“In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and Gov. Tony Evers’ safer-at-home order … Milwaukee arts groups have shifted vigorously to creating online content and distributable materials to stay connected with their audiences, serve students learning at home and offer meaningful work to their artists,” writes Jim Higgins in Sunday’s (5/3) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “They’re also strategizing for their eventual return to public activities…. The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Rep and Milwaukee Art Museum applied for and received federal Paycheck Protection Program loans of $2.2 million, $1.4 million and $1.6 million, respectively, which will be used to keep paying employees over the next eight weeks…. Mark Niehaus, president and executive director of the Milwaukee Symphony, said, … ‘We basically spend this [eight weeks] informing ourselves … about what the possibilities are and what they aren’t.’ … The Milwaukee Symphony has published many videos of its musicians performing, including a stunning one that knits together 65 musicians in their own homes playing Elgar’s ‘Nimrod.’ … The symphony has also launched Musical Journeys, a weekly streaming audio series drawing on concerts from its audio archives, but incorporating fresh interviews conducted by music director Ken-David Masur with musicians, conductors and composers involved with those concerts.”
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