NORTHWEST INDIANA- The Dunes Arts Foundation and Dunes Summer Theatre is working to help artists who are out of work during the Coronavirus pandemic. Jeffrey Baumgartner, who is Producing Artistic Director of the organizations told Lakeshore Public Radio that they knew their summer season, which is from May to September, was going to be impacted by the Coronavirus. So now the companies are working to help the out-of-work musicians through a program they devised called "Hump Day Happy Hour."
"Hump Day Happy Hour was born as a way to provide something for our audiences but really it was to at least enlist and employ some of our friends who were incredibly talented who wanted to showcase that talent, so that's how this came about," Baumgartner said.
Hump Day Happy Hour is Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. in which local and regional musicians are employed to showcase their sets. Baumgartner says they'll play from 35 to 45 minutes in a live webcast that appears on the Dunes Arts Foundation's Facebook page. Baumgartner says he expects the online programming will happen weekly.
