It's been over a year since most of us have been able to set foot in our local venues and theaters. In addition to yearning for shows and the community surrounding them, many music fans are looking to ways to connect with the physical spaces where live music used to be played. Michael Welsh and the team at Sky Candy Studios have set out to use drone footage to document theaters in the Twin Cities as they sit quiet, including a new video of the Parkway Theater.

"We've always loved our local venues," Michael Welsh said. "We shot a video in Bryant Lake Bowl that got a lot of traction and it got us thinking about what we could do to showcase our theater scene. They've been hit harder than pretty much any other industry."

When Welsh began reaching out to local venues, he was met with an enthusiastic response. The video at the Parkway is the first in what will eventually be a longer form video highlighting a handful of spaces, including the Dakota, First Avenue, and the Fitzgerald.

"The preparation usually includes going in and scouting the location, looking for obstacles to avoid, and really figuring out what makes the space interesting and what we want to capture," Welsh said. "Then it's a matter of flying the drone, seeing what looks cool and planning a route."

The video of the Parkway features an instrumental track from Chris Koza, "As the Crow Flies, As the Deer Runs," which is going to be on his upcoming album On Horseshoe Lake. The song's gradual build amplifies the hopeful nostalgia in the video.

Drone fly-throughs offer a unique view of these familiar spaces. Sky Candy's video of the Parkway begins above the theater and quickly moves through the entrance and around the theater, highlighting the impressive architecture and its audience of rows of empty seats.

"It gives people a chance to connect to their memory of walking into First Avenue, seeing a jazz show at the Dakota, sitting in one of our beautiful theaters," Welsh said. "Drone is a great way to give people that nostalgic perspective because it lets you move through the space quickly, seeing more in a short amount of time."