» S.A. arts venues keeping virus safety measures.
Several of San Antonio’s performing arts organizations, museums and other attractions plan to stay the course with COVID-19 safety measures in the wake of Gov. Greg Abbott’s announcement that state mandates will be lifted March 10.
Many spaces that have been closed aren’t in a hurry to reopen. And many of those that have been operating at reduced capacity levels have no plans to open up additional seating or relax mask requirements right now.
The Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, which reopened for ticketed indoor events in September and has been operating at about 32 percent capacity, released a statement saying it would maintain such measures as temperature checks and mandatory mask wearing for the time being.
The Carver Community Cultural Center also will stick with its safety measures, said Director Cassandra
Parker-nowicki.
“Currently, we are not changing any plans, policies or procedures related to COVID-19,” Parker-nowicki said via email. “We will still require masks be worn by everyone entering our facility and will still operate at reduced capacity to allow for social distancing. … We are still planning to present our Intimate Series performances and postpone all the mainstage performances until next season.”
The Woodlawn Theatre, too, requires masks for anyone on the premises, and that policy will remain in place at least until a larger percentage of the population has been vaccinated, said Christopher Rodriguez, the theater’s executive and artistic director. The theater has a stash of disposable masks on hand for anyone who turns up without one.
The earliest the theater will reopen for productions is May, when Rodriguez plans to stage a revue.
“Hopefully, we will move forward with just 50 percent capacity still, unless we feel we can go up on that,” he said.
Movie theaters, too, are not racing to change things. The Alamo Drafthouse, which has only one of its three San Antonio theaters in operation, and at reduced capacity, tweeted Tuesday evening that it would be keeping all of its safety measures in place for the foreseeable future.
“We are only following the guidance of the CDC and medical experts, not politicians,” the Austinbased company tweeted. “Right
now, at what we hope is the beginning of the end of COVID, the health of our teams and our guests remains this company’s top priority.”
Santikos, the San Antonio-based chain, has seven of its nine locations open at 50 percent capacity. The company has not made a decision yet on whether to make changes, said Andrew Brooks, executive director for sales and marketing. It is gathering feedback from employees on the matter
The San Antonio Zoo will continue to operate under its current policies and procedures, zoo President and CEO Tim Morrow said in a statement. That information can be found at sazoo.org/welcomeback.
“As we have done throughout the pandemic, and will continue to do, we notify our guests and fans through social media and emails about any changes to these guest protocols,” Morrow
said. “We are continually assessing our operations ”
Witte Museum President and CEO Marise Mcdermott issued a similar statement, indicating the museum would continue to uphold all its pandemic protocols, including mask wearing and social distancing.
“The Witte Museum developed safety protocols last spring in preparation for reopening the museum POSTCOVID-19 closure,” Mcdermott said. “The protocols include a welcome by a trained safety ambassador who will explain the importance of masks, extensive cleansing throughout the day, and physical distancing cues. The Witte Museum is fortunate to have plenty of space throughout the campus to spread out, even with what is considered ‘100%’ capacity.”
The San Antonio Museum of Art will continue to require masks and social distancing on its campus.
Meanwhile, the Mcnay Art Museum will continue operation at 50 percent capacity and require staff and guests to wear masks while inside the museum. However, visitors will no longer be required to wear masks when outdoors.
Two attractions geared toward younger visitors also will maintain most existent protocols.
The Doseum posted on Instagram (@thedoseum) that it will keep its current policies in place regarding capacity and masks. Those include capacity limits on all galleries and mandatory masks for ages 10 and older, with masks for ages 2 to 9 “highly encouraged.” For more information, visit thedoseum.org.
Morgan’s Wonderland, which reopens Friday, will require guests to purchase admission tickets in advance at morganswonderland.com/ admissions. Guests ages 3 and older must wear face masks, practice social distancing and consume any food and snacks only in designated areas.