UCLA Arts Newsletter
March 30, 2020
Today is the first day of our spring quarter.
Typically, this is a moment of new beginnings filled with excitement and anticipation: students coming together in classrooms, labs, studios, rehearsal rooms; crowded hallways and new faces; a bustle of activity across campus as our work begins again. But this is not a typical moment and this is not the spring quarter we imagined. Campus, like our city, is quiet. Those classrooms, studios, and even our galleries and performance halls are all empty.
Nobody expected this.
But as students, artists, architects, scholars, educators, and staff, we will adapt; we will care for one another, and we will begin again.
“To the viewer, being "safer at home" and watching online, nothing would seem out of the ordinary. Ladysmith Black Mambazo took the stage at UCLA’s Royce Hall on March 16, and the South African choral group delivered gorgeous harmonies in a traditional Zulu style, with carefree stage banter that belied the dramatic news unfolding in real time.
The only hint that something was different came in between the songs. Rather than the typical roar of applause one might hear in an 1,800-seat auditorium, there was just a smattering of claps and whoops, as though only a dozen people were in the audience.
That’s because there were only a dozen people in the audience. The concert occurred just as performance venues across the country were shutting their doors to slow the spread of COVID-19. Kristy Edmunds, the Executive and Artistic Director of UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance, decided that the show must go on.
Rather than cancel the concert outright, Edmunds arranged for a small crew to capture it for later distribution. A handful of UCLA staff members were also on hand to support the production.
We were scattered across the hall as Edmunds took to the stage, explaining that her decision to go on with the concert “was really about trying to say, ‘how do we offer some kind of continuity in a time that is totally, utterly, uncontinuity-oriented?’” She then told viewers at home to leave their cell phones turned on, a hint of just how unusual this concert was.
What's On[line] 
Typically at the start of a new academic quarter, we provide our readers with a list of UCLA Arts' happenings taking place in the coming months, from exhibitions on view to performances and talks by cultural leaders from around the globe.
But this will not be a typical spring quarter.
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended our lives, with cultural venues shuttered, public programming on hold, and our daily movements minimized. So instead, we're offering a curated list that highlights the depth and breadth of UCLA's cultural offerings, all available online.
Subscribe to our weekly email to receive suggestions each Wednesday for content you can enjoy from home. We are in this together and the gift of art will keep us moving forward.
In the News
Announcements
Imagine UCLA Arts 2020:
This series of dynamic and interactive virtual events provides an opportunity for admitted students to preview and engage with their programs and majors. Imagine UCLA Arts will include panels with department faculty, Q&A sessions with current students, and virtual tours of buildings and facilities. Events for freshmen will be held through the month of April leading up to the May 1 decision date, and events for transfers will follow in May prior to the June 1 decision date. Email admissions@arts.ucla.edu with questions.
The UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture wants to hear from you:
How are you adapting during this extraordinary period of safe distancing? Let us know how you’re doing, what you’re reading, listening to, watching, cooking, or making to help you weather the novel coronavirus pandemic. Reply to this newsletter, email us at communications@arts.ucla.edu, send us your selfies or a voice memo with your thoughts. Stay well and we look forward to hearing from you.
Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) information for the UCLA Arts Community:
To ensure that our community is kept abreast of available resources and developments, the School of the Arts and Architecture has created a COVID-19 resource page that is updated regularly. You can learn more about the campus’s response to COVID-19 here.
Read the latest stories about UCLA Arts students, faculty, and alumni:
From campus news to faculty and alumni activities around the globe the UCLA Arts website is updated daily to aggregate the best news and stories about and written by the School of the Arts and Architecture community. Arts and Architecture community.
Read past editions of the UCLA Arts Newsletter
Stay engaged. Use #UCLAarts to stay connected.
