coronavirus pandemic

San Diego Artists Adapt to COVID-19 Closures

With movie, theatre and concert venues closed, some talented San Diegans are finding some creative new ways to entertain... safely.

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The marquees outside the Balboa and Civic theatres Downtown say it all, "The curtain will rise again."

Until then, local artists are finding creative new ways to put on a show - online.

The closure of our performing arts venues left many San Diegans out of work.

Some shows were canceled right before, or partway through their runs.

"There are thousands of San Diegans who have rehearsed hundreds of hours for performances that are not gonna be seen," said D. Candis Paule, president of the San Diego Performing Arts League.

With that in mind, the SDPAL created #safeshow.

Artists can post their work on social media and #safeshow to have their work shared on the SDPAL Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.

"The artist has done the work and is ready to shine. So, we hope that this gives the artists the opportunity to have their work be seen," Paule said.

The social media forum also allows the artists and the audience to connect.

β€œPeople can look at it and give a comment," Paule said. "It still creates empathy and it still creates the opportunity for communities to come together over something that can be positive.”

San Diego's filmmaking community has also taken a hit due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"We've all lost all the jobs that we had," said Mike Towe, co-owner of M2 Video Productions. "We've either got to create stuff or we're gonna go nuts."

To keep creative types like themselves creating, Towe, his wife Toni and some other local filmmakers started Pandemic Playhouse San Diego, a YouTube channel featuring "Crowdsourced The Movie."

"Kind of like the old party game, that I start a story and then hand it off to you, and then you take it and hand it off to somebody else," Towe said. 

Mike and Toni said they're curious to see where the story will go.

"We did our scene and put it up there, and now someone else is in control of it," Toni said.

They hope it will catch on and that people will have as much fun watching it as they have creating it.

"It fills that emptiness that's going on - not seeing people, not going out," Toni said.

β€œThere are many people out there who may be physically alone but we’re all together in this, just trying to find a way of making the best of it”, Paule said.

CORONAVIRUS IN SAN DIEGO COUNTY: What You Need to Know: Latest Developments | Resources | How to Help | What Has Reopened? | Photos: Coronavirus Impact in SD

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