“As arts organizations began to process the gravity of the coronavirus crisis … Spoleto Festival USA organizers held out cautious hope that perhaps the worst of the health emergency would pass in time to launch the 2020 festival at the end of May,” writes Adam Parker in Wednesday’s (3/25) Post and Courier (Charleston, SC). “But [at] a full board meeting convened Tuesday morning, General Director Nigel Redden informed attendees that … the board’s executive committee had recommended to call off the 2020 festival in its entirety…. The city of Charleston has [banned] gatherings of more than 10 people; … College of Charleston … dorm rooms, used by festival musicians, might not be available; and airline restrictions have inhibited or prevented many artists from traveling to Charleston…. Spoleto Festival now must cope with a projected $756,000 deficit for 2020…. The organization plans no staff reductions or furloughs, but will consider other cost-cutting options…. Spoleto Festival has some cash liquidity, access to resources and strong support from donors and patrons. The situation, [Festival officials] said, is serious but not debilitating.” John Kennedy, the festival’s director of orchestra activities, said that the world premiere of Rhiannon Giddens’s opera Omar will be rescheduled for the 2021 festival.
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