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Coffee Shop Presentation: CNO File Photo
Darke County Center for the Arts
What Happens Next?
By Marilyn Delk
Carnegie Hall recently announced the cancellation of their 2020 season;
so did the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Lights on Broadway have
been dark for months, and nobody knows when they will shine once again.
These nationally known venues are joined in their responses to the
COVID-19 pandemic by countless concert halls and performing arts
centers across the nation and around the world. The arts and culture
sector is among the hardest hit with a nationwide job loss of 54.5
percent, while revenue losses in Ohio amount to at least $100 million
per month. And even though our state has come through the multi-faceted
crisis created by the virus better than most, the light at the end of
the tunnel is not yet bright enough to see clearly.
So what does all this mean for Darke County Center for the Arts, its
programming, and its supporters, currently as well as in the future?
According to DCCA Executive Director Andrea Jordan, DCCA is financially
stable right now, despite finding it necessary to cancel the final five
events of the 2019-2020 season. Although DCCA offered refunds to ticket
buyers for all these shows that could not happen, most patrons did not
ask for their money back, instead donating the amount of their
purchases to benefit the organization; Ms. Jordan is extremely grateful
for these donations which are a prime contributor to DCCA’s current
stability.
The new season was to open later this month with Barbecue and Blues,
DCCA’s annual festive fundraiser on the Greenville Public Library Lawn,
but because of concern regarding virus spread such large gatherings are
not allowed; so the fun-filled (and lucrative) event will not happen.
Also called off is the annual residency by Missoula Children’s Theatre
wherein local students participate in a fully-realized musical theatre
production, an activity that unfortunately could not safely take place
even in the glorious expansive space at Henry St. Clair Memorial Hall.
But what of all the other shows set to play in that historic venue, as
well as the Coffeehouse shows at various intimate spots around the
community? And will DCCA’s highly regarded Arts In Education Series
happen this school year?
According to Andrea, much planning has been done — and undone. Planning
for the unknown, dealing with a series of “what-ifs,” is not only
frustrating, but pretty much an impossible task. Actually, the only
“known” at this time is that things will not be returning to normal
anytime soon, and when normalcy does return, it will be a new normal.
DCCA’s usual criteria for presentations include high quality artists,
probable audience interest and enthusiasm, and budgetary concerns. The
pandemic adds safety as an essential requirement, and ensuring that
performers and attendees can be confident that their health will not be
negatively affected by attendance at a DCCA show is simply not possible
right now.
So, if long-range planning cannot take place in this constantly
changing environment, what can the community expect from its arts
provider in the near future? Performances at St. Clair Memorial Hall
are extremely problematic, as mandatory requirements include a theater
seating capacity reduction of at least 40 percent to assure appropriate
social distancing. In addition to the fact that reducing audience size
provides lower ticket proceeds, the dilemma of assigning seats to
long-time patrons who feel that they own the seats they have occupied
for years is, to say the least, difficult to resolve. Other sanitizing
requirements would also be almost impossible to attain.
Continually re-inventing plans seems to be normal right now. The DCCA
Executive Director wants everyone to know that the organization is
dedicated to executing wonderful ideas to enrich lives through the
arts, and that the Arts In Education program which annually takes
artists to perform for students at every grade level in all local
public schools is a priority. She also hopes that DCCA membership
numbers will not decline during this intermission in public
programming. “We need the arts to inspire and sustain us more than ever
right now,” Ms. Jordan said. “We are counting on our community to
support our efforts as we move forward through the unknown to achieve
our purpose and brighten lives through the arts,” she concluded.
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