In the arts and entertainment world, autumn usually means abundance.

San Francisco Opera and San Francisco Symphony open their seasons with glittery galas that combine the finest sounds humans and their instruments can make with pomp and color and a strong sense of art as a key part of civic life. Cinema lets summer’s explosions peter out in favor of what The Chronicle’s film critic Mick LaSalle calls movies “for adults.” Music festivals such as Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and Monterey Jazz runneth over with offerings as they invite listeners to soak in the glory that is Northern California fall weather. Theaters charge onto the scene with season openers meant to announce who they are and who they might yet be.

In writing this year’s fall preview, The Chronicle wanted to acknowledge that this fall is different but without whining or wallowing, valid as it is to grieve for all the arts world has lost since the pandemic hit. When we can’t tell you about all the shows and events we wanted to tell you about, because they’ve been canceled or postponed, we thought we’d highlight the ones that celebrate artists’ resilience.

This autumn is a season of gestation. It’s a season of adaptation and experimentation. It’s years’ worth of evolution condensed and fast-forwarded. It’s recharging. It’s permission to pause. It’s time and space to rethink assumptions. It’s all these things, which make for a new kind of abundance.