Feeling the pressure of having to be creatively productive while being closed off? Artists are sharing their experiences and tips on how to defeat the creative block
The Coronavirus crisis has affected millions of people around the globe: jobs and livelihoods are at risk as many countries are under lockdown. According to the Financial Times, 25% of the workforce in the United Kingdom is out of work because of social distancing guidelines.
More than one million people work in the arts and entertainment sector which has been relatively inactive for several weeks. Many artists have to work from home but many face creative blocks while unable to leave their house.
Bea Collet Bell, 21, is a theatre actress who has to amend her life due to an ongoing crisis. Bell is still in production of a show “Five Women”, a play about five women murdered by Jack the Ripper. The play was supposed to open in May at the Tower Theatre but was postponed.
“Before all of this happened, we only had four rehearsals in person,” said Bell. Now script readings are held every Sunday via the Zoom app.
Don't pressure yourself
Like many others, Bell felt “under pressure to be productive under lockdown” but to keep herself busy she is tipping her toes in different creative fields, such as writing poetry, playing the cello, drawing, and reading plays.
Bell gives three tips for people who are struggling to be creatively productive: getting dressed after waking up, exercise, and not pressure oneself too much. “You can’t sit down and be creative every single day,” she explains.
Matas Rusilas, a Music Production student at BIMM University, says that music helps to distance himself from current problems. “When I compose music, I create a personal dimension with different time perception. I can create for hours and forget all of my problems.”
Rusilas looks for inspiration in various types of music, from analysing tribal African rhythm and ethnical instruments from Asia to paintings which create a different vision or image.
Bell shares her tips on how to stay creative
We are all in this together
Many celebrities took the initiative and kept entertaining their fans through virtual free concerts. Global Citizen, an annual music festival founded in 2012, launched One World: Together At Home where many famous musicians, such as Lady Gaga, The Rolling Stones, and Billie Eilish were featured. During the eight-hour online concert, $127m was raised to fight the battle with coronavirus.
At the time of writing this article, according to worldometers.info over 2.5m cases have been registered with over 17 thousand deaths making the mortality rate 6.8%. In the United Kingdom, there have been nearly 130 thousand confirmed cases with a mortality rate of 13% (counted by registered deaths at hospitals).
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