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Oregon event venues seek path to reopening

Industry frustrated with state, says calls for plan unanswered

By Jamie Goldberg, oregonlive.com
Published: April 18, 2021, 6:00am

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is tentatively planning to resume in-person performances this fall, welcoming back theatergoers for the first time in well over a year and helping spur the Southern Oregon economy.

But before the festival can commit to putting on plays this fall, it wants the state to provide a clear pathway back for live performances and events.

“We’re already past the point of needing to know,” said David Schmitz, the festival’s executive director. “I think truthfully if we don’t have a much better sense of guidance from the state by the end of April or early May, it’s going to be really hard to make something happen in the fall.”

Venues and festivals across the state shut down early in the coronavirus pandemic as the state banned large events in an effort to stop the spread of COVID-19. A year later, beloved venues are fighting for their survival and many who work in the live events industry have yet to see their jobs return.

Many Oregon venues had hoped to receive relief from the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, a long-awaited federal grant program for venues shut down by the pandemic. But the grant program was suspended almost immediately after its launch due to technical issues with the application portal, leaving venue operators in limbo.

While financial relief could be critical to keep some venues afloat, operators say they also need a path to reopen and have been pushing Gov. Kate Brown to provide more guidance on how large events can safely return as COVID-19 infections decline. Those events often take months to plan and festival and venue operators say they are coming to the point of needing to decide whether they’ll run events in 2021 at all.

But operators of some of the state’s largest venues and festivals say Brown’s office has been unwilling to work with them to craft a satisfactory reopening plan.

Under Oregon’s current metrics, both outdoor and indoor venues can operate at modified capacities depending on risk level in their counties. Indoor and outdoor venues in counties deemed lower risk for COVID-19 spread can operate at 50 percent capacity. There is no cap on the number of people allowed inside venues in lower-risk counties.

Venues in higher-risk counties can operate with smaller capacities as well. On April 9, the Portland Thorns became the first professional sports team in Oregon to welcome back fans in a game against Kansas City.

But Schmitz and other indoor venue operators say it is not financially feasible for them to operate at even 50 percent capacity. They want the state to offer them a path back to operating fully, when it is safe to do so, so they can begin to plan for possible events later this year.

Appeal to governor

Operators representing 49 venues, festivals and live events organizations, including the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland’5 Centers for the Arts, the Waterfront Blues Festival, the Britt Music and Arts Festival and Revolution Hall, sent a letter to Brown on March 31 proposing metrics to allow venues and festivals to return at full capacity over time.

Among the proposals the group suggested was that venues be allowed to operate at full capacity with safety guidelines in place 30 days after a county reaches the lower-risk designation and has made the COVID-19 vaccine available to the entire adult population. The group also suggested allowing for occupancy requirements to be eased as a greater number of people get vaccinated, with outdoor venues being allowed to reach full capacity sooner than indoor venues.

Some venues and jurisdictions across the country have floated the idea of requiring attendees to show proof that they’ve received COVID-19 vaccinations to attend events. Oregon event promoters haven’t suggested that and the state doesn’t appear to be considering it.

“The events industry needs consistent ‘ramp up time’ — events take months to plan, produce, promote, market and sell,” the letter said. “Any sudden changes or unnecessary backtracking is economically destructive and could lead to the demise of these already imperiled businesses and nonprofits.”

Members of the industry attended a webinar with the governor’s office and the Oregon Health Authority on March 31 where they hoped to talk about the letter and provide input on a possible reopening plan for live performances. However, the group said that they were not offered a chance to provide input and many of the questions they had for the state went unanswered.

While Oregon venue and festival operators wait on additional guidance from the state, their counterparts in California are preparing to reopen on June 15, the target date Gov. Gavin Newsom has set to fully reopen the state. Washington venues are facing similar restrictions to those in Oregon, with indoor and outdoor venues being allowed to operate at 50 percent capacity in lower-risk counties with certain capacity thresholds.

The industry’s call for a more comprehensive reopening plan comes at a time when COVID-19 cases are rising in Oregon and businesses in some counties are facing renewed restrictions. Both Multnomah and Clackamas counties returned to the high-risk category April 9, forcing gyms, restaurants and bars to adhere to stricter capacity limits.

Charles Boyle, a spokesperson for Brown, said the governor recognizes how important venue operators are to the state but believes the state’s current framework for easing COVID-19 restrictions is the best guidance for the time being.

“It is because business owners and Oregonians have largely complied with risk levels and health and safety measures that we have prevented surges in hospitalizations and cases,” Boyle wrote in an email. “However, COVID-19 is again spreading in our communities. The current risk level framework was designed to be sustainable over the long term while we work to stop the spread of COVID-19, and it will remain in place for the time being. We will continue to assess the situation and plan for what is next should case numbers begin to decrease again and vaccine availability increases.”

But Schmitz said he is concerned that the state has issued arbitrary reopening guidelines for different sectors. For example, churches in lower-risk counties can operate at 75 percent occupancy indoors and operate with a maximum of 300 people outdoors under the current state guidance.

“It makes no sense that faith-based institutions can be open at 75 percent occupancy and an outdoor venue can only open at 50 percent,” Schmitz said. “That’s one of our key issues, having consistency among different sectors.”

As they call for additional guidance from the state, some outdoor venues and festivals are still moving forward with events for the summer.

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