Tired of Netflix? These local creators are offering content online

Can you imagine how we would all be feeling if this had happened in the '80s?

The question came up in a friendly Zoom conference happy hour recently. How would we have coped in the pre-internet era? How would we have spent our time? How would we have connected with each other?

One thing is certain: we would have had many fewer options for entertainment.

As media giants such as Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime Video, and others are offering new or exclusive options, some for free, what if what we are craving is not to consume media, but to engage in actual connection to our own community?

As the social distancing continues indefinitely, what can we do to interact with our local arts and entertainment?

While the world contends with the new paradigm, several organizations in the Boulder-Longmont region are starting to offer new and creative opportunities for connecting locally with entertainers from our own neighborhoods.

Motus Theater, an arts organization that seeks to tell stories about critical issues of our time, including immigration, hosted a Zoom performance on Sunday called Women of Resolution, which featured four Colorado Representatives and four sanctuary leaders speaking from their homes.

The Boulder Symphony is working on a virtual concert with local performers.

The Dairy Arts Center is another keystone local arts nonprofit that is braving the storm by offering new and experimental ways to engage, "basically taking The Dairy beyond the walls of the building" according to Director of Programs Glenn Webb.

While most of the staff have been furloughed, including Webb, he said, "I've been very happy with our leadership about the decision. I would have volunteered for it because I want there to be a Dairy to come back to."

With a leaner staff, The Dairy is still producing a significant amount of programming for online audiences. Patrons can watch online films curated by staff, for example. Many of the small indie and art film distributors are giving as much as half, or more, of the ticket price to The Dairy.

The Dairy is also curating live performances via online platforms such as Zoom. For the first ever Virtual Boulder Story Slam held on Sunday, April 5, over 300 people signed up for the performance.

"The capacity for the space where it normally would have been - our largest theater - is only 250," said Webb, "so it's a larger audience than it would have been."

The benefits of local, curated content go beyond simple entertainment, said Webb. Where big multiplex cinemas that screen nameplate movie franchises were seeing declining audiences even before the coronavirus, audiences at The Dairy's indie movie theater, The Boe, have been growing.

Since Webb started screening films at The Boe 10 years ago, he said, "Every year we have a better year than the last."

He attributes this to a difference in approach. "I never thought of the role of The Boe as just offering movies like a product to be consumed," Webb said.

"It was more like creating opportunities for people to experience community ... as impetus, the catalyst, for bringing people together in a meaningful way."

What kind of outlook does The Dairy Arts Center have for the future, beyond the crisis? According to Webb, "Even if we have to reopen with paper clips and duct tape, we will reopen."

After the social distancing restrictions are lifted, he surmises it will take a lot at first for people to feel safe getting out and being in crowds.

But Webb says that there is a great value in "just being in the same room with people, hearing their laughter and breathing the same time they breathe. We're all going to be craving that a lot."

As for how Webb himself is doing in furlough, he said, "I'm coming to terms with not feeling guilty about enjoying my time off."

Links for local online content

Here is a short list, far from comprehensive, of organizations and creators in the Boulder area who have been working on and sharing content online.

Free Range Dairy: The Dairy Arts Center has launched a new program called Free Range Dairy with content ranging from a poetry slam, to film screenings with interactive talkbacks with filmmakers, to an interactive gallery exhibit tour. The page also includes a section, Free & Loose, with links to free videos from Dairy contributors.

https://thedairy.org/free-range-dairy/

Boulder Symphony is working on a virtual concert. Check out the video message from the conductor on the homepage and join their mailing list to be one of the first to hear the new performance.

https://www.bouldersymphony.org/

Motus Theater: Local theater organization Motus scheduled an "intimate home virtual theater exploration" last week called Women of Resolution, which may be available to view a recording by press time.

https://www.motustheater.org/events

Niwot native and actor Keenan Joliff will be a guest actor on the CBS show God Friended Me, airing Sunday, April 12, at 8pm. Watch a promo teaser for the show (Joliff is the one seen running with the baby): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnAev3okeOI