URI_Research_Magazine_Momentum_Fall_2020_Melissa-McCarthy

Throughout these trying times, the arts remain a vital, irreplaceable anchor — a means of comfort, escape, and discovery, and a reflection of what it means to be human.

LESSONS LEARNED 1. The lockdown isolation of the pandemic has led to rediscovering the place for the arts, to provide as solace and healing. Social media has been enlivened with families pulling out instruments and rediscovering the joy of harmony in song, in poetry readings, and in storytelling. 2. When Winston Churchill was asked to cut funding to the arts in order to support the war effort in World War II, he allegedly responded “Then what would we be fighting for?” Whether or not this should be ascribed to him matters less than the fact that he frequently spoke to the need to keep England’s artistic treasures close at hand as central to the heart of any civilization. 3. Galleries and theaters that have pivoted lectures, shows and sales to the virtual world see enduring value in enhancing their online presence, beyond the current crisis. These web-based programs, that accompany physical exhibitions for instance, may open up new audiences both nationally and around the world.

Michael Rose Gallery Manager Providence Art Club

FALL | 2020 Page 47