Creativity and innovation are among the most important attributes local businesses can have as they attempt to adapt their services during this current pandemic. The ArtsCenter in Carrboro has taken those attributes a step further, by finding new ways to encourage creativity among individuals.

During a recent interview with 97.9 The Hill’s Aaron Keck, the executive director of the ArtsCenter, Dan Mayer, spoke at length about how his organization has approached the crisis at hand.

The ArtsCenter offers a wide variety of classes for both youth and adults, with a goal of acting as a one-stop arts organization for the community.

One of the most obvious examples of adaptation for the organization is one many similar groups have implemented: shifting from in-person classes to online instruction using services like Zoom. Mayer said feedback from his instructors has been essential in making this switch, as they look to create lessons that take into account students having far less materials at home than at the ArtsCenter.

With classes in a wide range of areas such as improv, ceramics, journaling, theater and visual arts—and some people having more free time now than ever before—the community response has surpassed Mayer’s expectations. Even on the teaching side, he said UNC faculty members left with nothing to do have jumped on board to help the cause.

“Feedback’s been really positive,” Mayer said. “People really want to take these classes. We were also surprised that about 50 percent of the students are people who have not taken classes at the ArtsCenter before. There are people from Charlotte, from Pittsboro, from Raleigh and really a wide range of students from around the area finding out about these classes. And that’s great. It really offers us the opportunity to expand.”

Of all the classes offered, Mayer said he is most surprised the improv classes were the first to sell out online. What he found, though, was people enjoy connecting with others even if it’s only through Zoom and other forms of tele-communication.

The same can be said for some of the youth classes, which allow parents to connect with their kids at home in a fun and exciting way through creative project ideas using common household materials like paper plates and crayons.

In addition, Mayer said he’s seen many students interested in writing making more of an effort to come up with new ideas or finish projects they had previously been putting off.

“People want to find out more about how to, sort of, develop that hobby that they have not really had the opportunity to do until now,” Mayer said.

While some aspects of the ArtsCenter have translated to a virtual platform, other parts are still being worked out, according to Mayer. When it comes to the theater performances typically put on by the ArtsCenter, the pandemic has postponed those until at least the fall.

In conversations with other theater owners across the country, Mayer said he has discussed appropriate action plans moving forward. Although he said he feels the ArtsCenter has the infrastructure to properly accommodate social distancing measures for a performance, other factors will ultimately determine when is the right time to resume those activities.

“That’s about finding the best guidance from the CDC and different government entities and seeing what we can safely do,” Mayer said. “Some people really want to come back and gather together, and others want to wait awhile longer. I get it. We’ll probably hold off and see where we are in the fall.”

Photo via The ArtsCenter.

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