Coming back

The arts are making a comeback.

Arts Place announced this week it plans to reopen in mid-June, restart in-person music lessons and hold its annual Arts in the Parks program.

The regional arts organization will reopen its three centers — in Portland, Hartford City and St. Marys, Ohio — on June 15. By that point, they will have been closed for nearly three months.

“We’ve been shut down, and we’re not used to that,” said Arts Place executive director Eric Rogers. “We have canceled so many events.”

That list includes the final concert in its annual performance series, the Arts Fest event that typically launches the Arts in the Parks program each year, three MusicWorks concerts, the A Choired Taste choir concert, one ensemble concert, two art exhibit receptions and stage productions by Harmony Players and Jay County Civic Theatre. (Harmony Players was able to perform one show in front of a limited audience and live streamed on Facebook while civic theatre has postponed its show.)

“It was a total of about 10 events in eight weeks that we had to cancel,” said Rogers. “It just feels awful.”

As the centers reopen, changes will be implemented to help keep patrons safe during the coronavirus pandemic. Face masks will be required — Arts Place will provide them for those who do not already have them — and social distancing will be implemented.



Arts in the Parks

The long shutdown has staff looking forward to being able to be active again, especially with the annual summer arts program that offers classes in Jay, Blackford and Adams counties in Indiana and Mercer and Auglaize counties in Ohio. Courses, which focus on children ages 6 through 12, cover a wide spectrum, with last year’s Portland offerings including corn husk paper making, wheel throwing, creating a clay portrait of a pet, making sunflower bowls, taiko drumming, building a parade float and various culinary options.

“I’m excited about starting Arts in the Parks even though it’s more than a little daunting to figure out how to make this program go,” said Rogers. “But it’s exciting to figure out that you can do it and you can do it safely.

“Arts in the Parks involves so many kids, and we have so many contributions for the program, we felt like if we could offer the program we really needed to.”

The first step of that process is that classes that typically begin during the second week of June will instead hold off until early July.

Other changes with an eye on safety are as follows:

•Classes will be limited to 10 students for individual classes and 15 for family classes.

•Students will practice social distancing.

•Masks and gloves will be provided.

•Regular hand washing will be part of the routine, with hand-washing stations provided for outdoor classes at which restrooms are not easily accessible.

•Students will be given their own packets of materials and not allowed to borrow from each other.

•Advance registration will be required.

Offerings during the first couple of weeks of classes will be limited and serve as a sort of pilot program to allow staff to see what works and doesn’t work and implement those lessons for the rest of the program. Classes will run through Aug. 15.

Registration is expected to be available by mid-June. Those interested will be able to register online or in person at the three Arts Place centers after they open.



Lessons

While Arts in the Parks will wait until July, in-person music lessons will start again when the Arts Place facilities reopen June 15.

Rogers and Arts Place staff have been researching how to play and sing safely and will implement safety measures as necessary for vocal and instrumental lessons. Students and teachers will be socially distanced in all cases, and some physical changes have been made in order to limit contact. Among those, pianos will be moved near the door of each instruction room to allow easy access for students.

While in-person lessons have been off the table since mid-March, that doesn’t mean that teaching has stopped during that time. Instead, Arts Place has been offering virtual lessons in most cases.

“For most students, it’s been surprisingly decent,” said Rogers, who noted that he has been teaching virtual lessons for his granddaughter while her own music teacher has shut down classes. “It’s not the optimal. From my view, that’s the least good way to do it, but it works.

“Most of our teaching artists have found it works.”

The virtual lessons have been available to anyone who was taking an individual class, but there have been no group classes or ensembles.

A few Arts Place instructors have chosen not to teach virtually. And, Rogers said, some students have opted out after a few lessons.

“The youngest students have more problems with it,” said Rogers. “They really need to have a parent around.

“The older students, a lot of the teaching is more coaching than it is teaching.”

While the pandemic pushed Arts Place’s shift to virtual lessons, implementing them has served as a sort of proof of concept for the future. If a snowstorm or other weather event makes in-person lessons impossible, they could be shifted to a virtual format. Virtual lessons could also be used when students are away from home.

Rogers noted that he had thought previously about virtual lessons to help serve Arts Place’s Japanese students who are sometimes overseas, but had never moved forward with the idea.

“They can do the lesson anywhere in the world,” he said.



Sharing talents

Creativity in using virtual methods has extended beyond just lessons.

Arts Place closed just a day before the annual Regional Student Art Exhibit was scheduled to open. In its stead, Arts Place staff took photos of every piece in the exhibit and posted them both on its website (artsland.org) and Facebook page.

(The exhibit that was scheduled to end in April will remain up through June 26 to allow in-person visits after Arts Place reopens.)

Arts Place has also invited its patrons to share their talents to be posted online.

“We’ve had a lot of responses,” said Rogers.

While about 50% of the offerings have featured music, there has also been quite a bit of variety.

Former Arts Place staff visual artist Peggy McCarty sent in photos of a project that involved 30 small paintings. Arts Place director of administration and student records Laura Pieper shared a demonstration about making homemade popcorn. There have also been poetry readings, craft demonstrations and photography from artists ranging from 6 years old to 70-plus.

“We’re not going to stop it,” said Rogers. “That particular activity, we’re going to continue.

“I don’t know why we didn’t think to do that before.”