New Orleans is home to an incredible portfolio of museums and arts institutions. I know, I know — when we’re presented with festival after festival, we don’t always spend as much time as we’d like exploring exhibits and galleries. But this COVID-19 pandemic is allowing us to rethink how we use that time.

Stuck in our homes, the city’s cultural organizations could have closed their doors and waited for this crisis to pass. Instead, they’ve done the opposite.

As museums think about how they engage the public during  closures, there are four primary digital experiences they should consider.

For all of us at The Historic New Orleans Collection, these historic times compel us to extend our work in new ways: while we will continue to present history, we are also chronicling it in real time. THNOC is actively collecting material related to the COVID-19 pandemic as it unfolds, and staff are exploring new ways to capture public reaction to the crisis so that future generations can understand it.

At America’s National World War II Museum, we have always looked to our collections and galleries to find sources of inspiration and leadership: from everyday citizens doing their part to help defeat a common enemy to frontline leaders making tough decisions and personal sacrifices in the face of unprecedented challenges.

While the Jewish Museum is temporarily closed, we invite you to stay connected from home. Here is what’s happening this week.

When the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City was forced to close due to the coronavirus outbreak, the museum asked its head of security, Tim, to take over their social media networks. Tim and his team are the only ones still working at the museum while it is closed, making him the perfect candidate to continue their social media presence.

As the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston commemorate their 150th birthdays in a state of heightened scrutiny, our critic offers a five-point plan to save the souls of our venerable institutions.

At the Sidney Museum in Sidney, B.C., staff have had to close their annual Lego show and cancel its March Break scavenger hunt, the biggest money-makers of the year for a local history museum where admission is by donation. At the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) an exhibition of mummies on loan from the British Museum was supposed to be shipped to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto at the end of the month, but is now stuck indefinitely in Quebec. And at the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic on the Halifax waterfront, the doors are closed and the cruise-ship passengers will not be strolling by this spring – but the public can still check out Merlin the parrot on the museum’s webcam.

Museums, too, are beginning to be affected by the fear and precautions taken in light of the spreading coronavirus. Across Asia and Europe, cultural organizations and tourist destinations are closing down to visitors. While this is taking its toll on the cultural sector, several museums have begun to devise creative strategies to make their collections and exhibitions available to the public through digital and virtual tools.

The German federal government is stepping in with a sweeping aid package for the country’s creative and cultural sectors. According to a press release shared by the ministry of culture and reports in the German press, a staggering €50 billion ($54 billion) in backing will be provided.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art sent shockwaves through the museum world last week when it revealed that it expected to lose as much as $100 million and remain closed until July as part of a global effort to fight coronavirus. Layoffs, its leadership suggested, were likely.

Many administrators at other museums immediately wondered: if an institution as wealthy as the Met, which has an endowment of more than $3 billion, will struggle to survive the pandemic without drastic measures, what hope is there for the rest of us?

Eric Fischl is supplying a limited edition print to benefit the closed New York Academy of Art while other sales are being donated to emergency funds and community organisations.

As part of the Ontario Museum Association’s role to represent the province’s museum sector to governments and funders, we have developed a short survey to collect up-to-date and sector-specific information on the impacts of COVID-19 for Ontario’s museums. We are asking for your assistance to provide this information so that we can advocate on your behalf.

There is still much to learn about the full impact that COVID-19 will have on our lives and the lives of those around us. We stand in solidarity with arts organizations, their employees, and artists as things continue to unfold and we encourage the community of audience members, donors, and grantmakers to do what they can to continue their support throughout this time of uncertainty. 

Now more than ever, we are here to empower arts and cultural leaders with high-quality data and evidence-based resources and insights that help to overcome challenges and increase impact.

The coronavirus has already had a devastating economic impact on America’s nonprofit arts sector—financial losses to date are estimated to be $3.2 billion. Since the first U.S. case was reported on January 20, cancellations and closings have been reported in thousands of communities spanning all 50 states.

If your cultural organization is closed to the public due to COVID-19, don’t disregard marketing efforts. Here are four recommendations for consideration that we will give to any cultural entity right now – urban or rural, exhibit or performance-based, with tens of millions of dollars in operating revenue or of more modest means. A) Strategic deferral in paid media to local audiences B) Replace investments aimed at immediate activation (“visit now!’) and focus instead on maintaining top-of-mind status and broad awareness C) Meet people where they are right now: Online.

Organizations are offering medical emergency grants while other groups crowdsource data quantifying the impact of the health crisis on the cultural labour market. As the financial hit on workers in the cultural sectors in the US and UK begins to rise due fears surrounding the spread of coronavirus, The Art Newspaper has compiled an initial list of grants and other resources aimed at benefitting artists and cultural producers at this time.

Is it time to consider a cultural Marshall Plan to rescue and restore the financial health of New York City's arts community?  Karen Brooks Hopkins, former and long-serving President of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, proposes the creation of a public-private task force to design a comprehensive aid package to a key sector of the city’s economy and civic life.

Please see below for collected information and resources regarding the novel coronavirus and its impacts for Ontario museums. These resources are not to be taken as legal advice or a definitive answer for any particular museum, but rather as a guide for preparedness for the field. We encourage members to consult relevant policies & legislation.

The need to adapt, adjust and rethink may now be a question of survival and a post-pandemic scenario may leave us with a new breed of museum netizens. These three out of many more possible medium to long-term reactions discussed here have been under discussion for quite some time and are certainly not new to many.

1. Consider your assets as a resource to be used beyond expert and connoisseur
2. Look for the opportunity to negotiate meaning rather than declaring meaning, relevance and significance
3. Consider your museum’s identity as being both physical and virtual at the same time.

A disaster relief fund will be needed — and it starts with all of us. We all know that the economic impact of the new coronavirus pandemic is going to be huge. But for South Bay nonprofit organizations and arts groups, it could be absolutely devastating.

The launch of the COVID-19 Fund for Feeding Families with multimillion-dollar donations from Sheryl Sandberg and her fiance Tom Bernthal, along with John and Eileen Donahoe, Mike Schroepfer and Erin Hoffmann, and Bill and Amy Gurley is a great model for keeping Second Harvest Food Bank going during the crisis. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

The originals are out of reach for now, but you can still see world-class art – without the queues or ticket prices – with an online tour of these famous museums.

Families can still take their children to the museum, but in a different way, as we practice social distancing.

Classes in Manitoba will be cancelled for the next three weeks. Here are museums that families can explore in front of a screen as they stay home.

Here is a list of existing online resources and resources from institutions that have, in astonishing time, made culture available online. In the spirit of community, if you know of other resources, please reach out to us and we will be happy to include it.

The museums of Modern art in New York and San Francisco are leading the way on promoting digital content on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Art Institute of Chicago and Smithsonian are among institutions that have embraced technology, and more are set to ramp up their efforts.

Though times are tough, heroes everywhere are spreading hope and stepping up for their communities. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is among them. The institution is making its virtual exhibition tours free while it remains closed as a protective measure to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

"We need the healing powers of art in our lives now more than ever," a statement reads.

The doors to Calgary’s Glenbow Museum were closed on March 13, due to COVID-19 concerns — but that doesn’t mean the public can’t access the artwork inside the building.

Glenbow Museum launched its first “Glenbow from Home” exhibit on Wednesday. The website allows audiences to go online and virtually view exhibits inside the museum.

“We still want to create opportunities for you to experience art outside of Glenbow’s walls,” museum officials said in an online statement on Tuesday.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic and advice from experts calling on people to practice social distancing — or staying home and avoiding public spaces and crowds — many museums and cultural institutions have, for the time being, shut their doors.

But many museums are getting creative by sharing their collections via virtual tours and exhibits, and most recently, through "moments of zen" on social media.

There are ways to see exhibitions and visit museums without having to leave the house – here are some of the best virtual tours and digital archives on the web.

Tour the world's best art museums while practicing responsible social distancing.

Dying to visit an art museum, but stuck behind closed doors during the ever-evolving global health crisis? Google Arts and Culture can help. The tech giant’s art website offers online access to 500 cultural organizations around the world, from museums to historic sites, all viewable without ever leaving your living room.

In the blink of an eye, once-crowded museums sit empty. We’re preparing ourselves for social distancing and potential quarantine. This is the time for museum technology to step up and fill the void. The potential of online collections, virtual tours, and social media campaigns have always been there, but now the opportunity for impact is incalculable.

Access to endless open content. Educational resources for e-learning. Virtual retreats to art, culture, and history around the globe. This is the museum technology community’s time to shine!

TORONTO — As an increasing number of public spaces temporarily close their doors and “social distancing” keeps more of the population hemmed into their homes, the question of just what to do with our time is looming large in the minds of Canadians.

Here’s a quick selection of some museum exhibits and archives you can explore from your computer or phone.

If you are in self-isolation or your local galleries have closed, here are the best digital initiatives to feed your need for art.

As coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread and disrupt the daily lives of people across the globe, forcing many to self-quarantine, we are compiling the best online offerings from artists, museums and galleries. Whether you are staying at home or your local museums and galleries have closed, here are some of the best digital initiatives to satisfy your creative cravings.

Experience the best museums from London to Seoul in the comfort of your own home.

After the fire that totally destroyed Brazil’s Museu Nacional in Rio, many people lamented that the museum had not digitally backed up its collection and pointed to the event as a tragic example of why such digitization is so necessary. Just a couple decades ago, storing and displaying this much information was impossible, so it may seem like a strange demand to make. And in any case, two-dimensional images stored on servers—or even 3D printed copies—cannot replace or substitute for original, priceless artifacts or works of art.

Paris Musées, a collection of 14 museums in Paris have recently made high-res digital copies of 100,000 artworks freely available to the public on their collections website. Artists with works in the archive include Rembrandt, Monet, Picasso, Cézanne, and thousands of others.

In solidarity and support to all those affected by the coronavirus pandemic, especially the most vulnerable among us – the elderly, the sick, the poor and all those in harms way, the UN Chamber Music Society of the United Nations Staff Recreation Council (UNCMS), in association with Open Mind Project and Culturunners, presents this special webcast performance to pay tribute to all the acts of selflessness that are inspiring the world in these uncertain times, and to encourage physical distancing to stem the spread of COVID-19.

Tafelmusik has always been known for being creative and resilient, and in the coming days, we will share details about how we hope to support you with the comfort of music throughout this rapidly evolving situation. Music and the arts are, after all, an expression of our collective humanity, and play an important role in our well-being during difficult times.

If you have not yet done so, please follow Tafelmusik on Instagram, Facebook, and Spotify to take advantage of the content we are putting together for you, and look out for the hashtag #TafelmusikTogether. We’ll also be asking you via these platforms: what you would like to see from us over the next few weeks? How can we help, within the context of the music recordings, videos, and information that we have and can share with you?

With social distancing in place, we want to continue sharing music and building community with audiences worldwide. Over the next few weeks, Silkroad artists will be giving short, musical performances on Facebook and Instagram. Silkroad Home Sessions will bring music of comfort and joy directly from our homes into yours!

Bans on large gatherings have meant those tuning in aren’t aping the live listeners. They are the only listeners.

Are you an artist whose livelihood has been hit by COVID-19? (This list of resources will be updated as we receive new information.) Are you just struggling to make lockdown-life more productive and meaningful? (Here’s an overwhelming number of ways to stimulate your creativity.)

These are dark times. But Sir Patrick Stewart, as always, is an international treasure and is determined to do his part to help us weather this crisis. Stewart, 79, has taken to reading a sonnet a day aloud and posting it on Instagram.

CMOM is a valuable resource for families with our art, health, science, reading, dance, cooking, singing and cultural learning activities that are both lots of fun and educational. Each day of the week will have a theme -- Magical Monday, Move to the Groove Tuesday, Our World Wednesday, and more! You’ll see how to use tape to create a hallway obstacle course, bubble wrap for a lively dance party, baking soda for a surprise science project just to name a few of the activities coming your way.

Two weeks of fun, free creative challenges to do at home, starting on 23rd March 2020.

We've put together a page that we will update as often as we can with resources from health and from the cultural sector. There are a few examples below but these are just a snapshot of the amazing work being put together by the cultural/creative sector.

Recordings of Past Events. Click on the program title to access the recording and any materials needed. These recording can be used for classrooms or individual students at home.

To support parents and their children, teachers, students, and caregivers alike, our educators created this selection of activities, lesson plans, films, and other materials for learning at home.