In a few short months, the Covid-19 pandemic has shut down movie sets, stopped global concert tours and pushed famous names to the sidelines. And it has also disrupted the creative lives of millions of others whose names might never have appeared on a marquee.

Buskers have fled the subways. Community theater actors run their lines on video calls. With bookstores and cafes closed, poetry readings have moved online. Classical musicians have lost their incomes and their ability to compose with their ensembles. Dancers dance alone.

Once they spent untold hours practicing together, sometimes making a living. Now they are sidelined, trying to adapt. A photographer who once roamed the New York streets taking portraits now limits pictures to his apartment and his block. A nail artist used to the intimacy of holding a client’s fingers now paints images on fake nails. A classical musician plays the violin for friends after a shared video dinner. A pop choir watches movie musicals together, singing separately in their Zoom windows.

Practical concerns aside, it can be difficult to keep creating during a pandemic that has already killed more than 180,000 people worldwide. Even so, people who need to express themselves through their art are finding new ways.