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North Carolina’s <br />“stay at home” order <br />(Executive Order <br />117) had a profound <br />impact on the arts <br />sector. Describe the <br />specific steps your <br />organization took to <br />comply with <br />Executive Order 117. <br />The effects of COVID-19 started negatively affecting the gallery in <br />early March 2020. In keeping with Executive Order 117 on March 10th, <br />we decided that in the best interests of the public to forego the March <br />13th opening reception for its March/April show and, going forward, <br />cancelling any other planned gatherings involving large crowds. On <br />March 16th a collective decision was made to close the gallery to the <br />public. As time progressed all planned events, including the 10th <br />Annual Off the Wall Fundraising Gala planned for May 2nd, were <br />postponed in compliance with Executive Order 117. We did not <br />reopen until June 4 2020 after the State’s elevation to Stage 2 <br />directives and even then on a very limited basis.The gallery is still in <br />compliance with the Governors orders with a mask requirement, <br />social distancing and now an indoor limit of 20. The gallery stocks <br />masks, hand sanitizing liquid, and has social distancing decals for <br />the public’s safety. As a result of our nearly four month closure and <br />the reality of COVID, FRANK has made a big effort to connect with the <br />community virtually. Immediately responding to our closure on March <br />16,our gallery manager set up a Virtual Gallery of all exhibits and an <br />online shop to help with sales. During closure 20% of the shop’s <br />proceeds went to PORCH, the local Hunger Relief program. We also <br />moved our fundraising event from our typical in-person 120+ people <br />event to be staged via Zoom on October 10th- something we were <br />able to accomplish with borrowed equipment and made $25,000 to <br />cover our March-June sales shortfall. We also put artist’s talks online <br />using IPhones and other rudimentary methods and also put the <br />Karen Youth Arts Group’s postponed April show on line in our now <br />virtual Community Gallery The existence of COVID has made it clear <br />that we need to pivot our customer base and followers towards <br />online and virtual means of communication and purchasing. This has <br />made us acutely aware of our need to buy our own enhanced <br />streaming and offline enabling equipment to best enable our sales <br />and customer engagement. Given the probability of a long COVID <br />period, we need to communicate to our customers our adherence to <br />the necessary safety measures. Our singular employee, Gallery <br />manager Natalie Knox, has a huge work-load and has been crucial <br />during COVID in pivoting our business’s needs. Given her many <br />responsibilities, it is now necessary that we employ part time <br />technical assistance to focus both our streaming, online and social <br />media capabilities, together with developing our online shop <br />capabilities, This 'hybrid" approach is crucial to our survival. Even <br />though we are currently open with reduced hours,our foot traffic has <br />diminished greatly since pre-COVID, from averaging 25+ visitors to <br />now 3 visitors daily. Hopefully, by reconnecting with the community <br />through virtual means, together with an expanded appointment <br />personal viewing system, we will be able to encourage the public to <br />see our gallery as a safe place to stay connected with art and local <br />artists. <br />DocuSign Envelope ID: 10D62634-D3CD-418E-A272-7AF30D0BBB83