Canadian Government Executive - Volume 26 - Issue 05

10 / Canadian Government Executive // November/December 2020 COVID-19 municipal governments, arts and cultural or- ganizations, economic development and com- munity groups, philanthropy, and the private sector, with support from federal and state levels of government, national philanthropy, and large corporations.” Brookings also notes that; “…technical support is also needed (espe- cially for smaller organizations) on how to conform with health and safety requirements as well as how to adapt their business models in light of a protracted period of restrictions on live performances”. Going local might be the only alterna- tive, just as domestic tourism has been encouraged to offset declines in interna- tional travel. “With reduced demand for large cultural events as a result of social distancing, there is an opportunity for communities to shift to locally sourced culture. Communities can develop strategies to hire local creatives and create online portals and platforms to allow residents and businesses to hire local artists, musicians, and performers for smaller-scale, local events.” Locally, I have recently been to a per- formance of our ballet company, with just 40 people in the audience. The hall was set up in cabaret style, limited to a “social bubble” of four at a table, and no table- hopping. Hand sanitizers decorated the cabaret tables along with a small bouquet. People were escorted into and out of the hall, with no mingling. The tickets includ- ed a generous donation, with a tax receipt, to the company. It is one way to survive for the time being and give young performers a chance. While performing arts faces particular challenges, the film industry, music, and publishing have been adapting to change brought on by digital technology for a number of years. COVID will accentuate those changes; for filmproduction, this will mean collapsing cinematic and streaming windows as the bricks and mortar cinema model faces new challenges; for music, it will mean fewer live shows (an important revenue earner) and more reliance on thin online revenues; for publishing it will mean continuing to find ways to preserve the value proposition of physical publica- tions. Greater reliance on digital platforms means greater susceptibility to digital pi- racy, and even greater efforts will have to be made to equip rights-holders with the means to combat piracy. Some elements of the cultural landscape will be changed permanently. There will likely be a shake-out when it comes to the- atre, dance, classical music groups, and artists, with the strongest surviving and others going out of existence. Some cre- ators will leave their professions to earn a living elsewhere. We will all be the poorer for this winnowing, although perhaps we will better appreciate the cultural entities and individual creators who survive. I have no crystal ball, so as we now struggle through the second wave of CO- VID it is hard to know how our world will be changed. It is unlikely that we will ever go back to the way things were pre-pandemic, but what the “new normal” will look like is still only emerging. In the meantime, let’s try to hold on to what we have, support and encourage our creative communities as best we can, and give thanks for the intangible yet essential nu- trition we get from our creative industries and cultural communities. This article was originally published on Nov 9, 2020 on Hugh Stephens Blog (https:// hughstephensblog.net ) and reprinted here by permission. Hugh Stephens has more than 35 years of government and business experience in the Asia-Pacific region. Based in Vic- toria, BC, Canada, he is currently Vice Chair of the Canadian Committee on Pa- cific Economic Cooperation (CANCPEC), Senior Fellow at the Asia Pacific Foun- dation of Canada, Executive Fellow at the School of Public Policy at the Uni- versity of Calgary, and an associate fac- ulty member in the School of Business at Royal Roads University, Victoria, BC. Before returning to Canada in Decem- ber 2009, he was Senior Vice President (Public Policy) for Asia-Pacific for Time Warner for almost a decade, located at the company’s regional headquarters in Hong Kong. In this capacity, he managed Time Warner’s public policy program in the Asia Pacific for Turner Broadcast- ing, HBO, Warner Bros, Time Inc., and AOL. You can gain more insights from Hugh by visiting his blog at https:// hughstephensblog.net. But getting people to pay for online content is a chal- lenge especially in a world of unlimited alternatives. If I am going to watch and listen to an online performance of, say, Mozart, why would I choose a local orchestra over the finest in the world, also available online?