OSAC cancels 2020-21 season

The Organization of Saskatchewan Art Councils (OSAC), announced that it would cancel the 2020-21 performing arts season due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The current Re-Open Saskatchewan guidelines has allowed for performing arts shows to go on, but with very strict social distancing guidelines and enhanced cleaning for the safety of performers, patrons and venue staff. However, Kevin Korchinski, Executive Director of OSAC, and the board felt it was best to cancel the upcoming season. 

“(Live venues) are allowed to open with some pretty serious restrictions: 30% of your hall with a maximum of 150 (people). Social distancing needs to be in place and there are certain cleaning regimens. OSAC and its councils are volunteer driven. We did a survey of our members and it wasn’t unanimous by any means, but there was general consensus that people didn’t feel comfortable being responsible for the health and welfare of their friends, neighbours and colleagues based on a cleaning regimen,” says Korchinski. 

Artists from across the country were booked by OSAC and the chances of exposure was just too high for the councils, he said.

“We tour artists from across the country. So to have an artist from Quebec or Southern Ontario come to small town Saskatchewan at this time just struck us as not the responsible thing to do,” says Korchinski. 

This might come to a blow for some people who were excited about going to a performance and Korchinski says that this was not a decision they came to lightly.

“It was a lot of back and forth with our staff and board and using the member survey results. I think the health and safety of artists, audience and volunteers is foremost, so that is why we made the decision we did,” Korchinski explains. 

The health and safety of volunteers played a big role in cancelling not just the fall performances of this year, but the spring dates as well. 

“Even if we just postponed the fall that still means our art councils would be asked to be selling tickets in October, November, December for shows in February, March, April and we just felt that the timing was all bad,” says Korchinski.

The season may be cancelled, but OSAC is still working hard with performers and their people to make sure that most of the acts that would have toured this season come and entertain Saskatchewan in 21-22. 

“We are not cancelling, we are trying to postpone. Of the 175 performances, hopefully the majority of them will take place in the communities they where scheduled for in September 2021 instead of 2020,” explains Korchinski.

This also goes for performances scheduled for the spring of next year, the hope is to have the acts tour at a later date. 

Even though the future of performing arts is shrouded in uncertainty everyone involved is working together with great understanding. 

Korchinski explains, “The agents and artists have been very accommodating and very agreeable. They understand what we are doing. They are in way worse shape than most people, because their income basically stopped on March 16. The performing arts are were the first to close and they are going to be the last to reopen.”

This doesn’t mean that OSAC has given up bringing some forms of art and entertainment to the people of Saskatchewan.

“There is lots of planning going on. We are still planning on doing some stuff for 20-21 season. We are hoping to do some live streaming in the fall. We are hoping we can do some small concerts in the late winter with artists from Saskatchewan or some from Alberta that were scheduled to play this year anyway, who are either solo artists or married couples,” says Korchinski. 

Although the restrictions set in place to keep people safe has made concerts difficult this year, it doesn’t mean all art events are cancelled.

“We have complete visual arts touring exhibition program as well that has 15 shows that are on the road throughout the year. Those are basically head back out in the fall to galleries that are open,”says Korchinski.

Moosomin and District Arts Council

OSAC’s decision to cancel the season was something that members of the Moosomin and District Art Council (MADAC) could get behind, even if it was with a heavy heart. 

“We thought perhaps that it would be viable by 2021, and just having a shorter season,” says Suzanne Wilton, treasurer for MADAC, however the logistics of organizing live events during the pandemic just made it not feasible. 

“It is probably better to just cancel and then everybody knows where they stand,” says Wilton.

She continues to say that for now there are no events planned for the rest of the year and that the people who are suffering most because of this is the performers who lost jobs.

“If you think of the repercussions for the performers. It’s them, it’s their agents, its a real domino effect,” says Wilton.

It also appears that Moosomin will not be playing host to the touring visual arts exhibition that is organized by OSAC. Ann Norgan who serves on the OSAC board said,

“As of right now we have not booked a visual arts show for 2021, unless we change our minds down the line, Moosomin will not be getting one,” says Norgan.  

It seems that for now all is quiet and that everyone is waiting to see what the fall and the new year will bring. 

Vi MacKay, who as been with the Moosomin and District Arts Council had this to say,

“Nothing like this has ever happened in my time. We The Moosomin and District will continue to remain a council with the election of new executive in September and wait for the pandemic to leave us. When this happens and the performers are able to travel again we will continue to bring the arts to our faithful audience again.”