Balkans Beyond Borders organised a round table with the title “The imprint of dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic in society and culture: The Greek viewpoint from inside and outside the country”. The event was implemented in the frame of the 11th Balkans Beyond Borders Short Film Festival “Athens Edition” with the support of the Greek Cultural Ministry on 54th of December 2020.
The culture sector is one of the main sectors affected during the last months due to the pandemic. In the time of connectivity and digitalism, what does the word “closed” mean and how does the concept of “work” evolve in culture? The purpose of this round table discussion was to bring together artists and cultural workers, to address the problems and challenges that each industry faces in relation to the pandemic, as well as to highlight new ways of cooperation.
The panel consisted of:
- Mayra Stergiou, Theatre Director / Performer (London)
- Elli Leventaki Art Historian & Curator PhD cand. ASFA, representative of Biennale of Western Balkans
- Dimitris Argyriou, Film Director|Head of NewBorn Short Film Agency| Head of Short Film Programming at The Greek Film Festival in Berlin
- Nikos Stavlas, pianist (London)
- Maria Nathanail | Head of Communications of the Athens International Film Festival
- Tsampika Kotoula, Head Project Manager at REWORKS AGORA
- Georgia Manolopoulou, curator of Audience Development at the Archaeological Museum of Patras
- Stergios Dinopoulos Director/ Cinematographer
- Marianna Calbari – Art Director at the Art Theater, Karolos Koun
Find more about the invited speakers here
The moderator of the discussion was Panina Karydi, Culture & Communication Manager and former member of the Athens Culture Net. The discussion developed on 3 topics:
- mapping of the pandemic challenges,
- exchanging practices,
- (re) planning the next day.
The nine invited Greek professionals from different fields of culture and art (music, theatre, museum, festivals, cinema, and performing and visual arts) shared their experiences from the last nine months, the plans that they had to rearrange, the technology and the online means they had to find as a solution and their plans for the future.
Ms Leventaki, Ms Kotoula and Ms Nathanail all working at established festivals shared their experience to find different ways to organize their festival using online platforms, alternative methods and solutions that respect all safety measures. Mr Stavlas, Mr Argyriou, Mr Dinopoulos and Ms Stergiou experienced the first lockdown working and living abroad. They shared their country’s reaction both for the art spaces, theatres and cinemas but also for the art workers and the government support (UK, Germany, USA). Ms Calbari shared her experience as art director of the Theater Karolos Koun, which was one of the first theatres that provided free online streaming of theatrical plays last spring. She said that she had envisioned the next wave and the upcoming lockdown and for that reason, the new theatrical productions were scheduled for 2021. She also stated that it is important to find ways that can adapt in the new technologies and perform accordingly such as creating podcasts or find plays written for Radio. Ms Manolopoulou as curator at the Archaeological Museum of Patras, a town with limited cultural and touristic empowerment, noticed that the frequency of visits was reduced dramatically. The atmosphere of empty halls is heartbreaking as for the museums the interaction with the audience is vital for their existence. Mr Argyriou, pinpointed that they are lucky because they have the possibility to rearrange the dates of the Greek Film Festival in Berlin in order to make it physical at their partner cinema theater.
The conversation continued with the different aspects of the pandemic that affected the culture. All the panellists agreed that the new technological and online tools were proven useful to expand their reach in new audiences. However, they cannot replace the experience of the physical events, the interaction of people and the feeling of being together at a sharing experience in a music hall, in a theatre, in a cinema or in a museum. This new era brought in light the positive aspects of online implementation of projects as a complementary and necessary part of the traditional events organization moving to a phygital era.
To conclude, they all agreed that they felt close to each other during our discussion despite the distance and that this period from the beginning of the first lockdown was a period of reorganization, rethinking and creative adaptation combined with a mourning of the loss of all previous acquis. However, only by being positive and thinking out of the box we will all remain creative and profited.
Watch the full discussion