Distant together: creative community in UK DIY music during Covid-19

Fife, Kirsty ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8730-612X (2022) Distant together: creative community in UK DIY music during Covid-19. In: Lockdown Cultures: The arts and humanities in the year of the pandemic, 2020-21. Comparative Literature and Culture . UCL Press, pp. 49-57. ISBN 9781800083394

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Abstract

Those participating in DIY cultural communities (including zine makers, musicians, artists and activists) have traditionally been reliant on physical spaces to gather, perform, build connections and mobilise community. With the rapid closure of music venues, galleries, community centres and other public spaces, these already dispersed communities have been mobilised into seeking and creating alternatives. These alternatives include novel utilisation of existing digital platforms (Zoom, Houseparty and Instagram, for example) to forge temporary virtual spaces for cultural communities. Such spaces have been used to host everything from house parties, gigs and zine fairs to writing circles, enabling cultural organisers to raise money, connect isolated individuals and nurture creative practice in new and innovative ways. This article explores the motivations and politics of those creating these spaces, arguing that these virtual alternatives are significant (albeit temporary) in connecting communities in an otherwise distant time.