Just over one year ago, the Academy Center of the Arts announced that our venue doors would close temporarily due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The timing was uncertain, the community was shaken, and our operations ‘as usual’ were flipped upside down.
While in-person events were taken off the table due to restrictions, the Academy’s arts education and galleries pivoted, and the events team adapted from in-person large-scale events to live-streamed digital content, bringing to life the Academy at Home and ACOA Network series.
These adaptations engaged thousands of online viewers and in-person visitors throughout the year, proving that the arts could continue to impact our community, even when hurdles were presented.
In April 2020, the Academy Center of the Arts officially announced their Academy at Home series as a part of its new Digital Programming offerings.
The Academy at Home series featured live-streamed performances, follow-along educational tutorials, and living room concerts from area performers, educators, and artists in the Greater Lynchburg area.
On Friday, April 10th, 2020, the first Academy at Home Livestream performance premiered live from the Historic Academy Theatre stage via Facebook Live featuring a National Poetry Month Celebration with The Listening, Inc.
DJ Phinestro (Left) & The Listening, Inc.’s Nick George (Right)
The Academy at Home series has hosted 20 Livestream events including a variety of featured performances including but not limited to, Spoken Word, Bluegrass, Art Tutorials, Dance, Opera, Orchestra, Jazz, Theatre, and more!
At the latest Academy at Home Livestream performance on Friday, March 26, 2021, featuring EC Glass Theatre’s Oklahoma!, Executive Director Geoffery Kershner spoke to the adaptions in programming over the past year.
“A positive spotlight is that we’ve done a lot of activities in our venues while adapting to the challenges of the COVID-19 Pandemic,” said Geoffery Kershner. “We’ve held Livestreams, Online Classes, Private Offerings, COVID-Friendly Business Meetings, and more.”
“After a year of programming in and around COVID-19, we are concluding our Academy at Home series for the moment. We see a light at the end of the tunnel with increased vaccination rollout and case numbers consistently down we hope to bring you all back into our spaces very soon.”
The Academy looks forward to bringing back live music the April to the Joy & Lynch Christian Warehouse Theatre with two covid-friendly in-person events with enhanced safety measures.
Limited tickets are available for Grateful Dead Tribute Band, BigFoot County on April 17th, 2021, and The Ultimate Elvis Tribute featuring Taylor Rodriguez is SOLD OUT!
Look forward to upcoming events and performances at the Academy. Learn more and get tickets by visiting https://academycenter.org/events/
