Update to 2022 Summer Session
Letter From Sarah Workneh, Skowhegan Co-Director
Dear Potential Applicant,
After two long years, it is a relief to announce the opening of the application for Skowhegan’s 2022 Program. The events, seismic shifts, tragedies, and regressions of the past two years will undoubtedly change the work we do, the conversations we have, and how we relate to each other when we are on campus. As you consider whether or not to apply, I would like to reserve the space in this letter to discuss the more pragmatic ways in which the program will necessarily shift under the ongoing concerns around COVID-19.
It is impossible to know what the world will look like by the start of the 2022 summer session on June 11, but in the interest of transparency and in order to give you, prospective applicants, the opportunity to make your own decisions based on what we can accommodate, what we expect, and how we imagine the community will function, I want to inform you of what we anticipate will happen.
I will outline the changes/policies that we know, as of November 15, 2021, will be implemented. Later in this letter, I will outline potential changes that will take place closer to the start of the summer when we can assess the situation more currently.
As of November 15, 2021, we know that:
We will accept a reduced number of participants for the 2022 Summer Program. We anticipate that the class size will decrease from 65 participants to 50-55. Understanding that we all have differing levels of comfort in being in close quarters and different baseline health concerns, this decision has been made in order to give each participant in the program a private room. Everyone will still share bathroom and shower facilities, but each individual will be offered private sleeping quarters.
Everyone participating in the program is required to be fully and currently vaccinated against COVID-19 by the time you arrive on campus (this includes a two-week waiting period after the final vaccine dose). Each participant will need to provide documentation of their vaccination. Exceptions may be made for health and religious exemptions, but will need to be discussed individually upon admission.
Each individual participating in the program must receive a negative COVID PCR test result 72 hours prior to arriving on campus. Understanding that access to tests is not consistent geographically, Skowhegan will mail each participating artist a test to take at home.
Should someone become ill with COVID, decisions on their quarantine and ongoing participation in the program will be determined by me, in consultation with health officials.
Policies may change, be implemented, or rolled back at my discretion based upon a reasonable and ongoing daily assessment of the public health status of the national, local, and on-campus communities. Once on campus, any individual who fails to comply with any policy or is determined to be compromising the health and safety of the community will be dismissed from the program.
Policies to be decided closer to the start of the program:
Participants who are traveling internationally should be prepared to arrive on campus on June 2, 2022 in order to quarantine for a week and pass at least one PCR test with a negative result administered on site. We will inform you if this is going to happen upon admission in April, but international applicants should expect to set aside an extra week regardless
All faculty, staff, and participants may be required to test weekly or bi-weekly while on-site. Tests will be provided and administered by Skowhegan.
Masking indoors may be implemented at any time over the course of the program.
Visitors’ weekend may be canceled, and travel to town may be limited.
It is really important to remember that living and working in a congregate environment comes with different kinds of risks and exposures than those which we encounter and can control differently in our day-to-day lives. One thing that is true at Skowhegan every year, regardless of COVID-19, is that we are all responsible for the health, safety, and emotional well-being of each other. Decisions regarding COVID will not be made individually (unless related to dismissal from the program) but will be made with the health & safety of the collective in mind. This shared responsibility is not a limitation on our individual freedoms, but instead an important and generous opportunity to understand how our own freedom is directly related to the freedom of those around us and our ability to do the work we are present in the program to do. Any policy put into place will be done so to ensure that the most important aspects of the program— proximity, openness, and discourse—are preserved for you on campus.
Each of you will have experienced the last two years very differently. As such, some of you will see this note as our effort in offering you each a sense of safety, others may interpret it as overly cautious & regulatory. Please understand that we have a responsibility to everyone in the program—faculty, staff, participants—as well as to the larger community in Maine beyond what may be visible or preferable to you as an individual. Our greatest priority is ensuring that our 76th summer at Skowhegan will be distinct, joyful, transformative, and shaped by what we share together over nine-weeks.
The application is now OPEN, please see our website for more information on the program and to access the application. Feel free to email help@skowheganart.org with any questions.
With care,
Sarah Workneh
Co-Director
Previous Letters to Applicants: