Chasing Resilience for the Arts Sector : American Experiences of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on American society broadly and within that, arts were one of the hardest hit sectors. Amidst the ongoing trajectory of the pandemic, the concept of resilience became a frequent concern. This article examines the many dimensions and facets of resilience and provides snapshots and examples of many kinds of efforts that have been taken to foster and enhance resilience for the arts sector in the United States, with a focus on the case of New York City, arguably America’s cultural capital. The first section explores the scale and scope of the pandemic’s ongoing impact on individual artists and the NY arts sector. The second section provides an overview of key examples of how the arts sector itself sought to assist its members during the first year of the pandemic. It also explores key efforts of national, state, and local governments to provide survival and relief assistance to individual artists, arts organizations, and cultural industries. The final section looks at tentative reopening and recovery efforts, including rethinking norms, expectations and practices as resilience begins to move toward adaptation and sustainability. It concludes with observations on future challenges in cultivating and finding resilience.