Related Initiatives

A new podcast hosted by Brian Alfred specifically featuring creative individuals from all walks of life to speak to how they are adjusting/coping to Covid-19 life.

Supported by an association of national art grant-makers, Artist Relief is providing $5,000 grants for struggling artists in the United States due to the dire impact of the COVID-19 crisis.

Temple University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center is calling for quarantine mail art. The call is open until September 7, 2020.

A podcast that features a variety of artists sharing their pandemic experiences and how they internalized them by revealing the evolution of their work. The podcast is hosted by Emma Cousin and can be found on Spotify.

The Eberly Family Special Collections Library invites members of the Penn State University community—including students, staff, faculty, and alumni—to participate in this effort to document their personal experiences with the COVID-19 outbreak and its effects on our day-to-day lives.

In response to many requests by Penn State faculty for current research, technical standards, and collaborative projects relating to the novel coronavirus, COVID-19, the Harrell Health Sciences Library at Hershey and STEM librarians are collecting such information in one place.

Originating from Kent State University, “Dear Vaccine” showcases voices from around the world by encouraging submissions to their global poem. Through the imaginative language of poetry, they hope to promote the uptake of vaccines amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. They urge all to “simply share their thoughts” to their public forum.

The Front Lines Project, created by sisters Dr. Elizabeth Fernandez, MD, and writer Nicole Miyashiro, pairs NYC-area physicians with poets to document COVID-19 in a process that yields personal catharsis and invites public understanding and healing.

Johns Hopkins and the Bloomberg Community display various research and project initiatives regarding COVID-19. Led by the community, research involves legal, medical, and other important discussion matters relevant to the pandemic timeline.

Highlighting local heroes, lives, and the community, First Lady of Pennsylvania, Frances Wolf, created One Lens: Sharing Our Common Views. This extraordinary art gallery of Pennsylvanian photography reveals healing, unification, and empathy within the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a response to the pandemic.

Presence in Absence, a variation of artwork showcasing individuals’ view on the “new normal”. This virtual exhibit illustrates how each artist internalized social isolation and the pandemic at large. The website varies in dialects from Idioma, Português, and English.

During the pandemic, photographer, Roger Baumgarten, started the Front Steps Project Central PA over 8-weeks to showcase “lockdown” families on their front porches. The project is compiled of 422 families in 16 municipalities across 4 counties. Additionally, the project raised $10,327 for the Salvation Army in Harrisburg. You can check out Roger’s work in our gallery as well under “visual art”.

In March 2020, when classes transitioned online, Rhetoric and Composition students wrote a blog titled “QuarantEnglish 15 at Penn State.” The blog is a compilation of writings by students who continued ‘coming to class’ on Zoom and putting forth academic efforts even when COVID-19 altered the course. This initiative is part of an ongoing effort.

UNESCO showcases world-wide COVID-19 Initiatives to bring people from around the world together through cultural and enlightened sharing. Initiative locations range from Ecuador, Iceland, Australia, and more!