Festival 54 Goes Virtual
Dear Students and Faculty of KCACTF Region IV,
We have just received news that the national executive committee has voted to move all regional festivals to virtual due to the unpredictability of the pandemic and the surge in Delta Variant Covid cases. However, we will still be doing in person responses.
The Region IV leadership team is committed to making our festival a meaningful educational and celebratory experience for all of our participants. We are now meeting to discuss the next steps and plan for a virtual festival experience that will provide our students an opportunity to get feedback from guest artists and share their work with each other. On the bright side, we were able to successfully mount a virtual festival last year, so we are not starting completely from scratch. We will be sending you information on festival planning as soon as possible, we need to take some time to work out our new plans and set up for a virtual festival.
I want to share with you the letter we received from the National Executive Team to provide the reasoning behind this decision. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.
Lisa L. Abbott
Chair, KCACTF Region IV.
From Michelle Bombe, KCACTF National Chair. Sent Sept. 20, 2021
Yesterday, The Executive Committee met and voted that there will be NO in person regional festivals in 2022.
The national leadership team recommended this decision and the committee voted to approve. I recognize that this news comes with some disappointment and grief over our ongoing losses.
Here are some of my comments that I shared with the Executive Committee yesterday:
As your National Chair and CEO, I listened last week to our National Committee talk about plans for 2022 festivals. 4 of the 8 Regions had already chosen to go virtual. I heard anxiety, uncertainty, and a lack of cohesiveness in our organization. I heard concern for the health of our students, faculty, and staff….and also the health of our families. I heard a redirection to look to our mission……and a continued wish/dream that this would all be over…..However, that just isn’t where we find ourselves.
Gil, Brad, and I, recognize that in this moment decisive leadership is needed to confront the pressures of the unknown that Covid-19 still places on us.
I heard a metaphor today for how faculty are feeling as more and more is being asked of us with less and less….. With the image of our nose to the grindstone…. And there is just nothing left as the grindstone is now on our bones……and our grief over continued losses is real.
Gil spoke to the need and opportunity to take the time to work on our strategic plan, mission statement and review of all programs and operations in light of our RED (representation, equity and diversity) commitments and values.
Brad spoke to the financial concern of moving ahead with large expenditures of funds with uncertainty of income. Liability insurance needs and costs would also be largely unbalanced between regions causing further inequalities if we continued in a split virtual/in person modality.
Ultimately we also came back to the statement that we all agreed on in August as part of our 21-22 operational plan:
The mental and physical health, humanity, and healing of KCACTF committee members, faculty, students, guest artists, our community, and broader society is our highest priority. We will lead with grace, empathy, and love in all that we do.
As leaders, we have to look beyond ourselves, our regions…..beyond this moment- this year- and ask what decisions could we make right now that can alleviate anxiety and what makes the most sense for the long term viability of our organization and our constituents?
We are called to turn this moment from loss into possibility.
Moving forward- We want to work with everyone to create the best unified plan for the regional festivals in 2022.