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I'm Michael Krasny.

Last month, Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled a $500 million grants program for nonprofits,

small businesses, and cultural institutions in an attempt to alleviate COVID-19's impact

on California's arts industry.

Still, the pandemic's toll on the arts has been devastating as venues and theaters have closed,

ticket revenue has vanished, and funding sources have become scarcer.

But a number of organizations are finding new and creative ways to survive.

We'll talk with the leaders of some Bay Area

Arts organizations about the pandemic's impacts and how they've adapted and what's ahead. That's next

after this news. Welcome to Forum. I'm Michael Krasny. Art makes the crudeness of reality bearable, to paraphrase George Bernard Shaw, and by those lights we're all struggling mightily. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a crushing blow to California's arts and cultural institutions,

and the state has not yet issued guidelines as to when they can reopen.

In this hour, we're going to hear how arts groups are coping nine months into the pandemic

and the creative way some local organizations are staying afloat and bringing joy and beauty to their audiences.

...