As we move toward reopening, here's the question no one seems to be answering
With cinemas already turning into sports bars, how soon before theatres rip out seats to welcome floor hockey?
Hey, we all have our thing that we like to do. Photo by Jimmy Conover
The Rio marquee has changed dramatically with the times.
UM, WHAT ABOUT the arts?
That has been the question since BC’s provincial health officer announced this week that we could soon see “the return of sports and religious ceremonies”. Echoing earlier comments from authorities, Dr. Bonnie Henry added on Monday that her team was “working with religious leaders to bring back in-person worship.”
That’s fantastic news for jocks who can’t wait to see Antoine Roussel give Matthew Tkachuk the beating he so richly deserves the next time the Vancouver Canucks play the Calgary Flames. Others will no doubt rejoice at the thought of a Sunday-morning return to worshipping a higher power, as opposed to whipping up 11 am mimosas.
Meanwhile, it’s all-round bad news for those whose taste runs more to, say, Shakespearean comedies, Schubert lieder, butoh dance, or a Cagefest triple-bill of Wild At Heart, Face-Off, and the crapalicious Con Air.
So where are the performing arts and cinemas in the discussion? Don’t mistake the question for an argument for reopening—variants are on a genuinely chilling rise. This is about a little acknowledgement.
It would be more assuring if the arts got mentioned now and then in the B.C. government's COVID-19 press briefings. Something to give a nod to the fact 100,000-or-so people work in the cultural sector in the province, or to the 4 million or so who patronize their shows. Something like: “We know arts groups and arts lovers are waiting, but we’re still trying to work closely with industry leaders on the details of a safe way to open venues.” Instead, one gets the distinct impression, despite behind-the-scenes efforts from members of the cultural community, that reopening performances isn’t on the table. Or anywhere near it?
In fact, other than to extend the shutdown, the arts haven’t been specifically addressed in the province’s COVID press conferences since November. That’s when theatres and cinemas, which had been allowed to host 50 masked guests or less, were suddenly shuttered—some in the middle of runs. Since then, no one’s been able to attend a play or movie in person. We have been assured several times, meanwhile, that health officials have been in talks with sports groups and “faith leaders”.
Where are the arts journalists holding them to task, you might ask? It’s a question Rio Theatre activist Corinne Lea posed on Twitter this week: “Bonnie Henry just announced they’re opening churches and sports in the next couple of weeks. No mention of the arts! Can reporters please ask why the arts are always last on her list?”
Well, at Stir we've tried repeatedly to ask, but long electronic queues have so far made it impossible to get an answer from the streamed province-wide press conferences. We posed the question to the Minister of Tourism, Art, Culture, and Sport Melanie Mark and were told “I will continue to facilitate their requests to meet with health officials, and I have met with some theatres already to date. I have let them know we are taking an evidence-based approach and following the advice of public health officials.” Follow-up calls directly to Dr. Henry’s office have so far failed to elicit a statement. But we’ll try again tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the arts community can be forgiven for losing “faith”. At what point to do you just resign yourself to the fact that the face painters at BC Lions games—not that there’s anything wrong with that—have more pull than the dog-eared-program-toting indie-theatre crowd?
For some, it’s fair to say that the arts are a kind of religion. Or that for others, they’re at least as important to their health and well-being as fitness classes or pickup soccer.
BC spoken-word poet Shane Koyczan put that idea eloquently when we talked to him before an online show at the Chan Centre this week. “Talk about ironic: everybody’s leaning on the arts so heavily to get through this, whether that’s music or the shows they’re watching or the books they’re reading or the paintings that give them calm. And I believe art will play a big role in our mental health recovery. But it ends up on the sacrificial altar: it’s always the first thing that’s like, ‘Oh, well, we can hold off on that.’”
We’ve watched pubs, fitness centres, and restaurants reopen. You’re even allowed to let loose your inner Big Lebowski and hit the 10-pin lanes again (just remember to use COVID-protocol hand-sani on the ball before licking it like Jesus Quintana did). We’ve watched museums and galleries safely welcome visitors in small numbers. We’ve tried to figure out how the arts became classified as “events and social gatherings” instead of businesses.
Nobody’s asking to pack in people like it’s the opening weekend of Jaws in ‘75. But with strict protocols, new research from the Berlin Institute of Technology suggests the risk of COVID-19 transmission is far lower in museums and theatres than in supermarkets, restaurants, offices, or public transportation.
And still we wait (be kind, be calm) for the question to be answered.
How surreal are things getting? The rebels at the Rio Theatre can’t screen movies, but they’ve been allowed to reopen by screening NBA All-Star games and operating as a sports bar. What’s next? The Arts Club ripping out the seats to host floor hockey and community dodgeball? Revival meetings at the Firehall Arts Centre? Ultimate Fighting Championship cage matches at the Playhouse?
Amid what is becoming a kind of Beckettian theatre-of-the-absurd performance in itself, we continue to try to get an answer. In the meantime, there are always the mixed-martial-arts matches and faith healings to look forward to.
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