Jim Kent, The Tidemark Theatre
Managing and Artistic Director
“It’s the complete antithesis of what we do. We’re an arts facility that brings people together in a closed room to share an arts experience onstage… I will never forget the look on my staffs’ faces after all the shows we spent months planning were now on hold. We were living in sand.
The trick was how quickly we could turn this around while dealing with the logistical situation. How do you find your bearings in that?
It became apparent that it wasn’t our organizational or business model that needed to change. Just how we would deliver it.
How do we continue while maintaining artistic integrity? What technology would facilitate this?
I can see now that this situation demanded thinking outside the box. There’s no wrong way. Just do something. What an advantage and opportunity that this upside-down world is creating. No theatre would go where we are going if it wasn’t for COVID.
There is opportunity through tragedy. The opportunities are coming into focus. And this focus is allowing us to innovate as we move forward.”
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The “Streaming the Tide and Beyond” project received $15,000 to buy the equipment required for pre-recording content and live streaming performances. By rethinking its service delivery model for an online and physically distanced audience, the Tidemark restarted programming despite closures. This created an opportunity to make live events sustainable, despite attendance restrictions. It also provides businesses, arts and culture organizations and event organizers with a means to disseminate productions, workshops, lectures or other events beyond the walls of the Tidemark addressing needs in remote communities and schools, senior care or other underserved markets. View the Tidemark’s upcoming schedule of events.
