Logging on for living-room tunes

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Finnriver Farm and Cidery is normally crowded with activity this time of year. Music plays every evening inside the cidery’s tasting rooms, the tunes wafting out to the gardens where kids play and parents sit sipping cider and chatting with friends.

While the governor’s “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order has quieted this normal bustle, it hasn’t stifled it completely.

“Finnriver has always had a mission to reconnect people to the land that sustains us and to grow community , and given the stay-at-home restrictions during this time, we wanted to continue to support our interconnectivity,” said Crystie Kisler, a founder and owner of Finnriver. “We realized that there was the danger of isolation creating more anxiety for folks, and that we also wanted to create a platform for the arts and other cultural elements of our community to continue gathering and thriving.”

To keep the music, arts and culture alive, Kisler and her team at Finnriver created what they call the “Incider Space,” which includes a weekly array of online events.

The name “Incider” was a pun on the word “cider,” while also referring to the fact that we are all stuck inside at this time.

From morning yoga on Mondays to a poetry potluck on Tuesday evenings, a “live from the living room” musical show on Friday evenings and many other events viewers can tune into online, the Incider Space allows musicians and artists to continue creating, while community members can still enjoy arts and entertainment.

“We feel that gathering together to share in activities that affirm creativity and knowledge sharing and wisdom building are critical to keeping a healthy society,” Kisler said. “And given the harsh impact that the coronavirus outbreak is having on our communities, we wanted to create a place that would be affirming of the human spirit and reflect all of the wonderful things we can create together.”

Log on to the Incider Space by making a sliding-scale monthly membership contribution on the Finnriver website. Participants then gain access to a calendar of Zoom-based lectures, musical performances, community conversations and discussions with local artists, writers and more.

Perhaps one of the most unique aspects of the online experience is the opportunity to see musicians and artists at home in their own space, creating music from their living rooms and sharing a sneak peek of their home lives with the public.

“We have definitely had a positive response so far,” Kisler said. “I think there’s a lot of virtual content being offered out there now and a lot of competing demands for peoples’ time. But the events we have offered have an incredible sense of intimacy and goodwill. I’m having more focused and in-depth conversations with folks I have known for years than ever before. There’s a certain quality of attention through these virtual meetings that are yielding surprising benefits of togetherness.”