Introduction

The coronavirus pandemic has changed everything we assumed about the world. Everything that once seemed impossible to ask for in terms of public policy is now possible, including rent suspension, eviction moratoriums, and universal basic income. But, as the protests over the summer showed us, the pandemic also has also exacerbated and compounded the issues we already knew to be true, such as economic inequities, healthcare disparities, and more.

When we think about public policy during the pandemic, there are very real, necessary things that everyone needs. Beyond basic pandemic responses such as universal testing, mandatory lockdowns, contract tracing, and more, we need real fundamental policy changes that make sure that people can actually afford to stay at home.

In all of these myriad issues, we see that Black and brown communities have been hit the hardest. The Black community has the highest rates of Covid of any other demographic. Black and brown Americans are also more likely to be essential workers like grocery store workers, bank tellers, or meatpacking workers—whose workplaces have been cited as some of the worst hotbeds for the disease in this country.

These are basic necessities that we as a society need from our policymakers to make sure that our communities are safe, healthy, and vibrant. We have always been a resilient species, and in uncertain times like these, one of humanity’s surefire coping mechanisms, even when we don’t always have basic needs met, has been to turn to the arts. Yet, in our current situation, access to the arts, much like access to education, requires a reliable internet connection and a computer running sufficient software.

This project, published in two parts, evaluates racial equity through the lens of the arts sector during the Covid-19 pandemic by asking the questions: who has access to the arts and, fundamentally, what does access look like? The three main research questions that I will be addressing are:

• Who is making use of the new technology wave in the arts?

• What has funding for the arts looked like during the Covid-19 pandemic?

• What city-level policies (municipal WiFi, etc.) help access to the arts, and has that changed through the pandemic?

This article and its follow-up will delve into those three questions to different extents.

State of the Arts Industry

As we know, the arts industry has been shifting in response to the pandemic. This has necessitated that the arts industry think very hard about how to define itself. It has also been thinking about how to continue to make sure that content is as accessible as it can be, and while many changes can happen within the industry, policy makers also have a role here.

The arts industry as a whole has shifted the way it distributes content during this pandemic, and we’ve seen a varied response: Hamilton was released on Disney+, zoos shared fun walkthroughs of the grounds with penguins, and some entertainers organized in-person, socially-distanced live concerts. Most of these approaches rely on technology to some degree.

Reliance on Technology

During a global pandemic in which we’re all social distancing from one another, access—whether we’re thinking about access to grocery delivery apps, access to online classes, or access to new books and movies—necessitates access to technology.

At the very basic level, people need internet access in order to access this new content from arts organizations. Internet access, however, isn’t universal. In 2019, there were approximately 21.3 million people in the United States, predominantly in remote, rural, and indigenous communities, without easy access to the internet, whether through WiFi or data. Across the U.S., there is a limited number of large internet servicer providers (ISPs), and in many places, consumers have no choice in provider because there’s only Comcast in the area, for example. This has created a stranglehold on internet service in this country and zero incentive for these companies to provide good service. So, in places where there is internet, the service can be slow and unreliable. Disparities in internet access have only gotten worse with the pandemic, especially since places that people could go to in order to access the internet, such as libraries, schools, or coffeeshops, are now closed or unsafe to enter.

ISPs having a quasi-monopolistic stranglehold over their domain has led to another issue: because providers have almost no competition, they can limit internet speeds in order to pressure customers to pay more for the same service or charge more for access to certain sites. An Obama-era ruling around net neutrality prevented this, but in 2017, Ajit Pai at the FCC reversed that, which leaves the door wide open for ISPs to do exactly this. A U.S. Court of Appeals largely upheld the reversal, but also sent it back to the agency to rethink it, so time will tell on how this continues, especially when a global pandemic reminds us that the internet should be treated like a public utility.

Even as live events return for the arts, technology still plays a huge role in access to help limit contact. No-contact ticketing, for example, requires WiFi or data, a smartphone, and a bank account that you can connect to the ticketing app. Patrons also need to get to the venue. With public transportation being risky for Covid-19 transmission, this usually requires a car. Virtual queuing also means that attendees need to have somewhere to go while waiting for the venue to open.

Policy makers have a role to play here, especially local policy makers: municipal WiFi, as hard as it can be to get off the ground, is one of the answers to creating free and fast internet that everyone can use. Several cities have implemented this—such as St.Cloud, Florida, and Sunnyvale, California—and even more cities—including NYC and Pittsburgh—have a version of a free WiFi network, at least in high traffic areas like downtowns. There are, of course, a lot of other issues to think about here, especially regarding network maintenance, data privacy and encryption, and upkeep by local municipalities, already strapped for cash and manpower. But it is still a really important start when thinking about how public policy can help equity at large—specifically in the arts sector right now.

Arts Funding

The arts used to be one of the largest driving forces of the economy. In 2018 alone, the arts contributed $730 billion back to the economy. That translates to every $1 invested into the NEA being equivalent to $9 into the economy. Very few other industries have that kind of ratio. A lot of the economic revenue generation happens during these waiting times before a live show or event or after the show is over at restaurants, bars, or other arts events. At least in Pittsburgh, one of the main reasons that people tend to go downtown and enjoy the food and drink scene is when they’re already there for either a sports event or arts show, but the pandemic prevents most of these activities.

The arts are not earning or generating as much revenue as they did pre-pandemic. This emphasizes a question that was present before March 2020: where does the money for the arts come from, and who can afford to pay for the arts?

In many cases, the performing arts have relied on streaming to release their content, such as when “Hamilton” was released on Disney+ and when production companies have released movies directly onto streaming services. These services, however, cost money—money that a lot of folks don’t have in normal times, much less during a pandemic. Part of the onus in fixing these accessibility issues is on the arts industry itself.

The Unsung Majority, which is a detailed study from 2015 on smaller, relatively young arts organizations in Pittsburgh, says there’s evidence that Black-led organizations are more likely to be underfunded than white organizations of the same size, and they’re more likely to use “sweat equity” than other institutions. It also found that foundations, especially in Pittsburgh, are the leading connectors of arts organizations in the city, which implies they have a large scope of influence.

There is also some anecdotal evidence that when funding is distributed equitably, minority-led organizations use that funding to better their communities through not just arts programming, but also by making sure folks have access to the arts. But, that still requires funding for the arts in general, and that is a public policy issue as well as an industry issue. Public funding for the arts has been dwindling for decades, and it has been culminating in what feels like an attack on the arts for years. Especially in places without many private foundations, such as West Virginia, federal grants are essential to keeping the industry alive. This has traditionally been coming from the National Endowment for the Arts, and now also comes in the form of Paycheck Protection Programs.

Conclusion

The pandemic has caused the arts sector to rethink its position in the public policy landscape as inequities and the importance of public funding for the arts are made clear. The adaptations that the pandemic has forced arts organizations to make—focusing on providing online content, requiring a smart phone for ticketing, etc.—have inadvertently impacted who can participate while large, in-person gatherings are still unsafe. With these issues in mind, part two of this research will look at which factors impact arts vibrancy at the county level and how that overlaps with demographics in a case study of Pennsylvania.

Additional Resources

Aridi, Sara. “Helping Artists and Social Services Survive the Crisis.” The New York Times, The New York Times, April 30, 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/neediest-cases/new-york-community-trust-artists-and-social-services-coronavirus.html.

Gannon, Joyce. “Smaller Pittsburgh-Area Foundations Target Minorities, Mental Health Issues with COVID-19 Relief Funds.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, May 1, 2020, www.post-gazette.com/business/pittsburgh-company-news/2020/05/01/Foundations-COVID-19-minorities-mental-health-social-justice-emergency-funds/stories/202005010123.

Nelson, Susan, Rachel Crocker Ford, and Nathalie Woolworth. The Unsung Majority: An Exploratory Study of Small and Mid-Sized Arts Organizations. TDC, March 5, 2015. http://tdcorp.org/2015/03/the-unsung-majority/.