Staff at local entertainment organizations have found innovative ways to keep going during the pandemic, but hope to start returning to normal soon.
The Highland Center for the Arts has been focusing on outdoor activities, including an outdoor art gallery. The Craftsbury Chamber Players have also been holding outdoor concerts since the pandemic began.
The Hardwick Townhouse is closed, but there are plans to start holding some indoor events there again this summer.
The Music Box, located in Craftsbury, will probably not be opening again. Lisa Sammet, the president of the Friends of the Music Box, explained that her decision to close the Music Box “just happens to coincide with Covid.”
The Highland Center for the Arts is still finding ways to hold events despite Covid. “It's a challenge and it takes more work and maybe more planning and thinking, but definitely worth it,” said Keisha Luce, the executive director of the Center.
Visitors to the Center can ski or snowshoe on a two mile trail that doubles as an open-air art gallery. The trail is shaped “sort of like a lollipop,” said Luce, and it features the work of twenty artists from across New England. The Center also has a fire-juggling event, and a snow maze.
“You can’t really bring most instruments outside because they do not respond well to the cold,” said Luce. That has made it difficult to have live music outside in the winter. However, there have been shape-note singers and Taiko drummers at the Center recently.
The Craftsbury Chamber Players have also been grappling with the challenges of playing outside. They built a wooden stage designed to amplify sound that they bring to their outdoor concerts. “That was the only way we could have an acoustic space that made it possible to play well together,” said Fran Rowell, the Music Director of the Craftsbury Chamber Players.
The Players have also switched to relying on donations, rather than money from ticket sales. “It’s a little scarier, and not an ideal way to operate,” said Rowell. However, the Players hope that they can return to their normal six-week schedule this summer.
The Hardwick Townhouse is currently closed, but plans to reopen on March 1. “We’re hoping to do some actual programming this year,” said Shari Cornish, the president of the Northeast Kingdom Arts Council, which runs the Townhouse. She hopes that Vermont Vaudeville will be able to return in the fall, and she said that the Craftsbury Chamber Players plan to return in the summer.
Cornish said she was not worried about the Townhouse closing. “We’ve been around long enough, we will make it through,” she said.
