Nine of Sarasota’s major arts organizations have come together to form #SafeArtsSarasota guidelines, a unified approach to safety during the ongoing pandemic.

Drawing from their own experiences and research, the group has agreed that all participating arts organizations require audiences to wear masks and maintain safe social distancing—something that has been occurring already during theater, dance and music presentations over the past few months, as arts leaders have struggled to meet the challenges the coronavirus causes for live performances.

The unified group includes representatives from Asolo Repertory Theatre, Circus Arts Conservatory, Florida Studio Theatre, The Hermitage Artist Retreat, Sarasota Ballet, Sarasota Opera, Sarasota Orchestra, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall and Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe. All of these venues work in collaboration with the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County, which hosts a web page, sarasotaarts.org/safearts, to keep the community informed.

In a joint statement, leaders from the organizations said, “Each arts organization wants to return to ‘normal’ so that we can go back to doing what we love to do—providing access to high-quality entertainment as we enrich the lives of our beloved community. We know that this return to ‘normal’ won’t be an overnight process, but we believe that standing together behind mask policies and social distancing guidelines is an important step in the right direction.”

More information on each organization’s individual procedures and specific practices can be found on each organization’s website or ticketing correspondence.