The Social Distancing Festival

The Social Distancing Festival is an international, multidisciplinary online theatre festival that was created as theatres, music venues, and art galleries across Canada shut their doors owing to the spread of COVID-19. The website received hundreds of submissions, media attention from around the world, and over a quarter of a million unique visitors within the first week of launching. Artists participated from across Canada and around the world, including countries that had been severely impacted by the virus, such as China, Italy, and Spain. The process of collecting and presenting this art was deeply moving, in terms of both the quality of the work and the stories of those who submitted. This article chronicles the creation of this work, revisits some of the standout content, and details the Long Distance Art series.