Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you as a performing artist?

"For me, it has actually been a really restorative time. I am a teacher and I mostly nurture others. I seldom have time to play my piano, to read, to do further research, so personally it has been a very restorative time and a time to go in and sit, and be in the moment without a sense of forward movement and needing to stay up. It has been a really wonderful, quiet time. That being said, I know my privilege—I am able to take this time. I have food and shelter and don't have financial worry. My heart is heavy for so many that do, and I do have so many friends that are sick.

I feel that this is a great time for unity as well. I have been in touch and reached out to people that I may not have before. I lost my mother the Sunday before everything happened, so I’ve had the time to mourn her loss, and I am so thankful she went when she did and didn’t have to suffer through this time. She would have been isolated and I wouldn't have been able to be with her. It is a very strange blessing. The other thing is that the planet is breathing again. I pray that after this, society recognizes the change in our planet from a short shut-down, and policy will follow to preserve that. I hope we don't jump back to where we were before, and instead that this is a wake-up call."

Q: Using the idea of “worldmaking” how do you imagine the performing arts world after the pandemic? (Worldmaking: How you can re-imagine the world in your own terms, the way you want it to be. Using this tool one can construct new worlds and write themselves into narratives that have excluded them and systems that have disabled them.)

"I hope that the world recognizes that the artists are on the frontlines as well and are getting us through this time. People are in their homes alone, watching films and listening to music—the artists are the ones enriching our lives. I hope that is recognized as we go forward––that the artists got us through this time. I hope they continue to support the arts and recognize the value that it plays in their lives."