OUR response to covid-19
plus how your latest art can help us come together
With the evolving COVID-19 situation, we at Baton Rouge Gallery are working to follow guidance from health professionals and elected officials alike. That means lots of hand washing and tough decisions about how we serve our community and our artists.
We are committed to the safety and well-being of our visitors, artists, staff, and volunteers. Our collective need to be socially distant; however, doesn’t have to mean staying away from art. It also doesn’t mean we can’t come together in different ways. With that in mind, below you will find resources and opportunities to connect with artists and art.
The Flat Curve Gallery
As we all work to “flatten the curve,” our collective social distancing gives us all a great chance to get creative and make some art. Whether you’re 5 or 55, we want you to grab a crayon, a paintbrush, a handful of clay, or whatever helps you create and let’s share!
BRG is hosted an online gallery in spring of 2020 with works created during the COVID-19 pandemic from artists of all experience levels and all ages.
more Ways you can enjoy art from home:
BRG’s YouTube Channel: One great way to connect with local art from home is BRG’s YouTube Channel. There, we've got nearly 100 different videos of artist talks, musical performances, poetry readings, and more. We think you'll really love our "In the Studio with" playlist featuring the first ten studio visit videos we've released. More will be coming soon!
Tour the World’s Great Museums: Hundreds of the globe’s top museums are offering, through Google, virtual tours for everyone to experience their collections while unable to visit in person. From the Guggenheim in New York to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, The TATE Britain in London to The Ohara Museum of Art in Japan, art from across the world is at your fingertips!
Get to Know the Work of Top Local Artists: Maybe you’d like to sprinkle in some local art with your explorations. Right here in Baton Rouge, we’ve been a venue for the area’s top local artists to share their work with their community. On this very site, you can see dozens and dozens of works from more than 60 award-winning artists who are BRG members and learn more about their work.
Take in a Broadway Musical: Playbill.com has compiled a list of 15 different Broadway plays that you can enjoy from the convenience of your couch! They might require services like Amazon Prime, BroadwayHD, or others, but with popular shows like Rent, Newsies, and Into the Woods, it might be the perfect fit for you.
Doodle with Mo Willems: Who doesn’t love to just doodle? The Kennedy Center’s current Education Artist-in-Residence, Mo Willems (who has been described as a modern-day Dr. Seuss) is leading a daily “Lunch Doodle” on YouTube at noon every day. As decider.com put it, “The daily event will give kids a chance to draw, color, and explore new ways of writing — but more importantly, it will give parents a much-needed break.”
Visit the Metropolitan Opera from Your Sofa: The Met Opera is hosting “Nightly Met Opera Streams” on its official website for you to enjoy at no cost! These streams include encores of past performances from its famed Live in HD series, beginning at 6:30 p.m. CST each night (and remain available for 20 hours afterwards).
How ‘bout a live puppet show from Atlanta? The Center for Puppetry Arts has some great free online offerings including free livestreams of performances and an expanded lineup of digital learning workshops. Anyone who’s been to our Surreal Salon Soiree knows we have a special place in our hearts for puppetry (and Baton Rouge’s own Beyond the Garage), so we had to add this offering to the list.
Know of others? Email us and help us grow this list!
support For artists:
Many artists - visual and performing alike - are hit hard when crises like the one we currently face confront us. Gigs get canceled, galleries get closed (*ahem*), and writing opportunities often disappear when disaster strikes. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a great list of numerous opportunities for artists of all kinds to seek assistance. Hit the button below and start exploring some of the many avenues that various organizations and foundations around the nation have set up to support artists like you.
Of course, if you’re an artist in the Baton Rouge area who has been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, let us know and we will work to the best of our ability to help you connect with those who might be able to help.