Artery and COVID-19: How to stay safe and keep connected
March 16, 2020
Update: Artery and Covid-19
We hope you are all safe and supported wherever this finds you. We wanted to reach out with some important information regarding upcoming Artery showcases.
As part of our evolving response to the Covid-19, we’ve made the difficult decision to put our in-person gatherings - the Artery showcases that you host, perform at and attend - on a temporary hiatus. We expect this hiatus to run through the end of March and into April, but we will be constantly monitoring the situation and keep you updated.
Over the last few days, we’ve personally reached out to all those directly affected - our showcase collaborators - to help them refund attendees spots, and reschedule when possible.
This decision was not reached lightly. Showcases are not mass gatherings, and Artery’s entire mission is to bring people together through intimate performances.
For now though, we all need to do our part to slow the spread so that public health systems can catch up. We are taking these steps in an abundance of caution and to do our part and curb the risk to the most vulnerable people in our community.
And while we can’t gather in person, at the moment, it doesn’t mean we can’t stay connected and continue to support our community. We know this is an especially difficult time for local artists and as a team we are committed to finding ways to support them, and you, in the near term. More on this soon.
If anyone has any questions for us, or wants to share any ideas or offer support to the community, please get in touch: outreach@artery.is
We'll continue to reach out by email and we have also created a Facebook community (Art in the time of Covid-19) for more day to day communication and as a place to come together and support artists and each other. Please join us, and feel free to invite friends. https://www.facebook.com/groups/artinthetimeofcovid
We’re in this together.
<3,
Salimah, Vladic and everyone at Artery
————————————————————————
March 11, 2020
Dear Artery community,
You've probably been wondering the same thing we are - how will our daily lives be affected by COVID-19? The honest answer is we can't be sure. The risks of infection and contagion vary by location, and health authorities caution there is still a lot of unknown information.
What we do know is how important human interaction is to everyone's health and wellbeing. We're working hard to balance our shared responsibility to vulnerable people in our cities with the need to not fully isolate ourselves at the expense of human connection.
For the time being, there have been no requests or advisories to avoid intimate gatherings. This is an evolving policy - we will continue to revisit regularly and update here.
Here are our recommendations for responsibly engaging with the community in the era of COVID-19:
Advice you already know:
Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
Practice cough and sneeze hygiene.
Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces (like computers and phones) using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.
Call your local public health department or Telehealth Ontario at 1 (866) 797-0000 for direction if you have symptoms or current risk factors apply to you.
Artery related recommendations:
First and foremost - please stay home if you feel sick or unwell.
Please keep up to date with your local municipality's recommendations. There is no single best practice across different areas and this can change rapidly. You can search for "Covid-19 recommendations in [MY CITY]" to find that information. Here's Toronto's current advisory.
If you are at higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19 because of your age or because you have a serious long-term health problem, it is important for you to take actions to reduce your risk of getting sick with the disease. Please consider staying at home for the next few weeks.
If you are hosting an Artery, please ensure you have adequate supply of hand soap and/or hand sanitizer available for everyone.
Consider a handshake and hug hiatus when greeting people at showcases.
Here's to a safe and healthy community. We’re in this together.
💛,
Team Artery
p.s. please feel free to reach out to us if you have any additional questions: outreach@artery.is
