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Although the arts and live events industries just received guidelines for outdoor seated live performances with capacity restrictions by tier starting April 1 and indoor guidance starting April 15, everything changes starting June 15 when all capacity restrictions and social distancing restrictions are lifted for outdoor and indoor events subject to continued mask wearing and vaccinations.
The entire state will move into this phase June 15 if two criteria are met: If vaccine supply is sufficient for Californians 16 years and older who want the vaccine, and if hospitalization rates are stable and low.
“Today’s news from the Governor that capacity limits will be lifted by June 15 is music to our ears! While the arts, culture and live events industries have been shut down for over a year now, we never wanted to reopen before it was safe to do so and nor could most of our sector make it work with limited capacities. We applaud the Administration’s commitment to public health and safety and getting everyone 16 and up vaccinated. While we know it will take some time for our industry to build back up, we also know the Newsom Administration and the California Legislature recognizes the economic and health benefits of arts and culture to California. We look forward to working with them on next steps including significant public investment needed to get us back on our feet and back to business for the benefit of every community in California!” -Julie Baker, Executive Director, Californians for the Arts
Businesses and sectors listed in the state “Blueprint for a Safer Economy”which includes the color-coded county tier system, will be able to resume normal operations “compliance with Cal/OSHA requirements and with common-sense public health policies in place, such as required masking, testing and with vaccinations encouraged,” according to a statement from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.
Large-scale indoor events like conventions will be allowed with testing or vaccination verification requirements.
Since July of 2020, Californians for the Arts first started communicating with the Governor’s office of business and economic development (Go-Biz) around the needs for reopening guidelines for live events. In the late summer CFTA conducted a series of regional conversations across the state and learned that the number one issue for our sector was to get reopening guidelines from the state. A 50+ person volunteer task force of industry leaders in multiple disciplines convened on a semi regular basis to discuss reopening arts safely and combine efforts to communicate with the state. Over the last several months, a smaller group of industry experts met regularly with CDPH and Go-Biz regarding the release of guidelines. The work has been collaborative and transparent and resulted in guidelines for events to restart as of April 1.
For more information visit our reopening guidelines section as we update it with more information.