'We're decimated': The future of arts and culture in Cayuga County | Local News | auburnpub.com

The center's Bob Piorun and his happy carol band exuded the cheers of the music festival in downtown Auburn on Sunday. From the left of the picture are Susan Schell, Robin Munn, Anita Piorun, Bob Piorun, Lauren Barrigar, Bernie McNabb and Julie Howard.

I edited the "Characteristics of the Citizen" section ("Life on the Lake") and the weekly entertainment guide "Go". Since 2006, I have also been writing articles for The Citizen and auburnpub.com, covering art and culture, business, food and beverages, etc.

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COVID-19 has affected almost every aspect of life, but few people are threatened as severely as art and culture.

From film and music to drama and dance, most creative work was paralyzed nine months ago, and, even beyond count, people cannot gather as they did before the pandemic.

Cayuga County is no exception. This summer marks the first time in decades

At the Carousel Theater

In Hoopes Park,

In multiplexing. Therefore, the citizens got in touch with several figures in the local arts and culture field and asked them where they stand after 2020-what they need to do and the efforts they cherish to recover in 2021 and beyond.

Angela Daddabbo is a figure who saw almost all the destruction of art and culture caused by COVID-19.

Since March, the artistic director of Auburn Public Theatre has been unable to book any musicians, comedians, art troupes and other performers who previously recorded regularly.

She told Citizen: "We were killed." "We have pulled the carpet out of us."

The downtown theater has been busy on Facebook Live, hosting similar events 

 with 

Can be streamed to a wider audience than ever before.

As the COVID-19 pandemic is devastating everyone, these two anchor points in downtown Auburn are in parallel.

But there are no tickets for the audience to purchase. Daddabbo said the theater had to be separated from three of the six full-time employees due to no income. She, Executive Director Carey Eidel and Operations Director Janie MicGlire only receive 50% of their salary. They only need to pay for foundation support and public donations.

At least, the theater didn't have them until August. of

Daddabbo said that the turnover of Café 108 that month was a "gift of heaven" because nearby for-profit companies paid rent and donated their income to non-profit theaters. Sometimes, she wants a sign on the counter to tell customers that every coffee or breakfast sandwich they buy preserves local art and culture.

Dadabo said jokingly. But she does worry that not enough people understand that the epidemic has endangered the livelihoods of many people. Art and culture are one of the most important parts of daily life

, She pointed out that if it does not take several years, it will not be able to fully reopen after a few months. Until the $900 billion COVID-19 plan, it did not receive targeted relief.

 Appropriated by Congress on Sunday, under the "Save Our Stage Act", $15 billion was allocated for arts and cultural venues. Thanks for your help, but Daddabbo finds the lack of urgency frustrating.

She said: "When it is vital that we dedicate our lives to the work we do, the hardest part for me is to be considered unnecessary."

"It fascinates me to say that a society that can continue to develop without us."

This week, the Auburn Public Theater mailed its annual appeal. Daddabbo hopes that these feedbacks will show that people understand the severity of the situation facing culture and art since 2021. However, organizations like her have a responsibility to raise awareness of critical situations. This is why the theater included a message from an Auburn family in the letter to express their gratitude to the city for the creative life it has given to the city. Daddabbo maintains a folder of similar information, which she believes shows that her, her employees and the work of the board are vital.

As the COVID-19 vaccine progresses, Daddabbo hopes that the theater will begin to return to normal during the September opening season. But even then, the days when the seats and stage are crowded may be far away. She predicts that virtual events will also remain quite common, as part of what she calls the "reimagining" epidemic imposed on the world.

She smiled and said, "I'm not sure how many individual performances we can tolerate before the end."

However, Dadapo will be happy to make persistent efforts again on the stage of Auburn Public Theater. In the past nine months, her thoughts have been with the theater itself.

Video of Citizen Kevin Rivoli (Kevin Rivoli)

Among the locals who lost their ability to earn a living during the pandemic are

. 

Last December, Auburn's longtime musician played 20 performances, including his regular performances at downtown restaurants Osteria Salina and Next Chapter Brewpub. However, this month, Piorun did not go anywhere to play. In the state’s 50% indoor capacity rule 

Live music is nothing more than "accidental", and the local concert scene is almost silent. 

Piorun’s job teaching disabled people at Mozaic Hospital has also disappeared 

, He told "Citizen" and all the students he had taught at his Kramer Street home.

Pioren used his free time. He spent the summer recording 

 Original song inspired by Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin'On". On Sunday, he led several other local musicians to perform carols outside the Auburn Public Theater. He will perform at the Cayuga County Arts Council 

 As part of its artist relief fund later this week.

Piorun was 73 years old and has reached the point of his life. Losing his job suffers less damage than before. But he cares about young musicians. He believes that the audience will be too paranoid about years of concerts, and if there is no ticket and merchandise revenue, the chain reaction of the industry may be shocking. He also doesn't think technology can solve the problem. Just as the Internet caused record sales to plummet in the early 2000s and forced artists to rely more on performances in the first place, free records on Facebook Live may once again restrict people from paying for sounds they listen to.

Even if "accidental" music like Pioren's eclectic music in Osteria Salina survives, he goes on to say that they will be the exception, not the rule.

He said: "Live music will never be the same. I have played for 56 years and have had a good time in this regard, but I don't think it will continue." "I'm glad I licked it."

Piorun expects that music education will face the same challenges. He said that, for example, 50 children singing or bragging together in the school hall will not happen soon. But he is as skeptical of guiding virtualization as it is for concerts. The lag of platforms like Zoom makes them unfriendly to music courses, and their versatility will crowd out local teachers who now have to compete with teachers around the world. There is also no app that can replicate the feeling of sharing a room with students and instructing them in close proximity.

The coronavirus pandemic has created two futures for movie theaters. One of them is the most unlikely new starting point. In another? Maybe…

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Hollywood has been

As many theaters are

And the audience does not want to return to the audience that is still open. In New York, the indoor theater runs from March to

, And the screen currently can only hold 25% or 50 people. Drive into the green light

From May.

As a result, due to the relative safety of the family, more and more movies are premiered on streaming platforms. However, as a case of COVID-19, this growth peaked in early December

 Warner Bros. (Warner Bros) hit a record high with box office revenue.

"Wonder Woman 1984" on Christmas Day and all of the studio's 2021 singles-"The Matrix 4", "Dune", "Suicide Squad", etc., will be broadcast on HBO Max on theater day. The announcement is 

 It was called "the day the theater died" by an industry analyst.

Jason Yantz, owner of Auburn Movieplex 10, is not satisfied. He told Citizen magazine that although he can only order in the living room, he can only wait to see how those movies perform in him and other theaters. In any case, he hopes that Warner Bros. and the Warner Film Studios follow suit to consider such a date and date in order to release a temporary response to the disaster situation and return to normal as soon as feasible. 

Youngz said: "Over time, all film studios are losing money." "So, they choose to show movies in people's homes is their current way of trying to survive."

But Yangz has also been trying to survive.

He and his brother Jeff own Movieplex and three other regional theaters through Rochester Theatre Management,

Private performances that can accommodate up to 20 people.

The owner, Randy Currier, told Citizen at the time that they were the Track Cinemas owned by the Fingerlakes shopping mall's family because it tried to restore the 70% box office that fell before September this year.

Private screenings can be used for new movies, but Yantz said that this option is most successful during older holidays such as "Elf" and "The Polar Express."

That may be because these movies, such as the smell of popcorn and the noise of the lobby of the theater itself, brought nostalgia to family and friends.

Yangz said: "People still want to watch movies on the big screens in theaters."

Rev Theatre Co. is currently broadcasting a musical about Buddy Holly, and is one of several art organizations that demand government action.

Another form of art and culture that can be more fully experienced from the auditorium seat is the theater. Although The Rev Theatre Co. in Auburn has been virtualized,

Buddy Holly musical "Buddy", September, production art director

In a statement to Citizen, his organization will always regard live performances as the most important form.

He said: "We must not forget that our professionalism, focus and enthusiasm are completely rooted in live theater performances. Live performing arts must be respected and preserved to make them a long-standing, highly professional and critical art form." "We are committed to this. The idea and this work cannot wait to reactivate our stage and venue to celebrate the shared experience of the theater."

Priest

 According to Smock's speech at a public hearing in the city, due to COVID-19, its revenue from the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse for the 2020 season as of May was $1.8 million. His 21 employees include several employees in the company’s education department, 

Its operations have also been disrupted by the pandemic, especially the rise of distance education. For them, the world-class performers hired by the company, and the Cayuga County enterprise that is booming in the tourism industry, Smock hopes that its house will be cleaned up soon.

He said: "I do think we will meet again in the theater, but it will take time, confidence in vaccines and the efforts of artistic organizations to communicate their health and safety plans."

"I do think art will recover."

Although The Rev will return to the stage after the pandemic, Smock hopes to retain at least some of the audience that the company has virtual contacts for the first time. 

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Cayuga County’s stages, galleries and other places where culture and art take place are currently closed. cloth…

That is

Executive director Kirsten Wise told Citizen magazine that Auburn University will be on vacation in the winter to figure out what to do.

She said that, ironically, the museum spent the winter vacation last year and figured out how to make the exhibits more dynamic. The result

It was only open for a week when COVID-19 arrived.

museum

However, a series of interactive online programs are launched every week to keep in touch with existing customers and attract new customers. The door opened, it didn't stop. The series continues. Last month, the museum opened a YouTube channel and took a virtual tour of it

. In turn, it welcomed nearly 10,000 new website users and 12% of social media followers this year. Wise said some of them live far away from Auburn, but some have never visited their community museum briefly.

The museum still suffered financial losses in five months, with no entrance fees or rent

, Continue wisely. But she was very relieved to see the support from the community.

She said: "In the final analysis, having excellent memberships, different funders and people who step up to help when needed are better for our long-term sustainability."

"Is it enough to keep us open for a long time? Not necessarily. But I feel good about it."

People engaged in arts and cultural activities in Cayuga County are also satisfied with the support they have received, including the upcoming "Save Our Stage". Whether this support is sufficient to recover from disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic remains to be seen. But, like Dadabo and her "great reimagining," Wise agreed that the art and culture they knew might have changed forever.

She said: "This has a collective impact on everything we do." "As a person who runs an art and cultural institution, I think we absolutely must look at everything differently."

according to

This summer, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the arts and cultural organizations in downtown New York are expected to lose at least $15 million by the end of September.

In response, the three central foundations in New York launched a total of US$175,000 in challenging grants to support the efforts of the CNY Art Company to raise US$1 million for the fund, which will provide emergency support to the arts in the region.

The New York Central Community Foundation, the Dorothy and Marshall M. Riesman Foundation, and the John Ben Snow Foundation will raise a maximum of $175,000 for every dollar raised. The first $75,000 donation must be stamped before December 31, or made online at the following website

. CNY Arts said in a press release that funds will quickly be transferred to support artists and organizations in need in Cayoga, Cortland, Herkimer, Madison, Oneida, Onondaga and Oswego counties.

"This crisis has had an extremely serious impact on the livelihoods of our artists and organizations. Without support, many people will be permanently closed in the next few months," said Stephen Butler, executive director of CNY Arts ( Stephen Butler) said. "This is an urgent need. For us, to unlock the initial $75,000, we need the entire region to unite in the art event and make a donation today so that we can prevent this closure."

For more information, please visit

.

In May, employees and contractors stood at Café 108 in the Auburn Public Theater on Auburn Genesee Street. On the front left are Hans Vogt of Longlakes Carpentry, Charlie Mills of RT Painting and Restoration Company, Joel Wheeler of Capstone Contracting Group, Don Ward of Bouley Associates and Brian Anderson of GAC 7. From left to right are chef and consultant Chris Kuhns, Bianco Plumbing's cafe manager Melissa Panek, Mike Ames, Saxton Electric's Rich Picciano, Bianco's Pete Hlwya and Gerharz Equipment's Greg Rhoad. From the left behind are the theater executive director Carey Eidel, artistic director Angela Daddabbo, Simple Roast Coffee Co. owner Matt Matt Peirson and theater board member Janie Micglire.

Cafe 108 in the Auburn Public Theater.

The appearance of Cafe 108 at Auburn Public Theater.

The newly renovated stage right space of the Auburn Public Theater.

The kitchen of Cafe 108, Auburn Public Theater.

The renovation of the outer wall of the Auburn Public Theater was carried out in January.

Renovation will take place in the Auburn Public Theater in January.

A new concession bar in the right space of the Auburn Public Theater stage.

A new entrance ramp near the entrance of Exchange Street leads to the Auburn Public Theater.

The new sound studio in the right space of the stage of the Auburn Public Theater.

The renovation took place in the basement of the Auburn Public Theater in January.

The renovation will take place in the Auburn Public Theater on Thursday.

The Cayuga History & Art Museum in Auburn opened in the 2020 season, and a new exhibition called "Exploring Your History: Collection of Nine Decades" was held on the second floor of the museum.

The Cayuga Museum of History and Art in Auburn opened in March for its 2020 season. Its new exhibition titled "Exploring Your History: Nine Decades of Collecting History" is located on the first floor of the museum. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the museum had to be closed in the second half of the month.

The Cayuga History & Art Museum (Cayuga History & Art Museum) in Auburn is on the second floor of its museum. It will open in 2020, and a new exhibition "Golden Threads and Steel Threads: Dialects in Slave Narratives" is held on the second floor of the museum. .

You can call (315) 282-2245 to contact Lake Life editor David Wilcox, or

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