By Nigel Parry, Downtown St. Paul Voice—The cancellation of this year’s St. Paul Art Crawl was a blow to local artists who rely on the event to promote and sell their work. Now, the organizer of the event, the St. Paul Art Collective, is encouraging the public to support artists as much as possible and is exploring options to help artists promote their work throughout the year.

We spoke with Dave Evans, former president of the Collective and current board member, and four other Lowertown artists and musicians to learn about their future plans.

“We feel devastated, as we had invested all the funds we have collected into the event,” said Evans. “We have no idea what effect this will have on our members. The Art Crawl has become a major source of income and an important way to establish client relationships for participants.”

In all the scrambling that has occurred since the coronavirus wave hit Minnesota and forever changed our lives, one solution has been to leverage the Internet. The Collective planned to hold a Virtual Art Crawl during the weekend of the originally scheduled event: April 24-26.

In mid-April, staff were busy contacting member artists and discussing creative ways for them to host “live” events and inform buyers about how to purchase their art. The Virtual Crawl was scheduled to include video performances from artists and musicians that allowed the public to get a glimpse into the artists’ working spaces.

Over the years, the Collective has developed a large following of artists and Art Crawl participants alike and now has a large capacity for public outreach.

“This information will be shared across all our established social media platforms reaching more than 10,000 collectors and lovers of art,” said Evans. “Our partnerships with Jazz 88.5 FM, Visit St. Paul and The St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce allow us a reach that our members deserve in this unprecedented time.”

The Crawl has been the lifeblood for some local artists, including JobyLynn Sassily-James, a visual artist and Lowertown resident.

“The St. Paul Art Crawl and Art-a-Whirl in Northeast Minneapolis make up over one-third of my annual art income,” she said. “Just missing those two events is extremely financially debilitating.”

Josephine Geiger, a glass artist and treasurer of the Collective, is in a similar situation.

“It is important to me as an artist because my sales typically pay my bills for the next month,” she said. “I’m not sure what will happen come May or June.”

Northern Warehouse resident, musician and music teacher Eric Carranza planned to post links to all of his music for the Virtual Crawl and was optimistic that it would help him reach a wider audience. While he doesn’t make significant income off the Crawl, he has been dramatically affected by the pandemic nonetheless.

“Every single event, concert, performance and gig I had on the calendar has been cancelled,” he said. “Performing regularly is a large part of my income stream. I also do a yearly teaching residency with a creative arts school, which is also now cancelled as schools scramble to offer distance learning to prepare for end-of-year testing.”

Sassily-James is in the same boat.

“I own a mobile art gallery bus and do outdoor events two to seven times a week through the warm months,” she said. “This is the time of year that I have either booked or am in the process of booking events, from April through October. All events that I booked through June—and some beyond— have been cancelled. Other events are not putting out the public calls that they usually would have by now. Two gallery shows that I was scheduled to be in have also cancelled.

“So many show organizers are listening to what so many people are saying about not wanting to be quick to go back out into crowds,” she added. “I’m not sure when they’ll actually start planning large shows again. It kind of feels like it may never happen.”

That sentiment is shared by artists far and wide.

“Every show across the country has been canceled, and the ones that pushed through and held events in early March regret they did because sales were dismal, attendance sucked, and people got sick,” said Geiger.

Lisa Mathieson, a glass artist who lives in the Tilsner building, said her bevy of jobs has been affected as well.

“I am routinely offered teaching positions, arts and craft sales opportunities, and gallery shows, often out of town,” she said. “Since the world has pretty much closed down, these are all lost opportunities.”

With a compromised immune system from past health issues, she has reason to be concerned for her health as much as her income stream, but she’s trying to look on the bright side.

“I do try to maintain a positive attitude though, and it is my hope that these opportunities will be rescheduled for a later time,” said Mathieson.

Everyone we spoke with agreed that it won’t be merely a short-term storm to weather for some artists and arts organizations. Some of the venues that have cancelled upcoming events are now living with an existential threat.

“It’s hard because fees have been paid to shows that are no longer happening, and artists are out that money, as well as any money that might have been earned through sales,” said Gieger. “Many of the shows that had to cancel are also struggling because they have expenses already incurred through planning and coordination and are now also dead-in-the-water in terms of show revenue and donations. Some of these shows have reserves to refund booth fees, some are holding fees for future dates, some are giving partial refunds, and some are operating on such a tight budget that they will be bankrupt if they have to refund fees.”

Many artists depend on specific shows to sell their art and have already noticed a national chilling when it comes to people willing to purchase art.

“My work doesn’t typically sell in any way other than in-person,” said Sassily-James. “Having people seeing my work in my spaces—both my loft and my bus—or in any stores I choose to sell in that follow my esthetic, is my formula of selling my small items. Most of my large work sells in person in galleries. And that’s not possible right now.

“People are also opting to not spend money due to the uncertainty of things,” she continued. “It’s feeling a lot like the Financial Crisis of 2007-2008 all over again, in that regard. If people were willing to spend money, then I would not be seeing sales on my Etsy shop-—which has both small art and vintage items—-drop to almost nothing.”

The artists interviewed for this article were not only concerned about their own welfare, but that of the Twin Cities arts scene as a whole.

“Overall, I think there will be a lot fewer art shows and opportunities in the future because many of the organizations that sponsor these shows and festivals will be forced out of business,” surmised Geiger.

Evans opined similarly about the lasting consequences of the pandemic. “This plague will change how we feel about our social connections for many years,” he said.

For ideas on how to support local artists, visit stpaulartcrawl.org.