With concerns about COVID-19, a.k.a. the coronavirus, spreading perhaps faster than the infection itself, there have been some impacts to the arts, entertainment and adult education scenes in East Jefferson County, but representatives of a number of the region’s venues emphasized that any such impacts are limited in scope.
The same week Jefferson County Public Health officials had to debunk claims that county schools had been exposed to the virus, cancellations were announced for the Salish Sea Early Music Festival on the Saturdays of March 7 and 14; the “Arts to Elders” concert on Tuesday, March 10; the PTSLUG MacIntosh computer users group monthly meeting on Thursday, March 12; and the afternoon of Celtic and Cajun music with the Friends of Fort Flagler on Saturday, March 14.
Matt Miner, music performance manager for the Northwind Arts Center, explained that Northwind and the San Juan Commons, the latter of which was set to host the “Arts to Elders” concert, had agreed to cancel the event due to their shared concerns about the coronavirus, and hoped to reschedule in the near future.
Northwind Executive Director Michael D’Alessandro couldn’t recall Northwind ever having to cancel an event before for quite the same public health issue reasons.
“However, the venue where we were to hold this concert beat us to it, and canceled minutes before we decided it was best to do so,” D’Alessandro said. “Matt and I have been monitoring the policies from the elder-care communities in town, which we serve with the ‘Arts to Elders’ program, where we bring music events to them in their community/dining areas once per month. Matt asked them to update us on any policy changes in light of the information everyone is digesting.”
Out of the four elder-care centers Northwind serves, D’Alessandro noted that two had policies “pop up” this week, saying they were not accepting visitors as a precaution.
Although the “Perspectives on Legacy” Creative Aging Conference — which had been scheduled for Saturday, March 7, at Centrum — was postponed, Centrum executive director Rob Birman clarified this was due to its coordination with the Frye Art Museum in Seattle.
“Due to the developing spread of COVID-19 within King County, and from an abundance of caution with the health and well-being of audiences in the city, the Frye decided to postpone the Creative Aging Conference to a later date in 2020,” Birman said. “Centrum supports this decision. We apologize for any inconvenience, and very much hope you will be able to join us for the rescheduled event.”
Birman said the Creative Aging Conference postponement is “primarily a factor of decisions that needed to be made” for the King County event, which was planned the day before the Centrum date at the Frye Art Museum.
“Since our event piggybacks on the Frye conference, rescheduling here at Fort Worden is also necessary,” Birman said. “At this time, no stand-alone Port Townsend-based Centrum events are canceled.”
The new conference has been tentatively scheduled for the late fall of 2020. While details are still being confirmed, Birman anticipates the full roster of previously scheduled speakers would participate.
Centrum is issuing refunds for reservations to the same credit card numbers originally used to register, and Seattle Pacific University will automatically process full refunds for those who registered for clock hours.
Birman reiterated that the Monday, March 9, Communiversity lecture was not canceled, and pointed the public to Centrum’s website for additional information about the 2020 Creative Aging Conference, as well as updates related to responses to the coronavirus, should impacts emerge in Jefferson County in the future.
“At Centrum, we are preparing action plans to address the potential for the blooming of the virus,” Birman said. “We are already developing our own outbreak response plan, specific to our programs and constituents, and will be posting dedicated updates on our home page.”
Birman is personally conducting preliminary contingency planning for Centrum, in terms of fiscal implications, so it can “stay ahead of the news cycles,” by having its options and responses prepared and ready to implement in the event that the epidemic grows in the region.
“We held an all-staff session on this March 3, and we’re looking at Seattle public schools as a good model for stakeholder communications,” Birman said. “Centrum serves a global constituency base, and we remain optimistic about the possibility for limited impacts in Jefferson County.
Centrum’s webpage for updates is centrum.org/coronavirus-updates-2020.
Elsewhere, Shelly Leavens, executive director of the Jefferson County Historical Society, reported that neither the historical society nor the Jefferson Museum of Art and History have any plans to postpone or cancel any events, although “we are expecting lower-than-normal attendance.”
Danny McEnerney, general manager of Key City Public Theatre, was even more affirmative in reassuring the public that their programs would continue uninterrupted.
“We are not planning on canceling any dates,” McEnerney said. “We have a new HVAC filter system in place. We have healthy artists. And we will be cleaning all surfaces between every performance.”
Erin Hawkins, marketing and communications coordinator for the Olympic Peninsula YMCA, issued a statement March 6 explaining that the YMCA of Jefferson County is remaining open “following recommendations by public health officials,” although she stipulated that, “in the event that schools close in our areas of service, our school-based childcare programs at the YMCA of Jefferson County” would also close, including those at Salish Coast Elementary School in Port Townsend.
The management of the Quimper Grange has perhaps been the most cautious in response to concerns about the coronavirus, canceling not only the iPod Shuffle Community Dance on Friday, March 6, but also the Balkan Dance Party on Friday, March 13, and the Contra Dance on Saturday, March 21.
The Quimper Grange will also reschedule its instrument sale event from Saturday, March 14, to Saturday, April 4, and will make a decision within the next two weeks to see whether it’s canceling the Todalo Shakers concert on Thursday, March 26, or the Balfolk International Dance on Friday, March 27.
Meanwhile, four-time Grammy-winning cellist Eugene Friesen’s improv workshop on Saturday, March 14, and concert on Sunday, March 15, have both been postponed until May.
And while “American Idol” Season 9 winner Lee DeWyze had been scheduled to perform at Rainshadow Recording on Wednesday, March 11, Rainshadow owner and engineer Everett Moran confirmed that DeWyze has postponed his tour of the Pacific Northwest, and will now appearlocally on June 23. Whether this is related to the coronavirus has yet to be officially confirmed.
