist Francisco Reyes, via REDCAT Theatre
An interactive listening event with artist vanessa german, hosted by the Ford Foundation Gallery
A modern “FaceTime” interpretation of Wagner’s Das Rheingold by artists Jamie Barton, Ryan McKinny, and Kathleen Kelly
There were many innovations during this time on the side of architecture as well. Philip was struck by the more pragmatic trend in the field of making buildings livable and safe without a cost to the environment. He has heard a “sense of urgency” from new graduates of architecture school to prioritize housing and healthcare over new high rises.
Carolina agreed, sharing that the pandemic has brought forward a renewed interest in public housing, social housing, and architectural solutions for the poor and homeless. She also noted the movement away from “starchitecture,” which has historically favored a “lone male genius” figure, and towards the more collective elements of the work. These trends have led her to rethink the way she covers architecture as a journalist and tells stories in this field without falling into long held tropes.
Art After COVID: What Will Remain?
To close the conversation, Chris asked the panel to share their thoughts on what art will look like after the pandemic. Do they anticipate that what we have been through will fuel a lot of art that is thematic to this period? Or do they feel as though people are going to be so tired of this that we will want to move more into a fantasy world to take us away?
Alex acknowledged that there is uncertainty around whether audiences will want to be comforted by the familiar or continue to be confronted with work that addresses more complex issues; however, he believes that people will be so eager to be back in a hall with live performances that they will buy a ticket to anything. It will be an ideal time for experimentation.
Carolina remarked on the fact that there was not much of a visual or literal record of the 1918 pandemic. She wondered if we will see a similar phenomenon this time, as much of the experience of COVID has been abstract, with people in their houses and interacting in a more mediated way. She did believe that changes at the institutional level, specifically around new ways of communicating and showcasing work digitally, will not be abandoned post-pandemic.
For Cameron, the pandemic was a time that she felt taught us much about boundaries, which she plans to maintain moving forward -- she hopes not to go back to a pace that felt unhealthy. At the same time, she feels that there is an important conversation of care that must be carried forward, especially with artists and the networks that have been so crucial for them during this difficult time.
Finally, Philip shared that, while he has no way of knowing the kind of art that will come out of this, he will be keeping an eye on memorials and public art that grapples with immediate loss. He understands that even if we get the pandemic under control, there has been an exposure of dysfunction of the government that people -- and artists -- will be working through.