Hello Patrons of the Arts,
I hope everyone is maintaining good mental and physical health out there.
I wanted to let everyone know that Trail Arts Council is working hard behind the scenes to maintain our operations while also trying to plan for the future.
It has been challenging; two steps forward and five steps back. I have been meeting weekly with venues across the country, staying up to date on the latest provincial and federal protocols and updates for theatres and live event organizers. I also am in constant discussion with artists, our funders, our sponsors, different levels of government, regional venues, promoters, agents and everyone else in the sector that have been dramatically impacted by the coronavirus.
I hope our industry and touring artists will survive this.
While we cannot gather and will be one of the last venues (The Bailey Theatre) in the region to open, we are looking at new and creative ways to engage the community and meet their arts needs.
The bad news, if you haven’t already guessed, is that Music in The Park and our Night Market events this season are cancelled. We simply cannot have that many people outdoors together this Summer. The good news is that we look forward to launching smaller summer initiatives for the public next week.
Our regular performing arts seasons has been drastically cut back and we are planning to open this fall for a few 50 person max events and be back to larger audience performances in the new year (January 2021). More information about that to come.
We will fully launch the Performing Arts Trail, E2, Jazz at the Griff, and family programming this Fall once we have a better idea of what is possible.
On our roster for next season, before coronavirus hit us, was an amazing and culturally diverse program representing some of the best Canadian and International artists of various backgrounds and colours.
We are always trying to provide a welcoming space for every voice and we encourage everyone to be part of the conversation right now. It is hard and uncomfortable but it is important.
In celebration of Indigenous History Month, PRIDE, and around the Black Lives Matter movement, we have compiled some fabulous links as part of our on-going virtual resources that we hope you will enjoy during this time.
Take care of yourselves and each other
Sincerely,
Nadine Tremblay
Executive Director