Stories in Place

The Covid-19 pandemic has forced freelance creators to halt projects and countless local businesses to close indefinitely, but Vimeo has found a way to support both communities with a new creative project. The ad-free video platform debuted Stories in Place, a grant project funding eight creators to make videos about the owners of their favorite small businesses and how they’ve adapted. Vimeo chose filmmakers who have been previously featured in the platform’s Staff Picks section.

Courtney Horwitz, head of brand at Vimeo, said the project was born out of her team’s desire to help the platform’s creators who are out of work as well as struggling small businesses.

“The best way we knew how to help was to share these stories,” Horwitz said. “These are not just stories about businesses shutting down, but how businesses are adapting and how people are telling those stories in isolation. We had to figure out how to marry the ideas together.

Shuttered due to the pandemic, this NYC Taiwanese restaurant has turned to delivering bento boxes in order to provide food and resources to those most affected. 886 by Law Chen

An animated film documenting how Coco’s Variety, a Los Angeles bike shop, continues to serve its customers and provide essential services. Coco’s Variety Shop by Danny Madden

Plante is a slow lifestyle plant shop in the heart of Budapest, Hungary that was forced to think beyond their physical store. Réka Bucsi captures this moment of transition through animated flora. Plante by Réka Bucsi

With his salon closed for business, barber Darryl Wyatt now goes virtual with remote hairstyling. Watch him recreate the magic of his shop online. The Virtual Salon by Jesse Atlas

Jeff Maassen had been diving for sea urchins for the past 40 years until Covid-19 brought his business to a grinding halt. His son, Morgan, investigates. Jeff Maassen by Morgan Maassen

In this unprecedented era of social distancing, what does it mean when your art form and small business require human touch? A documentary about June Jung Art. June Jung Art Tattoo Studio by Yoko Okumura

Inspired by Desert Island Comics, the iconic Brooklyn shop now indefinitely closed, this cut paper animation speaks to the connective power of comic books. Desert Island Comics by Case Jernigan

Forced to take her dance studio online, Korma Aguh-Stuckmayer discovers a community from around the world ready to come together and dance in their living rooms. Afrocontigbo by Rachel Knoll