#FairnessForArtsON

Hi everyone, it's Dan from the Capitol Centre.

Our staff has worked very hard during the last 15 months to provide positive distraction and online entertainment as our way of helping our community through the pandemic. We have showcased many extraordinary local musicians, and introduced you to some fantastic Canadian talent from elsewhere in our province through our Facebook live streams. All of that being said, we find ourselves having to postpone live stream shows we had planned for you for June. These particular live streams have been postponed a few times now due to extensions in lockdown orders along with new orders affecting theatres like ours.

We will reschedule them to perform live from our stage and stream to Facebook as soon as we are able to do so based on the provincial reopening plan.

Right now, Ontario's reopening plan looks like we can't have anyone in our building to do a live stream until maybe July. We are frustrated by this because we have strong COVID protocols in place to be able to have a few people on a stage with minimal tech support for the purpose of live streaming to Facebook. This is in contrast to other sectors opening before us with much larger gatherings than this.

Our industry was the first to shut down, and will undoubtedly be the last to reopen.  The performing arts industry in Ontario has come together to ask the provincial government to review the reopening plan to address some inequities as it relates to our industry.

Two of the key things we have requested are:

1. Allow concert venues and theatres to reopen for live streaming or recording without an audience as soon as the Stay-at-Home order ends
2. Consult with us directly and in a timely way to establish capacity limits in steps two and three of the reopening plan so that venues and presenters can plan, hire artists and staff, and sell tickets with the lead time we need

As of this date we have NOT received a reply to our request, which means we remain closed for even live streams. We will adjust our focus to continue to provide you with positive distractions online until we are able to stream live from our stage... and in the coming months, welcome you back in to our beautiful, 92 year old theatre. We are the largest performing arts centre between Barrie and Thunder Bay and we are prooud that our theatre is a designated heritage building in North Bay. Stay safe everyone!! We'll see you online!  Thank you.