Rolling Stone: Todd Mayo says it was like finding buried treasure when he started The Caverns. Mayo was spelunking, excavating a cave on a plot of land he’d purchased — when he realized that the scenic space in Pelham, Tennessee could be an impressive outdoor music venue. Since its founding in 2018, The Caverns has hosted shows for the likes of The Flaming lips, Los Lobos and Steve Earle.
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I think this fear is something that is rippling throughout all of the arts industry. Because we have found ways to compromise in doing our craft safely and in person in the summer, the idea of cold weather coming in and inhibiting our craft is an end to this new form of financial flow. The drive in model is a good fix for audience members to be protected from the elements, but then comes in the concern of keeping artists and audiences safe from the same weather and forces of nature (as the article mentions). This is where all the thoughts of streaming and virtual performance comes in, but logistically it doesn’t help every industry worker that usually contributes to a live performance. So many of these venues are struggling to stay relevant, stay afloat, and just get by- and for how much longer will they truly have to do so.
Winter really is complicating quarantine times in more ways than we know right now. I knew that there would be spikes in cases because of people doing more inside than outside, but I had not started to consider the businesses that had started to rely on outdoor activities to stay open. This is going to affect more than just concert venues too. Restaurants who have been doing curbside dining, people going on walks instead of having friends to their houses, and classes that meet outdoors are all going to have to change their behavior once colder weather sets in. It is nice that some places have managed to scrape together some amount of business in the early days of covid thanks to warm weather outside, but that is really going to change. This is also going to have an impact on people’s mental health. We are already starting to become more inclined to stay inside all day long on our computers, and now with cold weather we are just going to be doing that even more during our free time.
This article touches on some good points. Being from Los Angeles I have always wondered how shows get done in winter months where it gets to a significantly cold temperature. Everyone I have always pondered this over with has never had an answer for me…. And this includes people who live in those climates. As it turns out, the answer is that they do not have events. It makes sense because extreme cold and snow is not a good time for performers or audience members. Although, I am actually not opposed to the car idea. It won’t be the same, but it might be better than nothing. I also think Cooper makes a hugely valid point here, the colder weather coming is going to change how we interact and live our lives because being outside is way easier when you aren’t freezing. Regardless, winter is coming, and things are going to work their way though and I imagine the issues will be tackled just as effectively as we have been doing thus far.
For some reason, the financial implications of the upcoming winter season did not even occur to me. I was truly only thinking about how difficult it will be to discern between a common cold, the flu, and coronavirus. Yes, outdoor shows, venues, and even dining works for the moment, but these options, like the article highlights, will be mostly off the table come winter. This deeply worries me, as thousands of businesses are struggling to get by as is, with their outdoor and socially distanced potential. Now considering this, I predict that many shutdowns will begin to happen this winter. This is deeply unnerving because it is hard for me to see the world shutting down, but it is also hard for me to see a vaccine or some sort of cure in the immediate future. All that these businesses can do is save as much as they can to plan for the uncertainty of the winter season.
This was frustrating to read but also so important. There've been a lot of articles on here about how winter is going to be what takes out a lot of theater and other live entertainment companies this year, but now that we’re in mid-October, it’s starting to get real. I had to scrape frost off my windshield yesterday morning, and then spent my drive into work thinking about this exact problem. So many companies turned to outdoor, distanced performances as a means to survive the pandemic, but it’s becoming clear that that’s not sustainable for most climates with the weather becoming a real issue. It’s just so frustrating that the pandemic is causing financial issues on this scale while legislation to help people and businesses stuck in this situation is being blocked on principle. Winter is going to suck for just about everyone who had been relying on outdoors as a way to congregate or even just eat with a mask off - I’m still not sure what to do this winter when I need to eat lunch on campus when it turns too cold to use the tables set up outside, not to mention the increased social isolation now that small outdoor gatherings aren’t going to be an option for a while. People are either going to take it seriously and go stir crazy indoors, or take it less seriously and gather groups together indoors, creating greater risk of covid passing between them. There just really aren’t any good options here, and it sucks.
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