For nearly three months, we have watched live-streamed music performances, seen a zillion movies and TV shows on streaming services, taken work meetings and connected with old friends over Zoom.
It has been nice to still find ways to be connected digitally while the coronavirus pandemic has kept us physically separated.
But it also leaves us all craving something more.
Goodyear Arts is doing its best to provide an actual in-person arts event this weekend with “Joyride.” Located at Camp North End, cars will drive on a preset path to six different installations. They’ll pause to experience the art – everything from music to dance to poetry – before cruising to the next exhibit.
It is, essentially, a drive-thru arts exhibit.
The idea came when the arts collective’s original spring fundraiser was canceled (because of COVID-19, of course).
“By the time we really started conceptualizing what we wanted to do, it had already been probably six weeks of being in lockdown,” said Amy Herman, co-founder and co-director of Goodyear Arts. “And we were all sort of already experiencing fatigue from experiencing everything virtually. What we all sort of were craving was an opportunity to leave the house in a really safe way and see or experience something in real life.”
The event originally was scheduled for one night, 50 cars. When tickets sold out within a couple weeks, however, Goodyear Arts added a second night. That sold out within a few days. (A waitlist is still available with a donation, if you want to hope that someone cancels.)
People are craving a way to have some kind of connection – even if it’s from six feet away.
“What really stood out is that the car sort of can act as an isolation bubble in a way,” Herman said.
It’s not only something art patrons have been wanting, but it’s something artists have been longing for, as well. Participating artists include: JM Askew and Casey Malone, Amy Bagwell, Renee Cloud, de’Angelo Dia, Ghost Trees, Eric Mullis and Joy Davis, Matt Steele and Ben Geller, and XOXO.
“It's so nice to have something to work toward when all of your performances on your schedule has been completely cleared,” Herman said. “It's sometimes hard to keep up the work because you just don't have a goal. So, a lot of what we've been hearing is just that it's so great to have something to look forward to, to work toward and to make new work for.”
It has all been so uniformly popular that if all goes well this weekend, another Goodyear Arts drive-thru event could be planned for later this summer.
Because we all still need some sort of human connection right now.
This story originally appeared in WFAE's weekly arts and entertainment email newsletter, Tapestry. Subscribe here.
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