Many people are turning to art to cope with the quarantine, in accordance with Prime Minister Trudeau’s message for Canadians to “go home and stay home” on March 23.
From drama, to music and painting, many Canadians are seeking creative activities to pass their extra time at home, Maude Levasseur, director of arts engagement at the National Theatre School of Canada said.
The NTS holds an annual DramaFest for high school students across Canada, but the regional NTS coordinators made a tough decision to cancel it this year due to the risk of spreading COVID-19, Levasseur said.
Levasseur said canceling the DramaFest was a “blow” to high school students who looked forward to show their year’s work of play rehearsal and self-written performances, as well as the chance to earn performance awards.
As replacement for the DramaFest the NTS launched Art Apart, a free online series taught by theatre professionals to all artists, Levasseur said, “to keep supporting artists and to share knowledge across Canada.”
The Paintlounge is a paint workshop chain in the Greater Toronto Area that had to close their three studios since “health, wellness and community is really at the core of what Paintlounge is all about,” Markham Paintlounge employee Angela De Angelis said.
The closing of Paintlounge’s stores took away the space its community would normally have, “to step away from the business of everyday life; to destress, be present and creative,” De Angelis said.
“Closing our studio doors means there is no income coming in. However, it also affords us the time to focus on how we can be better for our community when we reopen,” De Angelis said.
De Angelis said that Paintlounge is re-assessing parts of the business to offer online services to connect virtually and have already done a few painting workshops on Instagram Live.
Rebecca Shaw is a fourth year university student who paints to cope with self-isolation.
“I’m painting things I could hang up around my room to make the space happier and brighter, since I’ll be spending a lot of time here,” Shaw said.
Michael Fenty teaches a unique music making class to his high school students at Woburn Collegiate Institute.
Fenty said the coronavirus situation has made him unable to teach his students to produce music from home since they do not have the software or hardware they need.
Logic Pro is the necessary software to make music that only runs on Apple iMac hardware, which costs thousands of dollars, Fenty said.
However, first year university student Brianna Wong is able to make music at home.
Wong said she makes music to pass the extra time at home and has made one song remix since the quarantine started, with hopes to make more music.
“I can spend hours on end in front of my computer working on a beat or remix and it’s honestly really therapeutic,” Wong said, “I can forget about all my assignments and things I stress about and just make music.”
Wong knows artists who want to collaborate with her but a physical disconnect makes it difficult to work with others since she can’t feel the music with the artist just through a screen.
The Down Boys is a five-member band of high school students, with Benjamin Datti as drummer.
Currently, the band members practice on their own and meet online to rehearse, “online methods are difficult because not everything – such as the sound of the whole band – is heard,” Datti said.