Gilmer Arts announced last week that both its art gallery/main office and performing arts venue, the George Link Jr. Gilmer Arts Playhouse, are closed until further notice. The announcement came after an emergency declaration and shelter in place order were issued for the county.
Per a release from the local art council:
“On March 24, the Gilmer County Board of Commissioners issued a declaration of emergency, ordering Gilmer County to shelter in place, part of which includes requiring nonessential employees to stay at home. While the gallery is not part of the county, we support the county in the desire to keep our residents and employees safe.”
The closures have caused cancellation and reshuffling of several events that had been planned for both downtown Ellijay venues.
At the Dalton Street gallery, a Youth Art Month exhibit featuring entires submitted by local school students had been scheduled to run through April 20.
A virtual tour of that exhibit has been added to the GilmerArts.com website. A virtual tour of a juried art show featuring work by local and regional artists that was set to run through March 25 will also be added to the webpage.
The gallery closing also affects an exhibit of work by painter Anthony Abreu that was scheduled to open April 17, but has since been canceled.
Instructional classes will also not be offered at the gallery until nonessential businesses can reopen, office manager Debbi Friend confirmed.
Several events that were on tap for the playhouse’s spring season have either been canceled or rescheduled. The venue, also on Dalton Street, typically hosts a mix of concerts, community theater productions and free open mic events.
Exit Laughing, a stage comedy originally scheduled to run March 27-April 5, will instead open June 26 if the playhouse has reopened by then.
The April 16 installment of Storytelling in Ellijay, a monthly open mic storytelling night, has been canceled. So has the April 17 installment of Acoustic Blends, a popular open mic music night held the third Friday of each month. The May dates for either event have yet to be canceled.
An April 25 Neil Diamond tribute show by singer Connor Lorre has been rescheduled for May 23.
A spring concert by the Gilmer Arts Community Chorus scheduled for April 18 and all rehearsals for that concert have also been canceled, while a Meet the Authors literary event scheduled for the same date has been postponed. A rescheduled date has not been determined for that event.
The following options are being offered to those who’ve already purchased tickets for canceled events:
1.) Accept a gift certificate for the face value of the tickets to use for any future event, performance or class at Gilmer Arts. 2.) Convert the ticket amount to a charitable donation.
Gilmer Arts has noted that future event dates depend on how long local and state orders issued to reduce the spread of COVID-19 remain in place.
“As the advice from the CDC changes, or as new state/federal mandates come out, so may our future scheduling,” the organization stated.