Festival Hall to Temporarily Change Roles During the COVID-19 Pandemic Crisis

Festival Hall, Greensboro’s premier arts venue and cultural center adapts to follow new state guidelines.

Festival Hall will morph into a space for governmental meetings at least until the end of September. The Board of Directors adopted a resolution last week to halt all public and private events at Festival Hall through September 2020 and allow the large space to be used for city and other governmental meetings.

Under the executive orders from Governor Kemp, the hall was not allowed to be open until July 1, 2020. Performance venues were the last entities to be granted opening status. The new guidelines require reduced capacity and stringent safety protocols providing serious challenges for performance and event centers.

“During the shutdown, we had to cancel or reschedule many of our wonderful events. The Oconee Performance Arts Society (OPAS) rescheduled their fall show to spring 2021 and the Lake Country Players rescheduled all three of their 2020 performances and will resume in 2021. The Doug Stone concert is rescheduled date TBD,” states director, Nicole Chillemi “Arts organizations have been hit especially hard during this pandemic.”

Festival Hall decided to be proactive and come up with a creative use for the building during this time. Many meeting rooms are nice and cozy and in normal times work well for their functions. During a time where social distancing is necessary, however, these rooms are just too small. With over 4000 square feet, the Carolyn Reynolds Parker Auditorium offers a safer space for small meetings. 

“We want to do our part. Instead of being closed, Festival Hall will provide a safe space for necessary meetings to help keep basic government functioning,” says Chillemi. “This wonderful building built through the Works Progress Administration in 1939 has housed all manner of agencies that have served this community for decades.”

Festival Hall continues its mission to promote and support the arts with a virtual “art walk” available on the Festival Hall Facebook page -www.facebook.com/festivalhallga.  Additional virtual content will be offered throughout this pause as well. Though typical gatherings and events are temporarily suspended, Festival Hall will continue to plan for the future when we can all gather safely and celebrate our area’s rich artistic community. 

Please sign up for our e-mail list on our website www.festivalhallga.com and receive updates on happenings at the hall.  Contact director, Nicole Chillemi with future booking inquiries at nicole@festivalhallga.com or 762-243-8022.