Members of the band Bumper Jacksons will perform via Facebook LIVE Saturday, April 4, at 8 p.m. as part of the new Mason Arts at Home series. Photo provided.
Rick Davis has been a fan of jazz artist and composer Maria Schneider for a long time, which means, for him, April 2 is going to be a blast. That is when Davis, the dean of George Mason University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) will spend an hour in conversation with the Grammy Award winner.
And the best part, Davis said, is that the conversation, done remotely, will be streamed live through a link on the CVPA website.
It’s part of a program called Mason Arts at Home, a combination virtual performance space and town hall in which Mason artists, both students and alumni, will stream their work. Professional artists, who were scheduled to appear at Mason’s Center for the Arts or Hylton Performing Arts Center, but cannot due to the coronavirus pandemic, will also stream performances, have conversations and even do Q&A’s.
It’s a way to get exposure for the art coming out of CVPA, which because of the pandemic does not have the usual outlets, as well as a way to provide a diversion for Mason students, faculty and staff who are cooped up at home because of COVID-19.
“We’re hoping to keep our community connected,” Davis said. “We know people are hungry for artistic experiences during this time of isolation, and we know that arts nourish the soul and provides ways for people to think about their lives and reflect and celebrate and contemplate all these things we do in the presence of art.”
The program goes live on Thursday, April 2, to coincide with Patriots Helping Patriots Giving Day campaign. The programming runs through May 18, though it can be extended.
“We see it as a way we’re giving back to the community,” Adrienne Godwin, CVPA’s director of programming, said about starting the program on Giving Day. “It’s not just others giving us something. It’s giving them something in return. We thought there was a good synergy there.”
This week, CVPA also began the Alumni Artist Support Initiative, which will give micro-grants to young CVPA alumni to help them provide digital content that can be used in conjunction with Mason Arts at Home.
CVPA is also commissioning five new short works that alumni can present during CVPA’s 2020-21 season.
“This way we get funding out to our alums when they need it, because they need it now,” Godwin said.
Getting programming out is the bottom line for Mason Arts at Home, and it starts with Davis’ interview with Schneider. Before the coronavirus pandemic, Schneider was scheduled to be a guest artist in CVPA’s residency program and conduct the Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra at the Center for the Arts.
“She is one of the most significant jazz artists in the country today, and to have a chance to spend an hour with her and talk about her work and, hopefully, listen to some of her music, is really exciting,” Davis said.
On Saturday, April 4, the Bumper Jacksons, a D.C.-area Americana band that was to be part of the American Roots series in May at the Hylton Performing Arts Center, will livestream a performance on Facebook Live at 8 p.m.
Students and alumni will also livestream performances. Filmmakers will talk about their work. Music students will livestream concerts.
“We see ourselves as a community resource, a creative classroom,” Godwin said. “For our students and our alumni and professional artists, we are the way they can interact with audiences. We feel it is part of our mission as a resource to connect with these communities that need each other but might not be able to reach each other otherwise.”