In the Spring of 2020, Hannah co-conspired with colleagues Rachel Carrico and Dasha Chapman to launch ARTISTIMULUS as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent devastation experienced by artists in the field of dance. ARTISTIMULUS called on scholars of the performing arts to recuperate resources allotted for faculty research, educational programming, and curriculum development to engage and support the artists and culture bearers we work with, teach, and write about. Scholars participating in the project asked their institutions to revise the intended use of their research funds for Spring and Summer 2020. Instead of paying for airfare, hotel rooms, conference registrations, etc., those funds were paid out to artists in exchange for other kinds of research and pedagogical labor, such as virtual interviews, Zoom class visits, “tickets” for an entire class to attend a live-streamed performance, or other virtual options.
As written in “COVID-19 ARTISTIMULUS: Redirecting Research Funds for Artist Honoraria” on the Dance Studies Association website, "This call is in line with recent proclamations made throughout arts and design communities, urging gatekeepers to call upon artists right now to guide difficult conversations, and to compensate them for their much-needed expertise, supporting freelancers, service workers and gig economy folks. Despite the need to act fast in order to leverage funds before the end of the semester, ARTISTIMULUS foregrounded the call from dancer, social justice practitioner, and writer Michele Kumi Baer, who urged us to take the time to ask questions to deepen racial equity when making funding decisions in quick response to COVID-19.
At Hannah’s home institution, ARTISTIMULUS took the shape of a Digital Dance Lecture Series co-curated with Rebecca Fitton and Michelle Fletcher, asking invited guests:
“How are dance artists, collectives, curators, and administrators navigating the current shift in dance landscape? How are digital channels, remote partnerships, and app-able campaigns remapping collaborative networks while crowdsourcing an inspired collective ethos in response to the impact of COVID-19? What energies, synergies, and mutual aid efforts are indeed webbing wider or deeper in these strained circumstances? And what models of mutuality, of flexibility, resiliency, improvisation, and adaptability might we celebrate from these emergent dance strategies?
Unexpected results came quickly:
“In the first week, several attendees stayed on the Zoom call for an additional hour to talk candidly – about the impact of virus on their lives and also smile, laugh, catch up and in several cases, meet for the first time. As we moved forward, we opted to structure this crucial community hang time as a regular part of the series, programming a second hour of event as an opportunity for growing the Arts in NYC network through genuine exchange and expressions of care for one another.
– Hannah Schwadron, Associate Professor & FSU ARTS in NYC Director
Speakers were regularly asked “What advice would you give to recent grads entering the field during this time?” After additional positive feedback from students, three more sessions were planned in May to further the conversations on careers, equitable pay, sustainable working conditions and equity & justice in the field.
By including a wide range of networks attached to ARTS in NYC, the conversations support necessary community building. Identifying and fostering these new relationships will be a key component for students’ development in the field as novel systems of operation develop post-COVID and transferable skills are increasingly necessary to build sustainable arts careers.
ARTISTIMULUS Speakers
Organizing mutual-aid and prioritizing self-care
J. Bouey (JBouey.com), Dance Artist
Ethics in Cancellation, Gig Economy Realness, Getting What You Need and Sad Madonna Songs
Miguel Gutierrez (https://www.miguelgutierrez.org/), choreographer, composer, performer, singer, writer, educator, advocate and past FSU MANCC Resident Artist
Michelle Fletcher (https://www.michelleherenow.com/) (MFA Dance 2008), FSU ARTS in NYC teaching faculty, choreographer, director and artist manager
Balancing Freelance Careers
Donna Uchizono (https://dance.fsu.edu/donna-uchizono/), FSU Associate Professor, Bessie Award-winner, Artistic Director of Donna Uchizono Company
Angie Pittman (angiedpittman.com), Dancer, Dance maker, Educator
Molly Lieber, Dancer and Educator
Activism and Commercial Dance
Sunny Hitt (http://www.sunnyhitt.com), Assistant Choreographer for Virgin Voyages, the Off Broadway production of Soft Power and Co-Organizer of Social Disdance
COVID Hack for School-to-Work Transitions
Patch Schwadron, Career Counselor Supervisor, The Career Center of The Actors Fund (https://actorsfund.org/)
Fair Pay and Safe, Equitable, and Sustainable Working Conditions
David Gonsier, Alex Rodabaugh, Megan Wright and Antuan Byers, Volunteers on Dance Artists’ National Collective’s Steering Committee (https://danceartistsnationalcollective.org/)
#ArtistsAsNecessaryWorkers Campaign
Candace Thompson-Zachery, Manager of Justice, Equity and Inclusion Initiatives at Dance/NYC (https://www.dance.nyc/)
