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What a year this has been…. We started out with the APAP conference in January. We saw a bunch of great talent, and had some good conversations with the agents and the performers. We have some very good prospects for shows in the coming years!
In February, we hosted The Spouse Whisperer. That was a fun show. After that show, I started cleaning out the back storage room. Everything went out to the stage and hall floor. It was a lot of stuff to sort through and decide to keep, throw, or recycle…. And then it hit!
That nasty word that everybody is tired of now.
March 13th…Yes, it was a Friday the 13th… we were told by the town that we were being “locked out”. As we scrambled to think of what we needed to work from home, we did all we could to anticipate. I took as much stuff as I could think of, computer, show binder, coffee mug. And we bought cleaning supplies to help when we came back. Just a couple of weeks, right?
Yeah, right. March became April. April became May…you get the point.
I attended Webinars at home in my “office”, a TV tray for my desk. I did have a green screen to use so I could look like I was at the Opera House. In May we got the word that the Paycheck Protection Program money was going to end, and we all decided that we would go on Furlough on June 1st.
I managed to receive a very generous donation of a quality drum kit. It is not complete, but we have a quote from the Ludwig dealer to get the pieces that we need. This kit will save us money as it will fit most of our performers requirements and we will no longer need to rent a drum kit for our artists. We are gradually looking at purchasing other equipment to eliminate the need to rent equipment for our artists and save some money. If you are interested in helping us purchase some of this equipment, please contact me at technicaldirector@claytonoperahouse.com.
On Sept. 1st, I lit the Opera House in red as part of a national movement to support live events. This nationwide effort was to bting awareness to our legislatures and government officials concerning the arts needing funding in order to open our doors again. Over 3,000 venues across the nation were lit up in support of #WeMakeEvents and #RedAlertRestart movements. Live Event venues across the nation were lit up in red to bring attention to ALL live events that were totally shut down in March. Many performing arts venues are not expected to open until the 2nd quarter of 2021. In the US alone, there are over 12 million live event works, involving tens of thousands of businesses, with an economic impact of over $1 trillion a year. Most of these people lost their jobs and are not expected to return to work until sometime in 2021. Some of those businesses will never open their doors again. It’s been a tough year for the arts and the Opera House, but I want to thank you for your continued support as we look forward to opening our doors to live performances in 2021. We REALLY want to get back to having performers and YOU, our audience back in the Opera House. Let’s hope that we all come out of this in good health!
In February, we hosted The Spouse Whisperer. That was a fun show. After that show, I started cleaning out the back storage room. Everything went out to the stage and hall floor. It was a lot of stuff to sort through and decide to keep, throw, or recycle…. And then it hit!
That nasty word that everybody is tired of now.
March 13th…Yes, it was a Friday the 13th… we were told by the town that we were being “locked out”. As we scrambled to think of what we needed to work from home, we did all we could to anticipate. I took as much stuff as I could think of, computer, show binder, coffee mug. And we bought cleaning supplies to help when we came back. Just a couple of weeks, right?
Yeah, right. March became April. April became May…you get the point.
I attended Webinars at home in my “office”, a TV tray for my desk. I did have a green screen to use so I could look like I was at the Opera House. In May we got the word that the Paycheck Protection Program money was going to end, and we all decided that we would go on Furlough on June 1st.
I managed to receive a very generous donation of a quality drum kit. It is not complete, but we have a quote from the Ludwig dealer to get the pieces that we need. This kit will save us money as it will fit most of our performers requirements and we will no longer need to rent a drum kit for our artists. We are gradually looking at purchasing other equipment to eliminate the need to rent equipment for our artists and save some money. If you are interested in helping us purchase some of this equipment, please contact me at technicaldirector@claytonoperahouse.com.
On Sept. 1st, I lit the Opera House in red as part of a national movement to support live events. This nationwide effort was to bting awareness to our legislatures and government officials concerning the arts needing funding in order to open our doors again. Over 3,000 venues across the nation were lit up in support of #WeMakeEvents and #RedAlertRestart movements. Live Event venues across the nation were lit up in red to bring attention to ALL live events that were totally shut down in March. Many performing arts venues are not expected to open until the 2nd quarter of 2021. In the US alone, there are over 12 million live event works, involving tens of thousands of businesses, with an economic impact of over $1 trillion a year. Most of these people lost their jobs and are not expected to return to work until sometime in 2021. Some of those businesses will never open their doors again. It’s been a tough year for the arts and the Opera House, but I want to thank you for your continued support as we look forward to opening our doors to live performances in 2021. We REALLY want to get back to having performers and YOU, our audience back in the Opera House. Let’s hope that we all come out of this in good health!