As we have noted elsewhere, Carver staff (mostly daytime certified teachers) is reaching all our K-12 students through our virtual after school programs.

For children, art can be so important in the expression of loss and sadness, of being cut off from friend groups and just how long this time must feel to them. It can be really valuable for them to visually represent those emotions, to put them to music, to dance, to drama.

Art gives us a way to understand ourselves, understand the people that are living with and allows us to express that in ways that might evade words. Zoom was primarily a tool for business. But it has quickly turned to a tool we’re using to help us connect to and express ideas with one another.

We need a creative mindset to get through this, to think about possibilities that aren't there and solve problems in new ways. Everything from cooking without all the right ingredients to using current technologies, but in in vastly different ways.

What are our boundaries and how can we defy them? How can we use what we have in hand to do something new? The arts have a way of teaching that. As we’re exposing kids to these creative expressions, here are some great institutions that are helping.

Museums, Galleries and Performing Arts

In recent weeks, museums, galleries and performing arts organizations have significantly expanded their online offerings through virtual tours of their collections, broadcasts of performances and interactive educational programs, making their work more accessible to a greater public. The Metropolitan Opera, for instance, announced that it would stream encore performances of its most famous productions, free to the general public. Similarly, the National Theatre in London is releasing new performances from their archives every Thursday, made available for free and “on demand” to audiences for a full week. While the crisis has brought tremendous uncertainty, it has also created opportunities to reach new audiences at a time when the sanctuary and connection offered by the arts is needed most.

• Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater has started the Ailey All Access, an online streaming series allowing audiences to connect with performances, including full length works from the repertory, Ailey Extension dance classes, and original short films created by the Ailey dancers.

• Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has expanded their offerings on BSO Offstage, an online platform where audiences can find performance videos, BSO podcasts, and other content and resources. 

• La Jolla Playhouse’s online Staging Area is dedicated to virtual content, which features conversations with La Jolla artists and weekly posts from Playhouse artists and staff who share their favorite stories and memories. 

• Opera Philadelphia brings you opera on the couch through its first-ever Digital Festival​, with free streams of five past productions, including four world premier​es​.    

• Pacific Northwest Ballet has posted at-home workouts for dancers and footage of rehearsals shot before their lockdown on their Twitter and Instagram, while also uploading articles to their blog. 

• Seattle Opera has created a special section on their website, Opera at Home, which features new playlists, talks, podcasts and other online content for their audiences. 

• Seattle Symphony’s musicians will share free broadcasts with the public, streamed via the Symphony’s YouTube channel and Facebook.

• Steppenwolf Theatre Company is leading weekly free and public virtual workshops for early career professional, teens and educators. They also released their interview-style podcast  Half Hour this month. 

• Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company has shifted their Progressive Party online—free and open to the public—allowing viewers to view performances, participate in an auction and experience a sneak-peak into Woolly’s 41st Season.