How to survive and thrive during COVID-19.
How to survive and thrive during COVID-19
Stay in the know - These updates are vitally important to the survival of your project
I don’t think I’ve witnessed a time where more people have tuned in to watch politicians talk so regularly. Now whatever your political alliance or your opinion on politics you need to put aside. These updates are vitally important to the survival of your project. Tune in to these broadcasts every day, there are hints of what’s coming next and questions are fired by the press. Both could give you extra time to plan, to adapt and evolve.
Plan - something that was so consistent and stable to continue being so when all around them things were becoming more and more uncertain.
Even before the Wuhan cases, Livewire had planned for a scenario where if the venue we so heavily rely on is unavailable. I’m not saying that we had foretold COVID-19, far from it. But certainly being in this sector and all the levels of uncertainty, it would be reckless to not have a plan B or an Exit plan.
Now as soon as lockdown felt like it was on the cards, (I’m thinking around the time Italy started getting hit by this terrible virus) I called a meeting with core participants and staff members to work out how we would operate or indeed if we should operate. I was worried the quality of the sessions would be jeopardised as we would have to rely on internet speeds and other things out of our control. However the group expressed how important it was to continue even if it meant compromising slightly on delivery. The consensus was they wanted something that was so consistent and stable to continue being so when all around them things were becoming more and more uncertain.
Use Your Networks - We’re all in the same boat so why not ride the waters together.
We at Livewire are thankful for the many great organisations we work with. Your network strength is huge. I’ve had meetings with other arts organisations all trying to help each other out - “We’ve been using this”…”Have you tried this”. Suddenly there’s no undercurrent of competition for funding, there is genuine care and empathy. We’re all in the same boat so why not ride the waters together.
We have Plan B’s in place, new venue’s ready to go, partnerships agreed and strengthening day by day. Make sure you reach out to your networks, most of the time they will try their hardest to ensure your survival.
Adapt - But that does not mean we aren’t good at that to.
We think we are very good at what we do. But what we do has never been over the internet or has never been detached but that does not mean we aren’t good at that to. It does mean we have to change up what we do. Our band sessions now become 121 tutoring. Our song writing sessions continue to do so but so much prep and planning needs to be done beforehand. Hours of editing backing tracks, emailing out resources to make sure the next session runs smoothly. Our production sessions were mainly 121 focused but very practical, we’ve had to adapt to make it work but we have and its working as we continue on this journey of new learning we interact with more young people. Our sessions out of lockdown saw an average of 22 young people grace our doors during COVID-19 we engage around 10 of these young people regularly. Not only do we engage them, they have our focus.
Thrive - Our staff are gaining a whole new skill set
How do you thrive in this scenario? We think we are, we’re retaining young people, continuing working, creating and allowing young people to express themselves in these difficult times. The number of young people we are working with are smaller but the quality and focus we can divert to them is huge. One of our young people has had so much time during sessions that he is finishing off his mixtape. Another of our young people have finally got around to writing and sticking to his practice routine. Our staff are gaining a whole new skill set using online video calls like Zoom and music editing software such as Ableton.
It’s new to us, but I think we are going to be okay.