Affects on Artists (LAHC)

The arts of Lyons chugged forth during COVID
 
For artists of all ilk during the pandemic many projects were erased, most deadlines were lifted, creative calendars were cleared, performance and exhibition venues were closed, and curtain calls were silenced all over the globe.
 
Tangential to that, production crews, ticket takers, most businesses paying rent to support the arts/artists, and audiences all suffered as well.
 
What took root for earnest artists in this fallow landscape seems to be a shifting, pivoting resolve and will to winnow out ways to tread water, stay as healthy as possible, and discover alternate ways to express and possibly rededicate themselves as artistic beings.
 
In the wings, the outlets and organizations for the arts and artists followed suit with dramatic costuming changes to do what they could do to support those in the albeit dimmed spotlight.
 
Locally, Planet Bluegrass creatively cordoned off corrals where small pods could gather, catch glimpses of and wave to friends, and feast on live music al fresco – therein getting money in the pockets of musicians who’d been holed away honing their sets, hoping for just such an outlet.
 
Some galleries found a surge in interest for purchasing fresh wall or yard art as locked-down consumers updated tired decors, enhanced outdoor living areas, sought out new zoom backgrounds, and/or recognized the value of tangible artistic creations as meaningful feel-good potions for quality daily existence in the void.
 
Bolstered social media promotions, online purchase opportunities, local porch pick-ups and deliveries, and private shopping appointments were conducted (either in-person or via video) to facilitate safe sanitized sales for artists and artisans.
 
Gift stores noticed a decline in jewelry sales, on the other hand, as there were few places to go where such thoughtful adornment was even a consideration. Yet locally sold functional artisan-made products enjoyed holiday upticks despite increased sightings of trucks delivering online gift purchases when in-person shopping was at its most unnerving levels.
 
Some art outlets gave 100% to artists from sales of their art to help connect the dots for those stretched thin in their daily living. Others helped incubate opportunities for artists and entrepreneurs as they found their own footing or combined talents with others to co-create collaborative spaces.
 
Custom commissions and digital solutions erupted as a way for industrious creatives to glean capital either through awareness built online, by word of mouth or through gallery conduits.
 
During this time, the Lyons Arts and Humanities Commission (LAHC) diligently kept meeting, planning and carefully fanning the seemingly quelled fires of area arts ongoings.
 
Power utility boxes were quietly painted and sculpture installations continued to come and go, conquests of the commission’s Creative Outlets and heARTS of LYONS Outdoor Public Art Collection projects appealing to local artists as paid gigs.
 
In the spring of 2021, “Finding Joy and Beauty in Lyons” was the theme for the premier Lyons Poetry in Public Places project boasting both adult and youth categories. Select poems were printed and proudly posted on storefronts around town.
 
The LAHC newsletter, Kaleidoscope, industriously published news bits, grant opportunities, and calls to artists every month.
 
The quarterly 2021 LAHC Art Shows at Town Hall and the Lyons Regional Library temporarily stalled and restarted during the COVID downturn. The most recent tandem opening reception in February 2022, however, was well-attended and celebrated seven artists, three of them first timers, at Town Hall’s “open to all ages and stages” themed community show; and the “Working Duo” exhibit by local artists Jacob Leeuwenburgh and Ann M. Hall at the library; as well as, a showing of stained glass art pieces by another local, Jeremy Walker, at the library. Numerous sales of this local art have already ensued as a result of these shows.
 
Six affiliates, past and present, of the LAHC opted to personally attend the Colorado Creative Industries (CCI) Summit in Steamboat Springs last October. Topics spanned from how arts play a critical role in community wellbeing, an array of best practices for artists, to how funding opportunities and arts advocacy can help to better meet the needs of communities. Also highlighted was how the arts played a critical pandemic recovery role in “ensuring communities stay connected, resilient, and vibrant during the most difficult of times” and “engaging artists across sectors to better understand how we create structures that support all of our communities.”
 
Across the world the lights of venues are flickering back on, masks are being shed, and creatives are dusting themselves off as renewed opportunities unfurl before them.
 
In Lyons, relying on the innovation and ingenuity furnaces that fuel this town in the first place, the flame for the arts has kept burning throughout this catastrophic situation. Through the levels of eclectic talent that reside here, the supportive nature and efforts of many, the innate town-wide passionate grit, and the enduring creative essence of Lyons, it seems as if the arts, as usual, will turn the lemons of disaster into quenching lemonade for good of the group.
 
The CCI is a branch of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) which, according to their website, “works with statewide partners to create a positive business climate that encourages dynamic Economic development and sustainable job growth.”

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…………….written for the Lyons Recorder by Lyons Arts & Humanities Commission member 3/1/22.
The mission of the Lyons Arts & Humanities Commission (LAHC) is to beautify the streets of downtown Lyons, promote local artists, and educate the viewing public on artistic inspirations and procedures.