By Fiona Riley’22
In response to COVID-19 restrictions, members of the art department began exploring ways to adjust the platform given to students to share their various talents. Without beloved Open Mic Nights, large dance performances, or talent shows, faculty members honed in on performing arts as a whole and decided to create a special online channel for students to display their pieces.
Photo Courtesy of Fiona Riley
Daniel Clay, Upper School theatre teacher, explains that the new EA Performing Arts Channel is modeled after a channel that Mr. Erwin already had in place for his musical groups to be able to do some kind of musical concert and for individual music students to have a venue to play.” Music department chair and Upper School choir director Jim Erwin notes that, “When COVID hit, it became clear that we had to rely on home recordings and videos to provide opportunities for EA students to perform.” He continues, adding that “the Performing Arts Channel is the perfect way to showcase these many creative performers.”
The channel has been made available to anyone from grades K-12 wishing to share a talent, including anything from dancing and singing to playing an instrument or reading a piece. “We have performances from every division of the school, from the youngest to eldest, expressing a wide variety of performing arts,” explains Erwin. Clay also notes that the featured works “could be from an individual student, class, club, or an ensemble.” Anyone wishing to submit a piece can record a video of their performance and send it to any member of the theatre, dance, or music faculty so that it can be published on the channel. Members of the Upper School can find a link to the channel in their form dean’s weekly email.
The whole goal of this virtual Arts Channel, as Clay explains, was to, “Give students K-12 a way to showcase their work during the pandemic when singing is not permitted and Open Mics are on hold.” Sarah Kotapka ‘23, a student who has performed in previous Open Mic Nights, explains that although “this year is definitely different because of the virtual situation, I am still glad to have been able to do things like this.”
In many cases, certain classes have submitted group works or have inspired members to submit their own. Kotapka adds that her choir class was given an assignment to try and record a solo piece, and later her teacher asked if he could post it to the Channel. The setup has provided away for students to share projects done in class with the larger community.
Overall, participants thus far have found the experience incredibly rewarding. Kotapka states, “It was fun to record the song because I got to sing, but I also got to practice my guitar skills!” She also mentions, “An advantage to sharing on an online platform is that it’s easier to watch other people’s performances.” Makayla Cawley ‘22 adds, “Of course there is nothing like a live audience to really connect with, but the Performing Arts Channel has provided us a creative outlet. We still have the opportunity to showcase so many talented students.”