We curated 17 speakers and several additional interludes, with a plan to film at Wrigley Field early June, then stream the program on June 28th on Vimeo. We implemented Covid-19 related safety protocols that involved filming with a skeletal crew, socially distant and in protective gear. Our speakers were each assigned time slots for their presentations, entering, delivering their talks and exiting one at a time, taking their masks off only during their actual presentations.
But as the date approached, Chicago's seams were in danger of coming apart amidst civil unrest and protests against police brutality and systemic racism. Thousands of protestors in Chicago’s North Side was a remarkable sight to be seen for the activists on our team and among our speakers. Street closures and large crowds, however, required additional safety protections – we had to delay the filming at Wrigley Field with almost no notice at all.
Pivoted again. The new date was safer, but filming took place amidst post-unrest rebuilding construction noise, requiring nothing short of magic from our post-production sound crew.