I have often heard the arts defined by what they are not. They are not essential nor lucrative. One may survive their entire life without hearing a Shakespeare sonnet or a Muddy Water’s riff. But then we were confined to our homes, away from established routines and distant from in-person community. To make peace with daily uncertainty, we made art.
We wrote, composed, designed and invented. We performed and filmed and edited. We drew on sidewalks, cut shapes out of colored paper, built forts and painted windows. We told stories and listened to those of others. We sewed. We sang and danced and clapped and cheered.
No, it was not lucrative. Most of it is public domain. The value? Incalculable.
One of my creative writing teachers had a quote taped above his desk: “Remember, no one ever asked you to be a writer.” It was his way of reinforcing the fact that to make a living by creating art, “Ya gotta want it.” The art produced in last few months met a need. No one was asked to encourage, to show vulnerability, to empathize nor to produce a tiny moment of beauty when so many things were beyond our control. Not only was it wanted, it was essential.
Nita K. Ritzke
22 May, 2020
You can see more of these stories at https://news.prairiepublic.org/programs/little-stories or you can go the North Dakota Council On The Arts website, https://www.arts.nd.gov/.
This project is supported in part by a grant from the North Dakota Council On The Arts which receives funding from the state legislature and the National Endowment For The Arts. I'm Bill Thomas.
See the Smithsonian Institution’s feature of this project,
https://folklife.si.edu/magazine/crisis-cultural-sustainability-north-dakota-covid