Dear Friends,
It’s with a heavy heart that we are announcing, as of today, that our main galleries will be closed to the public with a tentative plan to re-open April 6th. Additionally, all exhibition openings scheduled for April will be postponed until May or later, and we will be extending the current exhibitions to limit artist travel. We are lucky to be able to continue paying our small staff during this time as they continue to work in a limited capacity from home. This is a financial decision based on a hopeful future, but we are keenly aware of the broader impact this crisis is already having.
As a rash of unemployment and financial strain is already affecting so many, our heart is with our downtown family. Mobile’s local economy is built on social gathering spaces. Our tourism slogan “Born to Celebrate” is no joke, and the speed and ferocity of COVID-19’s impact has left us all feeling a little dizzy. The prudent (and very necessary) precautionary measures we must take as a community come at a high cost to those of us who rely on social space to survive.
Because of this, Alabama Contemporary is committing 60% of the income from all New Reciprocal Memberships to a Service Industry Relief Fund for the significant segment of our local community that relies on gigs and gratuity income. $75 out of every $125 Reciprocal level membership purchase will be distributed to gigging musicians downtown service industry folks who’ve lost shifts or entire jobs due to the COVID-19 health crisis.
If you are one of these workers, you can apply to receive relief funds based on the number of lost or limited shifts over the months of March and April. We will distribute a survey sign-up starting April 6th; the amount we can distribute is contingent on the success of this campaign, so please feel free to share.
We know this is only a drop in the bucket. Bear with us. We believe in the resilience of this community and know that together (even if we are at a distance) we are greater than the sum of our parts, and we encourage other organizations to also get creative in these uncertain times. We at Alabama Contemporary want to be a part of the solution, and we hope to serve you in deeper and ever more meaningful ways in the year ahead.
Sincerely,
elizabet elliott
Executive Director / Curator
301 Conti Street, Mobile, AL 36602
|