Hello all,
Writing in from Austin where as you all probably saw SXSW was cancelled. Our two venues are the main venues for the SXSW film festival and luckily for us the cancellation isn't having that much of an impact directly. However, our presented/non-sxsw shows are still going on and we are experiencing varied waves of calls and concerns. We are trying hard to maintain distance from the paranoia, but I think it is important to acknowledge the realities and listen to those who may know more. Any thoughts or tips on what y'all have been doing? Thank you.
We just sent out an email this morning about the steps we are taking to clean, disinfect, etc. The rest of the arts orgs in our area sent something out this afternoon. We also set up a web page for updates. https://modlin.richmond.edu/covid19.html We are a part of a university so we will go with their recommendation but I personally think we will end up canceling this month's events and refunding/crediting/donating orders. We are on spring break right now but I have a feeling they will ask students to stay home for another week. We will be asking people to donate their tickets instead of outright refunding everyone. I am trying to figure out exactly how that will work. If you don't want to panic I would suggest not reading any news articles. The more I read the more I don't want to be here when students come back from spring break and their different home cities...
Also, we offer subscribers the option to return their tickets for a credit up to 24 hours before a performance. We have received a higher than normal amount of returns but it is not an amount that we are worried about. However, I have seen ticket sales for all of our events drop in the last week.