COVID-19: An important update from Young Audiences

Dear Friends,

Young Audiences continues to monitor the news around COVID-19 and is actively following the directions of the Maryland Department of Health, Governor Larry Hogan, State Superintendent of Schools Dr. Karen Salmon, the Maryland State Department of Education, and our partners.

The health and safety of our staff, artists, students, teachers, and their families is a top priority.

Starting Monday, March 16, 2020, Young Audiences will temporarily implement a remote work policy. However, a few staff will be in the office carrying out essential operational activities. Although the physical office will be closed for the bulk of the next two weeks, all staff are available remotely during normal business hours, Monday-Friday, 9 am-5 pm. To get in touch with a specific member of our team, we encourage you to use our staff directory.

With the announcement that all public schools in the State of Maryland will be closed until April 24, 2020, we are aware that many programs will need to be rescheduled.

We believe strongly in the power of the arts to lift and empower students, especially during uncertain times such as these. We are also deeply committed to the livelihood of our professional artists, who are facing uncertainty during this time. They are independent contractors and rely on income from programs that now must be postponed to later in the school year. Because of our commitments to students, schools, and teaching artists, our team is dedicated to working closely with each school to reschedule all programs.

Each Maryland county has a dedicated Program Coordinator available to help. If you don’t know who to reach out to, please use our county directory.

We are in communication with our artists and will be hosting two group conversations next week to share information, answer questions, and understand the full scope of artists’ concerns and needs.

Our mission is to integrate the arts into the lives and education of children. And while schools are not open for us to advance our mission in the typical way, we know children, families, and educators could benefit from our support. We remain committed to being mission-oriented every single day—even if it has to be online and virtual. If you are not connected to our Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter pages, but you want to remain connected in our pursuit, please consider following us. On Monday, we will begin sharing arts learning resources and activities that families and educators can use to keep kids engaged in learning.

In the meantime, we encourage everyone to stay informed and utilize the following resources:

For Educators

For Artists

For Parents and Community

For Students

Sincerely,