Artists are calling this current wave of the pandemic "Imagine Greater Louisville 2020," and the city's plan is to determine how their arts and culture sector can best serve the community without any live performances. As we enter the fifth month of a pandemic, that question has become harder and harder to answer.
Louisville's Arts and Cultural Alliance indicated that venues, organizations, and museums would lose around $1.3 million a day during a total shutdown. While musuems have been open with limited capacity since June, music venues and theatres have yet to reopen at all. Even if they were, most performers don't want to put themselves or their bands at risk.
To combat the lull of live performances and still provide a creative outlet, many bands have resorted to livestreams. Theatres are filming their performances and broadcasting them, and some productions will even be available as radio plays. While everyone would obviously prefer to see a performance live, Louisville and many other cities are getting creative with how to give their community entertainment.