As we gear up for the reopening of Western New York’s arts and cultural sector, Arts Services Initiative will be presenting our new professional development series, Reopening Together, throughout the month of June. Join us for this free weekly series to discuss guidelines and share ideas on how we—as a community—can successfully and safely reopen our creative industry.The sessions run virtually every Tuesday in June at 1 PM.

Tuesday, June 2: WNY Arts vs. COVID-19

  • 1 – 2 PM: Overview of state guidelines, regulations, and requirements. Full group webinar with guest speakers Dave Swarts (Buffalo & Erie County Botanical Gardens) and Marisa Wigglesworth (Buffalo Museum of Science), who will speak on measures and planning for safety and comfort of staff and patrons.

Tuesday, June 9: Different Boats, Same Storm
Breakout sessions addressing specific challenges based on art forms and services provided. Two sessions will run concurrently during each time slot.

  • 1 – 2:30 PM: Performing Arts and Literary Arts | Museums, Galleries, and Media Arts
  • 2:45 – 3:45 PM: Outdoor Festivals and Events | Organizations that don’t own their own venue and/or rent other venues
  • 4 – 5 PM: Workshops and Classes | Individual Artists

Tuesday, June 16: Catching Back Up

  • 1 – 2:30 PM: Full group recap of conversations and ideas from previous week. We are excited to invite Phil Stokes, Executive Director at Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Reserve, and Les Greenbaum, intellectual property attorney at Gross Shuman P.C., to join our presentation and address some of the questions that arose in the previous week.

Tuesday, June 23: Going Forward—Together

  • 1 – 2 PM: ASI will reveal its WNY Arts and Culture Communications Plan and the results from its WNY Audience Intent Survey. ASI will address unanswered questions and roll out the sector-wide communications plan around reopening together.

These sessions are free, but participants must register in advance to receive links to each session. For questions or more information, please contact Holly at holly@asiwny.org.

Note: ASI cannot provide legal advice. These programs are intended to be educational and to inform you of resources that are available to you. The guidelines for reopening are set by New York State and are being constantly updated.