This update from Celia Hughes appeared in our Quarterly Newsletter. If you missed our Summer 2020 Quarterly Newsletter you can click here to read.
Dear Friends,
Let me start by saying that I hope that all of you are safe and healthy, and that your family and loved ones are as well.
Who really knew in April that three months later we would still find ourselves working from home, zooming all over the state with our virtual program initiatives, and wondering if this really is the new normal that everyone keeps talking about. You can tell by the photo above that we are taking our mask wearing seriously, as we hope that you are as well.
Like so many others, we found ourselves reacting quickly in the early weeks, wanting to reach out to our friends and artists with robust online programming. Through these efforts we have learned a great deal, discovered some obstacles, and enjoyed some successes. But the weeks have turned into months, and now, unless there is a serious turnaround in the spread of this virus, it looks like we will not be offering any in-person programming for the rest of 2020. We do have some plans up our sleeves to try and bring folks together in a safe way, but we are taking extreme caution and will announce each idea as it becomes fully cooked, as they say. In the meantime, we have settled into a routine of sorts and will now spend our summer months preparing virtual programs for the Fall and Winter. I am chuffed – as they say in England – by the response to our Texas Stories and encourage everyone to check out the last three summer editions. We are planning to bring them back in the Fall with all new stories, and maybe a few back by popular demand!
Additionally, we have announced our 2020 Artists of the Year award winners and are moving full steam ahead preparing for their celebration on Sunday, September 20. Currently, we are planning for a hybrid event – a small, in-person and larger virtual gathering – but we will send you more details in the near future. Just mark your calendars for Sunday, September 20, 2020 from 2:00 to 4:00 PM to help us honor this year’s award winners!
In closing, I just want to thank all of you for your care and concern for the Art Spark staff and board members, and for your continued support through your donations, program participation, sharing of events via Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter; and most importantly, for your belief in our vision of an arts-inspired, inclusive, international community of individuals – young people, older adults, veterans, artists, poets, musicians, dancers, writers, YOU – all with diverse abilities, talents, and dreams.
Together, we can and will weather this storm to come out stronger on the other side.
Celia Hughes
Executive Director
Art Spark Texas