In a symposium on February 10 hosted by the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, a panel of prominent artists, administrators, and fundraisers will meet to explore the post-Covid landscape of the performing arts. Titled “The Next Normal: Arts Innovation and Resilience in a Post-Covid World,” the event will be free to watch online, with registration required at Peabody’s website.

The first panel, moderated by Peabody’s Dean Fred Bronstein, will discuss the role and expectations of artists, as well as skills to help them adapt in the future. The panel will include conductor Marin Alsop, musician Thomas Dolby, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Du Yun, pianist Stephen Hough, bandleader Sean Jones, and director Peter Sellars.

The second panel will see chief executives discuss the long-term impact of Covid on established organizations, anticipated audience trends, and the role of technology going forward. The panel will include Afa Dworkin of the Sphinx Organization, Margaret Lioi of Chamber Music America, Deborah Rutter of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Marc Scorca of OPERA America, and Simon Woods of the League of American Orchestras.

The third panel will explore the pandemic’s impact through the lens of arts funders such as Ben Cameron of the Jerome Foundation, Anita Contini of Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Susan Feder of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Finally, there will be an interactive session led by Farouk Dey, leading expert in experiential education, and Johns Hopkins University’s vice provost for integrative learning and life design. Titled, “Reinventing the Performing Arts through Design Thinking,” the session will use case studies to introduce and explore design thinking approaches to problem-solving in the industry.

“COVID-19 has been devastating for the performing arts in this country, but there is a way forward,” said Bronstein. “We launched the Peabody Conservatory Post-COVID Think Tank last fall to begin to explore internally what lessons we can learn from COVID’s impact. With this symposium, we want to broaden the conversation nationally and hear from each other about how we can create a stronger future for artists and arts institutions.”