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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 />In response to the 2020 COVID-19 crisis, Sisters' Voices began <br />meeting v irtually v ia Zoom sessions in late March. Instead of <br />performing a spring concert and opera, SV held a v irtual open mic <br />with ~50 participants and a v irtual choral recording with 19 of the <br />singers produced by Leandra. This summer, Leandra adapted SV's <br />camp offerings to a 3 week v irtual format, July 13-31. Sessions <br />included a leadership workshop open to the oldest singers and <br />recent graduates. The other two weeks offered a 2-hour morning <br />session, CAMP, for 2nd-5th graders and an afternoon session, <br />W riting W orkshop, for 4th-8th graders. <br />Throughout the pandemic, Sisters’ Voices Board and Staff hav e been <br />learning all we can by staying up-to-date on information published by <br />gov ernment agencies (especially the CDC), national organizations <br />that prov ide resources to choral singers and leaders (Chorus <br />America, ACDA, NATS), and local school districts (Durham, Chatham, <br />Chapel Hill-Carrboro), and we are working together to offer a 2020- <br />2021 season that keeps us safe and keeps us singing. <br />Giv en the need to continue meeting v irtually as full ensembles, <br />Sisters’ Voices is operating differently than in prev ious seasons. <br />Participants register by semester, rather than the full year, and pay <br />by month on a sliding scale. W e know that this time is hard on many <br />families. If a child wants to join us for singing, it is more important to <br />us to hav e her participate than to hav e her money. All ensembles <br />hav e a rehearsal ov er Zoom on Mondays . Each singer is also inv ited <br />to join a Small Group that meets on another afternoon. Monday <br />ensembles are a month-long commitment; new singers may join at <br />the start of any month. Small Groups are a semester-long <br />commitment and may be joined at the beginning of the semester. In <br />addition, Leandra has plans to offer writing workshops, discussion <br />groups, and a continuation of the newsletter, The Echo. Leandra has <br />also been in discussion with other choral groups who hav e <br />successfully conducted physically distanced, outdoor rehearsals with <br />singers wearing masks. She has plans to conduct a few outdoor <br />rehearsals following strict protocols to ensure safety for all <br />participants. <br />DocuSign Envelope ID: CC43E379-A5DB-4CB5-9BDD-1BFAEDA75C7D