OVERCOMING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE: TECH KITS AVAILABLE FOR VIRTUAL ART-MAKERS
written by Miranda Allegar - April 9, 2021
The digital boom within the performing arts world over the course of 2020 and the beginning of 2021 as performing venues largely remain closed has highlighted the realities of technological disparities and inequities. Simultaneously, this moment of virtual making offers both expanded and contracted access. One of these two truths includes the financial and physical accessibility of online performance, often offered at no-to-low cost with captioning or interpretation made available. In this sense, virtual performance becomes viewable to individuals who might otherwise feel unwelcome or excluded from traditional venues. Additionally, the moment expands the geographic reach of art for both artists and viewers, allowing viewing to occur on a global scale, requiring just a device and a digital connection.
However, it is exactly this last point that has become an increasingly significant concern as the pandemic wears on, not just for viewers, but also for makers. This concern centers on both access to Internet connectivity and a device on which to do so. Per the Federal Communications Commission, 97% of Americans in urban areas have access to high-speed fixed Internet service, while that number falls to 65% in rural areas and 60% on Tribal lands, translating to about 30 million Americans left out of the digital age. Still, virtual performance makers need an even larger laundry list of items and devices to make their art effectively. This needed investment in equipment to continue to create quality content is a financial burden that may seem insurmountable amidst limited creative work available and an uncertain timeline as to how much longer this pandemic will continue. Yet, to offer access to these devices and equipment allows both for more equitable access to arts-making and recognition of the value of virtual theater-making at this moment in history and beyond.
Some major institutions have stepped up to this charge, publicly valuing this access to arts-making. New York’s HERE Arts Center is one institution renting equipment for makers at a rate of $200/week. However, these kits do not provide the underlying technology of a device or Internet access, just audio and visual equipment. Beginning March 24th, 2021, the New York Public Library has made performing arts’ tech kits for performing artists free and available to its patrons to allow them to continue to make and share their work safely during the pandemic. In their posting about the program, the New York Public Library refers to the difficulties of the past year for the performing arts industries, as well as the increasing reliance on digital and virtual technology. The kits offer an iPad Pro with cellular data to access the Internet, a case with keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, wireless headphones, a USB port hub, a ring light and phone tripod, cables and chargers, and, as requested, a keyboard for musicians, all available to any library patrons over eighteen years of age and available for between one and three months.
photo credit: Jonathan Blanc/The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library program is funded by the NYC COVID-19 Response and Impact Fund in the New York Community Trust, the Ford Foundation, and the Tiger Baron Foundation. This investment marks a significant assertion of the value of digital access and arts-making in 2021.
