Greetings everyone,
If useful, below are steps Stanford's art museums, the Cantor Arts Center and Anderson Collection at Stanford University, took in consultation with Stanford Environmental Health & Safety to try to prevent the spread of the virus while maintaining, to the best degree possible, museum operations and academic functions. Because of the quickly evolving situation in the Bay Area, it was helpful to have available expertise from clinicians, legal, HR, operations and communications so we could have a bias for action and swift decision-making.
- Early last week, at initial mention of cases through community transmission confirmed in the region, we welcomed our docents (some of which may qualify as more vulnerable) to adjust their schedules based on their own comfort and assessment of risk to lead tours and school visits in public spaces. We added sanitizing stations, more frequent cleanings and additional signage with CDC health guidelines. We also removed our popular Art Packs, which contain reusable art supplies, from our galleries.
- On Wednesday of that week, we took further precautions by postponing and cancelling museum events and programs most likely to draw significant (~150+ people) audiences or those that may attract more vulnerable populations, as well as those held in confined spaces. We also cancelled all public tours.
- Late in the week, we were given additional advice to encourage social distancing -- a strategy to reduce densely populated spaces -- by converting large meetings to teleconferences and advocating for eligible staff to telecommute on a temporary basis if possible.
- On Friday, we moved to provisionally close the museums to the general public while remaining open for academic functions. This temporary closure is in effect through April 15. In the same breath, we cancelled all public programming through that date.
Along the way, we established a dedicated information site to add timestamped updates from the museums related to COVID-19; this gives us one place to direct folks, including press, for the latest.
We are now working to ensure the updates are even more broadly communicated and staff has plans in place for to maintain productivity and access to technological resources offsite in alignment with a temporary telecommuting agreement drafted by the university. Our next step will be to convert some events, like gallery talks with our own curatorial staff and a planned opening Q&A panel, into livestreams or other digital content to try to extend the museum experience online while we are temporarily closed to the public.
Some of the questions that arose along the way:
- Should the cafe remain open if the museum closes?
- What are the employer's obligations in CA to pay for supplies, like Internet access, if staff are encouraged or required to work from home?
- How can we minimize personal contact for our visitor services representatives (e.g. moving from entrances to behind reception desks; not recycling maps)?
John and Jill Freidenrich Director Susan Dackerman and Deputy Director James Gaddy spearheaded these efforts, and we'd be happy to have them follow up to comment on any questions.
Best of luck -- we're all in this together!
Beth Giudicessi
Director of Marketing & Communications
Stanford University
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Elizabeth Giudicessi
Director, Marketing and Communications
Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University
Stanford CA
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Original Message:
Sent: 03-02-2020 11:01 AM
From: Charnell McMullen Bushman
Subject: Coronavirus Considerations
Hello,
I'm wondering if anyone has a pandemic action plan for their museum that they'd be willing to share. As a large cultural institution we are starting to pull together a plan that not only accounts for our guest, but also our staff. Including part-time non benefited folks. Trying to asses a model for closures and staff support as well. Would love to hear how other are planning and what you are taking into consideration.
Thanks,
Parker
Parker McMullen Bushman
Vice President of Community Engagement, Education and Inclusion, Butterfly Pavilion
Pronouns: She/Her/Hers*
Address: 6252 West 104th Avenue Westminster, CO 80020
Office: 720.974.1863 Cell: 773-426-2738
Email: pmcmullenbushman@butterflies.org
Website: www.butterflies.org
* Sharing your pronouns and checking with others about what pronouns they use helps build welcoming spaces for transgender and gender diverse people.
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