Executive Director's Updates on The Umbrella

Dear Friends,

In times like these, the arts take on an even more important role – to inspire, to inform, to make us think deeply. And to comfort, distract, and entertain. We are working on ways to bring the arts to you virtually and/or safely outdoors during our hiatus and welcome your suggestions or ideas. 

Guided by public health officials’ recommendations, here are major developments at The Umbrella:

• Our entire staff remains hard at work and ready to support you, though working remotely in order to combat the community spread of the coronavirus. Artists are working in their individual studios, but we are encouraging others to avoid entering the building.
• In addition to cancelling this month’s production of Bent, we will be postponing our production of War Paint and will not hold Concord Film Project screenings this spring; other Performing Arts updates are forthcoming soon
• Spring classes registration is on hold; when classes can safely resume, they will start later and run for fewer weeks, with fees adjusted accordingly. To be contacted in April when spring classes are rescheduled, confirm your interest here. April Vacation Week programs are cancelled. Summer camp plans and registration remain underway for now.
• Open Studios has been postponed, but we continue to share works from our Studio Artists’ wonderful Aperture exhibition in a new Virtual Gallery Tour, with other online galleries planned for additional exhibitions
• We extended artist submission deadlines for a virtual Earth Month exhibition, the 2020 Art Ramble, and 2020-2021 Artist-in-Residence
• Stay tuned for updates on our major fundraising event of the year, ARTRAGEOUS, scheduled for May 29. We are considering various options and will release more details soon.
• In lieu of Concord’s traditional Musketaquid Earth Day Parade & Festival, The Umbrella Arts & Environment will mark our 30th Anniversary Earth Month Celebration by sharing 30 Activities over 30 Days that reconnect us with all that is healing and wholesome, imaginative and fun about being in Nature
• “Go Out Doors,” a public art installation of painted doors on the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail, will proceed as planned from May 1-Sept 1

We are grateful to those who donated theater tickets and class registrations back to support The Umbrella to help offset the significant budget impact of this crisis. With the arts among so many important societal needs depending on community and philanthropic support, we are tremendously grateful for all you continue to do to sustain our work.

We will continue to share updates at TheUmbrellaArts.org/Covid, even as we seek to brainstorm and innovate ways to keep The Umbrella community connected through arts. Watch your email, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for suggestions for how you can be creative and inspired during these unprecedented times. And please be in touch with us – it is our community that will sustain us when we are isolated and uncertain. 

Meanwhile, here’s a fortifying dose of beauty from our very talented studio artist, Jean Lightman: Grand Jete, Exuberant Blues, and Cascading Blooms.

May you stay healthy and find a way to connect to the arts today, and every day,

Jerry Wedge, Executive Director