The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted every facet of Canadian society. First and foremost, it has resulted in the tragic loss of life for thousands of Canadians, leaving family, friends and communities to grieve their passing, as well as significantly affected the health of thousands more. Beyond this, it has had an enormous impact on Canada’s economy, political institutions, social programs, education at all levels, as well as the arts and cultural sector, to note just some of the wide-ranging effects of this pandemic.
To help Canada respond to the myriad challenges that have arisen as a result of COVID-19, The Royal Society of Canada (RSC) has created a COVID–19 Task Force to address the pressing issues the pandemic has raised. Topics which have or will be investigated in a series of papers include Science Trust, Long Term Care, Mental Health, Homelessness, Civil Liberties, Education, Higher Education, and Indigenous Health, with additional work forthcoming.
Given the important role that art and creative research can play in responding to, and helping us understand, the complex issues that have arisen out of the pandemic, the RSC has also created a COVID-19 Working Group to integrate and underscore artistic and other creative responses to this crisis. As part of this initiative, this website was developed to exhibit and host creative work in a wide range of disciplines and forms, including music, sound, literature, visual art, theater, performance and media arts, as well as academic writing on the place of creative work in relation to pandemics in both a historic and contemporary context.
The site is intended to have several functions, including acting as a place to experience creative research related to COVID-19, creating an archive to document this cultural moment, and offering an opportunity to explore new creative practices.
The lived experience of illness and of coping with a pandemic can be difficult to articulate as well as difficult to process. It is vital for artists and other creative researchers to work alongside other disciplines to help explore the full impact this crisis is having on our society. The anxiety, fear, and uncertainty that this crisis has produced is having very real impacts on how Canada responds to COVID-19 – influencing public policy decisions and attitudes towards science and healthcare. But it has also reminded us of the importance of social interactions, including through the arts and other cultural activities, and of our enormous capacity to make positive change when we work together. Creative research enables all of us to more fully articulate and understand this crisis, and in turn places us in a better position to respond to this pandemic effectively, as individuals and as a society.
CALL FOR CREATIVE RESEARCH RESPONDING TO COVID-19
The Royal Society of Canada (RSC) has created a COVID–19 Task Force in response to the pressing issues the pandemic has brought to Canadian society. Topics which have or will be investigated in a series of papers include: Science Trust; Long Term Care; Mental Health; Homelessness; Civil Liberties; Education; Higher Education; and Indigenous Populations.
Given the important role art and creative research can play in responding to the complex issues that have arisen out of the COVID-19 crisis, the RSC has created a COVID-19 Working Group to integrate and underscore artistic/creative responses to this crisis. As part of this initiative a website is being developed to exhibit and host creative work in a wide range of disciplines and forms, including music, sound, literature, visual art, performance and media arts. The site will have several functions, including acting as a place to experience creative research related to COVID-19, creating an archive to document this cultural moment, and offering an opportunity to explore new creative practices.
How to submit work:
The Working Group has put out a call to creative researchers to invite them to submit work for this website. The site will be designed to host a wide range of creative forms. The following are guidelines and formats that creative work can be submitted:
All Files:
Naming conventions: use letters, numbers, underscores, and hyphens in file names. Other characters (like non-breaking spaces, question marks, percent signs, and ampersands) may upload incorrectly or cause unexpected behavior online.
Still Images:
Quantity: One to Eight images
Resolution: Minimum of 72 dpi and a Maximum of 150 dpi
Size/Dimensions: Height can be variable, but width should be between 1500 & 2500 pixels wide.
Color Space: RGB only with an sRGB color profile attached to support mobile devices. CMYK images will not render on screen and should be converted prior to submission.
File types: Save images in .jpg, .gif, or .png format only. PDF, .psd, .tff, and .doc files aren't web-compatible.
Video:
Maximum Resolution: 1080p or 1920 x 1080.
Minimum resolution: 720p or 1280 x 720.
Aspect ratio: 16:9
File Format: MP4
Audio:
Format: stereo, lossless format like WAV, FLAC, AIFF, or ALAC. If your piece is mono, please remaster with audio duplicated in both L & R channels.
Please note that all submissions will be transcoded to a high-quality format optimized for music streaming like AAC 256 kbps.
Written Work:
Text file, Rich text file or a simplified Word Document, Shared Google document - no PDF’s or Design files (.indd, .ai etc) please. Note that text will be copied and pasted “as-is” so final editing and/or proofing should be complete prior to submission.
Links to Existing Online Works
We also encourage work, either creative or historical, that reflects on past pandemics and related crises.
Please include along with your submission the following information in a word document:
200-word creative/artist statement about the work
150-word biography
Short description of work (i.e. media, dimensions, if it is a documentation of a work)
Any relevant copyright information
The initial deadline to receive submissions will be November 1st, However, the project is intended to grow and expand over time; therefore, work will be considered on an ongoing basis after the initial submission deadline.
Submissions should be sent via attachment in an email to: covidcreative2020@gmail.com
