Singer-songwriter Stephen Fearing missed out on a golden opportunity when his concert scheduled for this weekend at the Dave Dunnet Theatre — which was nearing a sell-out — was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
While the Victoria performer isn’t liable to recoup that lost revenue any time soon, Fearing is hoping a free Facebook livestream concert at 7 p.m. tonight will give his new batch of music a second shot at exposure. “It’s a chance to do something,” he said.
“I made a record that is important to me, and while that’s a small thing in the scale of what’s going on, it’s something to keep the ball rolling.”
Fearing is among a growing number of artists in Victoria who are turning to the Internet as a means of either making money or staying connected during periods of inactivity and isolation.
Marc Jenkins, choir director of several non-auditioned community choirs in Victoria, led an online practice Monday for 75 members of The Choir through Zoom, a remote conferencing service. The two-hour practice had its technical limitations, but Jenkins came away from the experience feeling positive, as some members stayed online for nearly two hours afterward to chat with each other.
“We couldn’t actually sing together because the time-lags made it impossible to synch-up. But I was able to teach some stuff,” Jenkins said. “We were able to make a little bit of progress. But the main thing is I was able to see smiles on faces.
“I felt way different after it was over. I felt like I was amongst people.”
Elli Hart of Canoe Brewpub helped create Victoria Quarantunes on Spotify, the music streaming service. The playlist is made up of exclusively Vancouver Island artists, who get paid when the songs are streamed. Hart, who is a musician herself, said 92 local artists, at their request, have have had songs added to the list thus far, with more asking to be involved each day.
“One of the first things Canoe did to respond to the outbreak was cancel our live music program,” Hart said of the pub’s concert calendar, which runs Thursday through Saturday each week.
“We were saddened because we’ve always been a platform for local music, so we created the playlist to help.”
A public Facebook group, Get Down With the Lockdown!, is taking a more light-hearted approach to the quarantine. The group, created by Victoria couple Steve Craik and Christa Karlie, has rocketed to more than 6,000 members since Saturday, many of whom are posting original videos, artwork, music and writing to the group.
Craik and Karie have banned posts of a political nature. “We’re all in this together, so it’s about community,” Craik said. “We’re trying to be a distraction for people.”
The couple says they are gaining 300 new members every hour, and Karlie expects they will hit 12,000 members in the coming days. “The gist of this is to keep everybody connected in a supportive way, and not see social distancing as a bad thing.”
Creativity has been the key thus far, in terms of marketing amid the virus outbreak. A pair of established arts organizations are hoping to offset their recent losses by promoting their upcoming seasons, which were announced this week. Both the Victoria Symphony and Pacific Opera are advertising subscriptions for their 2020-2021 seasons, which can help inject some much-needed revenue at a time when losses are mounting.
Fearing, who is streaming his concert tonight from the stage at the Duncan Showroom, will be offering a virtual tip jar during the broadcast. He’ll share profits with the operators of the Duncan Showroom.
“Like everywhere else, they are hurting too,” Fearing said. At this point, community will be the key going forward, he added. “We’re making it up as we go along.”
