As group activities have become infeasible in a post-COVID-19 world, many people within creative industries have found themselves unable to work as they have been able to in the past. Many workers who rely on creative collaboration have had to find alternative methods of doing their work, which can negatively affect performance overall. Our presentation examines the changing circumstances and potential remedies to collaboration-related difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

BADIN, A., & NĂSTASE, A. (2021). Performing Arts-How do we Survive the Pandemic?. Review of International Comparative Management/Revista de Management Comparat International, 22(1).

This article discusses the impact of COVID-19 on the performing arts industry as a whole. It talks about how important virtual means of marketing have become to industries in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how people within Performing Arts industries have to adapt in order to at least attempt to survive. It discusses how many people have had to adjust their lives due to the pandemic, and how many artists find themselves unable to do their work as they have been able to in the past, due to the difficulties of the pandemic.

 

Cziboly, A., & Bethlenfalvy, A. (2020). Response to COVID-19 Zooming in on online process drama. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 25(4), 645-651.

This article chronicles a series of experiments conducted by the authors to test the ability to produce process drama in an online environment. Two process drama experiments are discussed, one with university students in Norway, and one in Hungary, and it is then discussed what worked and what didn’t, based on the outcomes of these two experiments. They find that it was difficult for participants to make connections, due to a disconnection of eye contact, and a disconnection from the “space” that the experiment was to take place in. They also found that having a facilitator step into a role within the exercise (or “game”), they could extract more engagement from their participants.

 

Gallagher, K., Balt, C., Cardwell, N., & Charlebois, B. (2020). Response to COVID-19–losing and finding one another in drama: personal geographies, digital spaces and new intimacies. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 25(4), 638-644.

This article focuses on the psychological effect that COVID-19 has had on drama students, and the uphill battle of adapting a drama classroom to being a virtual experience. Drama is discussed as a medium which relies on collaboration, and how that kind of intimate activity is difficult to accomplish remotely. It goes into how virtual teaching had never been truly considered as a part of a drama classroom, and how the adaptation to a virtual environment has been jarring and emotionally taxing on both students and teachers. This is analogous to the scenario many performers have been placed in through the pandemic, as actors, singers, musicians, and other creative workers have found themselves unable to effectively do their work on their own, without the support of their co-workers.

 

VanBesien, M. (2021). 9. Are Labor and Management (Finally) Working Together to Save the Day? The COVID-19 Crisis in Orchestras. Classical Music: Contemporary Perspectives and Challenges.

This article is about the unexpected collaboration between management and labor in orchestras towards being able to perform sufficiently during the pandemic. It talks about how many people within orchestras have found themselves disheartened by the nature of the pandemic, but they managed to find an ally in their management, as they both ultimately have a common goal of being able to operate at any capacity, despite the current circumstances. It focuses mainly on how the commerce between the laborers and the management has become increasingly collaborative under the stress placed on both parties through the advent of COVID-19.

 

Zabelina, D. L., Clay, J. Z., & Upshaw, J. D. (2021). The Association between Imagination and Anxiety in the Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Creativity Research Journal, 1-11.

This article, despite not being fully accessible, has a fairly detailed introduction, so we felt it was worth mentioning. The article is about the link between imagination, anxiety, and loneliness during the scope of the pandemic. The article discusses two studies, which lead the researchers to the conclusion that the amount of time people spend in “imaginative states” may be associated with a rise in anxiety. People in creative industries rely on their thoughts and imaginations a lot in putting out work. A rise in loneliness and imagination could inadvertently lead to an increase in anxiety, which could lead to a decrease in quality of output and overall motivation towards the work itself.

 

MGMT 311 – Groop

Dylan Klasky, Wilson Loucks, Payton King, Erik Pollard