Dallas Arts Month may be canceled for April because of the coronavirus, but we’re acknowledging it in our own way with a project called Art and the City.
We reached out to local artists of every kind — painters, poets, sculptors, actors, singers, dancers, artistic directors, musicians, filmmakers, photographers, writers, curators and even a star architect.
We asked them to tell us their stories, in their own words (or images, sketches, videos): How has your life changed since our world went “socially distant"? What work have you made recently, or ever, that feels especially meaningful to you right now and why? What are the distractions at home that are helping you get through this?
You’ll see established names you know. I hope you’ll also discover some new local artists who are emerging and trying to make their way in this difficult and unprecedented time. Compiling the responses this week has been joyous, devastating, humbling, thought-provoking and, most of all, inspiring. I am in awe of the fierce and diverse talent in our community. We hope you’ll enjoy these works, which can be found at the bottom of this story.
Which leads me to this point: Let’s support this talent.
I’ve heard comments in the midst of this crisis that maybe we should focus on helping “everyday” people with our dollars and attention. Well, I think Terry D. Loftis, president of The Arts Community Alliance, said it best to one of our reporters this week: “It’s not just the people who are on stage, it’s the people behind the stage. Because these organizations rely on programming, it’s a trickle-down effect. To say that everyday people need to be taken care of, and that doesn’t include the arts? I’m sorry, everyday people work in arts organizations.”
You’ll find our reporting on this topic and links to resources for local groups and foundations working to help artists at dallasnews.com/arts-entertainment.
So far for the Art and the City project, we have received more than 100 contributions, and we’ll be sharing them online (and many in print) throughout April. You can contribute to this project by emailing us at artslife@dallasnews.com or share your work online with the hashtag #DFWArtMatters.
We’ll also be spotlighting artist’s work along with breaking arts and culture news in our free Arts & Entertainment newsletter. Sign up at join.dallasnews.com/newsletter.
Finally, if you want to help support arts journalism at The Dallas Morning News, it’s easy: Please become a member.
— Christopher Wynn
Check out the latest from Arts and the City 2020 below:
Find the latest news on coronavirus from The Dallas Morning News here.
