To celebrate the power of the arts, ArtsGreensboro commissioned an original song and video honoring the role creativity played in fostering community and hope during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the video focuses on art in and around Greensboro, it will be shown to a national audience at the Americans for the Arts virtual convention being held June 8-11.
Local artists Brandon Davis, J. Timber, J. Vann (Vann Go) and Kate Musselwhite Tobey teamed up to write, compose, perform and produce the original song, Through It All. It is the first official release from the production group Song CAMP (Creative Arts and Media Production).
The song and video are just the latest activities spearheaded by ArtsGreensboro during the pandemic lockdown. In March 2020, ArtsGreensboro established the Greensboro Artist Emergency Relief Fund which has raised more than $100,000 to support creative people across Guilford County. ArtsGreensboro also lobbied for and facilitated the distribution of more than $1 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES ACT) funding to nonprofit arts organizations and artists.
However, the post-pandemic recovery and re-entry remain a big challenge for the arts. ArtsGreensboro is advocating for Guilford County and the City of Greensboro leadership to allocate funds from the Americans Recovery Act to ensure the health and sustainability of the creative sector.
“From musicians to museums, actors to opera and the wide variety of creative expression in between, the arts really benefit the entire community,” said Laura Way, president and CEO of ArtsGreensboro. “With this song, video and our continued advocacy work, we want to highlight the key role that the arts will play in the rebuilding of our economy and our community spirit as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
There are three things ArtsGreensboro is asking the public to do to support the creative community:
1. Share the story. Share the Through It All music video on social media and elsewhere. Use #artsgso to show your support for this movement. Tag the creative people in your life you want to celebrate.
2. Raise your voice. Visit the ArtsGreensboro website to submit your photos or videos and share why you think art is an important part of our community. Follow ArtsGreensboro’s
social media accounts to stay up to date on meetings you can attend (virtually or in-person) to advocate for funding and other policies that support our local arts.
3. Donate. Support the ArtsFund at whatever level is meaningful to you. Your donation will help our local arts community recover, rebuild and reinvent for the future.
The Through It All music video is a true celebration of local art in its various forms. ArtsGreensboro asked the community to submit photos and videos showing how they stayed creative during COVID. The video includes people singing, doing yoga, performing for their pets, creating with their kids, putting on virtual concerts, drawing with sidewalk chalk, cooking, and dancing.
Creativity looks different for everyone, and that’s the point, Tobey says.
“Sometimes people get a picture in their mind of what ‘art’ looks like, but we all have our own ways of being creative, and that’s what we wanted to celebrate,” said Tobey, who produced the video, and sang and played violin on Through It All.
Timber, who co-created and performed vocals and guitar for the song, says art and music are important because they provide a snapshot of the community. “It’s a freeze-frame of how people feel and what they are going through,” he said. “Art has always helped make sense of things.”