The Russell family has made an impact in the arts and entertainment business in Prince George for decades.
Judy Russell has Enchainement Dance Centre and produces live shows on a grand scale through Judy Russell Presents while Bill Russell created Russell Audio Visual.
This year's pandemic has created some monumental challenges in the live entertainment industry. Shuttering the whole world and preventing large gatherings, people who thrived once in their dream jobs have been forced to change directions, adapt if they could or abandon entirely their life's work to seek other ways to make a living.
Jon Russell, Bill's son, took on a more serious role in Russell AV in 2013 and while other aspects of the industry suffered, Jon was able to adapt.
"As industry professionals we have all just been shocked at how quickly our industry was affected," he said. "It's interesting because by nature our industry is kind of in the background - we're not really supposed to be seen - and in this case it's worked against us during this time because people have forgotten this is an industry that very much relies on gatherings. It's just been weird. So weird."
Jon wondered if live entertainment would come back the way it was or if there will be a new adapted version.
"Will there still be a place for industry workers of the same magnitude?" he asked. "There’s a lot of unknowns."
As the world shut down abruptly, Jon said he took a cautious approach to adapting the business.
"We weren't sure what was happening and we didn't want to make rash decisions early on," he said. "Now that we've gained more insight into how long things will be like this and how in some ways it's more economical and feasible to do more things online using a virtual platform, we're putting together a business model that definitely utilizes that more."
Looking ahead, the Russells will be retrofitting the dance centre's 3,000 square foot studio space to offer a virtual event space, Jon said.
The black box will be a venue where an entire socially-distanced band can perform for a virtual audience.
Cold Snap, the annual winter music festival planned for Jan. 29 to Feb. 6, 2021, will be hosted virtually in that space, Jon added.
"So that will be our first job there," he said.
"Now that we're getting a sense of what the future is going to hold and how in some ways this model may be a mix of live events and live production but certainly there's going to be an aspect of virtual then it totally makes sense to do it," Jon said. "Who wants to travel all the time if you really could just take part virtually? There's a lot of upsides to that."
The Russells will transition the space to a live stream venue while Jon tries to keep busy with other work like installs and other post production work that includes video editing and audio mixing, he added.
Jon knows he's lucky he's been able to adapt his business. Peers in bigger centres have not been so lucky.
"This isn't the easiest industry to move up in and some people have been hit really hard," Jon said.
He said his family, with their combined businesses, have managed to weather the storm quite well but that's not been the case for those who were only on one track for their entire careers.
"It's sad to see some people who work really hard to build their businesses - especially the freelancers - and it's been pulled out from under them," Jon said. "They really had no choice but to transition to another industry where they are starting from the bottom and working their way up. I feel a little guilty because at one time in my career I was considering switching things up and this kind of happened at a good time."
Jon was under contract to manage the Prince George Playhouse for many years and the contract ended recently. It won't be renewed because events can't be held there and as he was transitioning away from that sort of thing anyway it worked out well for the City of Prince George and Jon.
"So it was all about timing," Jon said. "That circumstance made the decision for us and we're moving on. This way I don't feel like we're letting the community down as much as we move on to other things."
Despite the challenges there have been a lot of positives for Jon, he added.
"I'm a pretty positive person so I've been trying to look at the bright side of things," Jon said. "So you know what? We're all healthy and we are in a pretty good position from a business perspective so it's just finding the niche and finding what this particular region needs and the context of how we relate to some of those opportunities in our neck of the woods. Those are the big questions as we continue to face all the unknowns during the pandemic."
