A Minnesota artist keeps creative in the age of Covid-19

Kelvin Kuria, a Minnesota musician who goes by the stage name Kelvino, is attempting to stay Creative in the age of Covid-19 and make bread in a time of uncertainty.

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Life has not been easy for Minnesota based artist Kelvin Kuria, who is also known for his stage name Kelvino. Since Covid-19 became a Global pandemic, his multimedia platform, Water-Wave TV, is trying to make the best out of this bad situation.

"We are doing music videos, we are trying our best to social distance" Kuria said. "There is nothing to do and no one outside, so it's fun to do those."

Kuria is not the only artist who is grappling with the negative effects of Covid-19. Fundamental revenues such as ticket sales are nonexistent at the moment. Live events scheduled before June have been canceled. Organizations in the Arts and Entertainment industry have asked taxpayers and the federal government for help — but it has not been an easy sell.

The historic $2 trillion-dollar federal stimulus package that was signed by President Donald Trump on March 27 includes $75 million dollars for the national endowments of the arts and $75 million dollars for the national endowment for the humanities.

Other initiatives, such as Arts for Illinois – will provide crucial financial relief to workers and organizations in the creative industries impacted by COVID-19. The fund is a partnership between the City of Chicago, the State of Illinois and the broader philanthropic community.

In the meantime, artists are finding alternative ways of making revenue.

“With Youtube you have to figure out a way to keep going,” said Kuria referring to his multimedia platform WaterWaveTV. WaterWaveTV features music videos, vlogs and interviews that represent the diverse music scene in Minnesota. He added that the company invested in a new vlog camera.

“It is not easy having your own business,” said Kuria. "We are just trying to take advantage of the situation right now as much as we can". Kuria added that in a recession, houses for business are cheaper.

“We are trying to get a store front for WaterWave and start getting things moving and adapting” said Kuria.

The rise of Covid-19 and the uncertainty in the job market that followed made Kuria and his colleagues at WaterWaveTV question the value of a college education.

“School is the biggest scan,” said Kuria. "I work for a news company and I have never taken a writing class in college". Kuria added that college makes you waste a lot of time that you could use meeting people in the real world.

Kuria and his colleagues at WaterWaveTv are all in agreement that the market is shifting. “No one cares about the past, people are doing vlogs and free-lancing,” said Kuria. "It's all about building yourself, you need to build yourself as a brand".

Kuria hopes that things will go back to normal soon and that he can return to his daily life of taking vacations and playing intimate gigs in the Minneapolis area. But for now, he is using this time to hang out with his friends and mother and is hoping light is at the end of the tunnel.

"Hopefully we can get back to business as usual soon, but for now, we are going to try and be productive," Kuria concluded.