(Photo by Jeremy Williams)
With the coronavirus pandemic shutting down stages, theatres and concerts venues across the country, organizations have tried to find a way to get the live entertainment industry back to work.
“We were the first industry to actually shut down,” said Dr. Phillips Center President and CEO Katherine Ramsberger at a media event Nov. 19. “There are 3,000 independent theaters across the country; many of them have already closed permanently.”
Central Florida, with its large entertainment industry, has in particular felt the negative impact of COVID-19. According to Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, almost 10,000 events have to be cancelled across Central Florida and nearly 4,300 jobs have been lost, translating into roughly $4 million in lost wages.
“A healthy local arts and live entertainment industry is vital to our community,” Demings said at the Dr. Phillips Center media event. “The pandemic has had a devastating effect on our nonprofit arts organizations.”
In an effort to try and get performers and entertainers back to work, the Dr. Phillips Center has announced a six-month long, one-of-a-kind outdoor entertainment experience called the Frontyard Festival. Named so because — as Ramsberger describes it — everyone’s rediscovery during the pandemic of how important our front yards are in getting to know our neighbors again.
“The Frontyard Festival actually is not a save for the arts center and it’s not a save for our partners down the street —The Social and The Beachum and others,” Ramsberger said. “What this is? It’s a motivational lift and it’s kind of a tribute to — what I’ve learned having a chance to work with both Mayor [Jerry] Demings and Mayor [Buddy] Dyer and their teams is that this partnership between the arts center and the city [and] the county — when we put our minds to something, even though sometimes it looks pretty impossible to get it done, we’re going to get it done if it’s the right thing.”
Dr. Phillips Center’s Frontyard Festival will support more than 2,000 artists over the life of the festival, bringing a series of events — both free and ticketed — seven days a week. Just as the name implies, the events will take place in the 3-acre Seneff Arts Plaza in front of the Dr. Phillips Center.
The arts plaza has been filled with hundreds of private, elevated boxes, placed 6 feet apart, allowing guests to enjoy their event at a safe distance from other attendees. Each box will come with chairs and a table and can hold up to five guests. Two 16-by-28-foot LED screens are set up on either side of the Frontyard Festival stage. The entire plaza will be closed in by a wooden fence and will have a newly constructed entry point off Orange Ave.
“This is about people coming together and being with people again,” Ramsberger said. “With festivals sometimes you go because of the live entertainment, sometimes you go because the people you’re with and sometimes you go because of the food and just the entire cultural experience.”
Whatever reason someone decides to attend the Frontyard Festival, they can do so knowing that their safety is Dr. Phillips Center’s priority number one, said Ramsberger.
Along with AdventHealth being the Frontyard Festival’s presenting sponsor, the nonprofit health care system is also working with the Dr. Phillips Center to make sure everything involving the outdoor festival is in compliance with CDC guidelines and local initiatives. Along with all boxes being socially distanced, masks will be required at all times unless you’re in the box. Touchless temperature and bag checks will be done as you enter and every box will be thoroughly sanitized using hospital-grade disinfectant before each performance.
“[We] have worked very, very closely with the team here to make sure that the festival is a safe place to visit and have fun with your friends and your families,” said Sharon Line Clary, vice president of Strategic Marketing & Communications for AdventHealth, at the festival media event. “We are proud to not only support our community but the many performers and artists who we know can’t wait to get back on stage, and mostly we’re here to help our neighbors feel whole again.”
Guests will also be able to order food and drinks from on-site restaurant partners Toasted, Tap Room at Dubsdread and Nikki’s Place, along with a variety of concepts from local restaurant entrepreneur Harp & Cork: Dharma Fine Vittles, Oak Flame Pizza, Eola General, Sea Legs and Juniper Patisserie. Guests will be able to order either in person at the restaurant structures near the festival entrance or through the new Frontyard Festival app.
“You can actually order a picnic basket [before your event] that will be in your box,” Ramsberger said. “It can be barbecue and a bucket of beer, it can be charcuterie and champagne … The whole idea is your choice in a very safe environment.”
Along with AdventHealth, the City of Orlando and Orange County, other festival sponsors and contributors will include Ravago Americas, Vystar Credit Union, American Momentum, Experience Kissimmee, Fifth Third Bank, OUC, Massey Services, Pepsi, Florida Blue, City Beverages, Hilton Destinations, TD Charitable Foundation, WESH 2 & CW18, iHeartMedia, Clear Channel Outdoor, Orlando Weekly and Watermark Publishing Group.
Programming will start at 7 a.m. each morning with a series of health and wellness classes courtesy of the YMCA of Central Florida.
“They had 2,000 employees, they now have 800,” Ramsberger said. “People aren’t going back to the gyms like we need to. All the instructors and the coaches and the trainers they’re not working either, so we’re doing it free to the community. In the mornings, you can come here have the quality Y experience on site.”
When registering for a class at FrontyardFestival.org, each participant will select a private box and will be required to bring their own equipment such as yoga mats and water bottles. A start date will be announced soon and an initial weekly schedule will include yoga on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays; boot camp on Tuesdays and Wednesdays; and Zumba on Saturdays.
In the afternoons from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., the Central Florida Music Association in partnership with the Dr. Phillips Center will produce “Live and Local,” a free lunchtime series featuring live entertainment from local artists.
“If you all remember when Pulse was on the site, there was live music here for six weeks, twice a day,” Ramsberger said. “Musicians — all professionals, that’s where they make their living — came out here every single day for free and gave that to the community … it’s time for us to pay them back … these union members, this is their career and they are no longer employed at this point time.”
The Dr. Phillips Center has raised funds specifically to pay for the “Live and Local” musicians.
“[Musicians]will be on site for anybody to come down for free to study in a box, to work in a box, to have lunch in the box, to listen to professional artists from Central Florida,” Ramsberger said.
Evening events will include Broadway performances, orchestras, opera, choirs and more. While the Frontyard Festival’s full six month line-up has not been released, Dr. Phillips Center has announced 10 festival events coming in December.
The festival kicks off on Dec. 5 with co-headliners Citizen Cope and G Love & the Juice. With more than 15 records released, G Love’s signature blend of delta blues, hip hop, funk, rock & roll and jazz has been an influence to artists such as Jack White, Jack Johnson, The Avett Brothers and Slightly Stoopid. Singer-songwriter Cope — who has written songs recorded by Carlos Santana, Dido and more — brings his mix of blues, soul, folk and rock to the Frontyard.
On Dec. 6, Rollins College and Full Sail University present the fourth annual holiday spectacular, Songs of the Season. With musicians and vocalists from Rollins and state-of-the-art production from Full Sail, this celebration will get you in the holiday spirit and will include festive singalongs to some classic songs.
On Dec. 9, students from Dr. Phillips Center’s AdventHealth School of the Arts will present a uniquely reimagined, socially-distanced version of the Broadway smash hit, “Ragtime.” Set in the volatile melting pot of early 20th century New York, three distinctly American tales are woven together to explore what it means to live in the U.S.
On Dec. 10, the Frontyard brings two Grammy Award-winning performers to the outdoor stage — Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires. Isbell has seen his last three albums hit No. 1 on the U.S. country charts, has won four Grammys and is widely renowned as one of the greatest songwriters of his generation. Shires is not only a celebrated country singer, songwriter and fiddler, but she is a member of the all-female country super group, The Highwomen, alongside Brandi Carlile, Maren Morris and Natalie Hemby.
On Dec. 11, in an acoustic “side project” from American rock band Shinedown’s frontman Brent Smith and guitarist Zach Myers, comes WJRR’s Acoustic Christmas. Smith and Myers reimagine beloved chapters of the American songbook alongside their own bold contributions, with nothing more than a microphone and an instrument or two.
On Dec. 12, spend the evening with Big Bad Voodoo Daddy for their Wild & Swingin’ Holiday Party. Catch the original core lineup as this Southern California swing revival band performs a raucous, feel-good show full of holiday classics.
On Dec. 15, Central Florida Community Arts (CFCArts) presents “Noel: The Carols of Christmas.” Members of the CFCArts Community Choir and Symphony Orchestra bring a traditional and spirited celebration of The Christmas Story, told through dramatic narration and featuring magnificent and brilliant arrangements of Christmas’ most treasured carols. “Noel” is an inspiring collection of arrangements from award-winning and renowned conductor and arranger, Derric Johnson. Don’t miss out on this unique, collaborative celebration, as only CFCArts can bring.
On Dec. 19, Broadway star and Orlando native, Michael James Scott hits the plaza with his new album, “A Fierce Christmas.” In a blow-the-roof-off-the-outdoor-theatre musical event, Scott — who is best known as playing the Genie in Broadway’s “Aladdin” — closes out 2020 in his hometown with his signature brand of joy and light. Scott will share holiday favorites from his new album including “The Christmas Song,” “I’ll Be Home For Christmas,” “This Christmas” and more, along with Scott staples such as “Smile,” “This Is Me,” “What the World Needs Now” and “Friend Like Me.” Scott will take the stage with a 12-piece band, a 16-person community choir and a few guest stars. You will also hear stories about his adventures on the New York stage, around the world and growing up in Central Florida.
On Dec 22, Victory Productions presents the internationally acclaimed trio, The Christmas Tenors. Operatic tenors Fernando Varela, Craig Irvin and Devin Eatmon, along with The Villages Philharmonic Orchestra, under the guidance of Maestro Pasquale Valerio, bring holiday cheer to the Frontyard.
On Dec. 23, in association with iHeart Media, world-renowned salsa orchestra El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico brings Mega Latin Christmas, Central Florida’s largest Latin holiday celebration of 2020, to downtown Orlando.
Heading into 2021, Dr. Phillips Center has confirmed the Frontyard Festival will include performances from the Orlando Gay Chorus, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Septet with Wynton Marsalis, Step Afrika, Keb’ Mo’, Tye Tribbett, Bethune Cookman University Concert Chorale and UCF Celebrates the Arts. More artists — locally, nationally and internationally — will be announced over the next several months.
Speaking at the media event, Dyer stated that the Orlando City Council at their next meeting would be voting on $70,000 in grant funding to help local cultural not-for-profits with the financial assistance they’ll need if they need to pay to utilize this space.
“I think it’s important that everybody has that opportunity,” Dyer said.
Along with the Frontyard Festival, the Dr. Phillips Center is pushing Save Our Stages, an initiative from the National Independent Venue Association — which Dr. Phillips is a member — to get Congress to enact legislation to help the live entertainment industry.
“We need your voices and [by going to SaveOurStages.com] your elected officials will know that you’re behind saving these wonderful economic drivers and these places of passion in everybody’s cities,” Ramsberger said.
Ticketing and seating for festival shows will be different than those inside the arts center. Rather than purchasing individual tickets, festival guests will select their own private box. Boxes will have a minimum seat requirement that will vary by show. Pricing will vary based on the artist, box location and minimum number of tickets guests must purchase. For more information go to FrontYardFestival.org. To tell your elected representatives to “Save Our Stages,” go to SaveOurStages.com.
