#MUSEUMATHOME: COVID-19 Q&A with GRAMMY Museum President Michael Sticka
In a time void of live entertainment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the GRAMMY Museum is providing free music education programs, digital public programs — featuring interviews with artists like Billie Eilish and Courtney Barnett — and slideshows of their exhibits.
The non-profit museum based in L.A. Live was working to publish their content online to be more accessible for those unable to physically visit the museum, but expedited the process when they had to close their doors indefinitely as a result of the pandemic.
Read the full interview with GRAMMY President Michael Sticka below.
How were these artists selected and what time range were they filmed in?
All of the ones that we have announced we are releasing has been done over the last 12 to 18 months. That is actually on the reasons that we selected them, simply because accessing the content, they were the quickest and most comfortable.
How are you transitioning the museum experience to online?
We always document and take professional photos of our exhibits, and obviously, we have all of the captions and content readily available. So, the curatorial team has laid out the displays digitally now to follow along with the storyline and narrative in the same way that it was physically at the museum.
Was the museum working towards making the exhibits accessible online before the pandemic?
In our strategic plan, we have always been planning to actually create what we call a “digital museum.” So that way, you do not have to be in Los Angeles to experience the GRAMMY Museum. It is always something that [we’ve] planned for, but what the team did [last week] within 48 hours is create a schedule and plan to launch it much more quickly, and we did just that.
Is the content free?
This is a community service that the GRAMMY Museum is providing people while they are quarantined. We are a non-profit, but we are not charging people to access this content right now. I think it is pretty essential that they keep in mind that the programs we release are going to be available for thirty days. Then the exhibits will be open indefinitely.
How are people able to help the GRAMMY Museum during these times?
We are not actively soliciting for donations. What we want to do is … this is a community service. However, we are a non-profit, so [on] our website, you can see any point in time, not just now, donate or join the museum and become a member, which helps support all of our programming as well.
What does it mean to you to be able to share this content with the public at this dark time for many people?
It means the world to me because when I first became president of the museum, I created the community engagement department. And it’s because I wanted to make sure that we were actually engaging in the community [and] giving back to the community. To be able to carry this forward and at this time, especially in this time of need, is personally very fulfilling.
- 4/1 – Billie Eilish and FINNEAS
- 4/4 – Greta Van Fleet
- 4/6 – Kool And The Gang
- 4/8 – Andrea Bocelli with Matteo Bocelli and Bob Ezrin
- 4/11 – Tanya Tucker with Brandi Carlile & Shooter Jennings
- 4/13 – Common
- 4/15 – Alice Merton
- 4/18 – Los Tigres del Norte
- 4/20 – Richard Marx
- 4/22 – Courtney Barnett
- 4/25 – Ben Platt
- 4/27 – Sabrina Carpenter
- 4/29 – Brett Young
- 4/3 – Jenni Rivera, La Gran Señora
- 4/10 – Whitney!
- 4/17 – Sinatra: An American Icon
- 4/24 – Ella at 100: Celebrating the Artistry of Ella Fitzgerald
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