SCRANTON, Pa. — Native Scrantonian and actor Conor O'Brien is one of the local artists finding this time both financially and creatively challenging.
He said, "We really wanted to create a platform for those who really want to keep creating but who also really need a source of revenue, as modest as it may be right now."
O'Brien is one of the founders of the Scranton Fringe Festival, an annual 10-day creative arts festival. Whether or not there will be a Fringe Fest this fall remains to be seen.
For now, O'Brien is focusing on an effort to keep himself and other local artists afloat during the pandemic. He launched the NEPA Emergency Artists Support Fund, which has already raised a few thousand dollars.
The fund provides payments to local artists who are out of work during the pandemic. Graphic designer Jess Meoni is one of them.
"A lot of additional, or supplemental, income that I was getting to pay off student loans and things like that just went out the window. And then suddenly you have to re-budget and try to figure out where you're going to move your money," Meoni said.
The Scranton Fringe Festival has also launched Social Distant-Scene Theatre as a way for festival performers to make some money during this time. You can buy virtual tickets to some past fringe performances and watch them at home.
"Because when you are stuck in the house, you want some form of entertainment, and I think one of the ways we can help each other out is to promote local artists."
The organizers of both efforts say supporting local artists now will pay off when all this is over.
"When the dust settles, and we turn our attention back to whatever the new normal is going to look like, I think we're going to forget that all those artists that we didn't care about during this time can't just magically create content and get back to work."