Indoor Venue Safety Is A 'Two Way Street,' Says ArtsBoston Executive Director Catherine Peterson

In a conversation that at times rang tense, ArtsBoston Executive Director Catherine Peterson told Boston Public Radio listeners that they should be prepared to set their own standards when it comes to attending indoor venues, should they feel it necessary.

ArtsBoston is a nonprofit organization that oversees arts-based research and fosters a network of citywide arts groups. Throughout the pandemic, they’ve conducted widespread community polling and offered reopening guidance for theaters, museums and other arts spaces.

Speaking on the subject of indoor gatherings and the lack of a Massachusetts vaccine mandate, Peterson told listeners that the onus for safety rests on audiences and venue owners alike.

“It’s a two way street,” she said. “It’s what arts organizations are doing to make you feel as comfortable as possible, but it’s a social contract on the other side where we as a public really need to step up and do our bit” to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Peterson also noted that restrictions are likely loosen with time, as cases continue to fall across the state. She used the Tanglewood performance space in Lennox, Mass., as an example.

“Tanglewood originally was opening at 25 percent capacity with six-feet social distancing,” she said. “Now, based on the vaccination rates and other factors ... they are now opening at 50 percent capacity and three-feet social distancing.”

At that point, Boston Public Radio host Jim Braude stressed his own hesitancy to attend indoor venues that don't require guests to prove they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19.

“I don’t mean to belabor this,” he said, but “if I knew there was a vaccine mandate, I’d buy a ticket — including to a packed theater — and if there wasn’t a vaccine mandate, I wouldn’t buy a ticket even if it was only half the seats being sold.”

Peterson responded with a question of her own, asking “are you going to Fenway, Jim?”

“Well, it’s outdoors,” he replied.

“Are you going to the Garden?” she asked.

“I would not go to the Garden unless there’s a mandate,” he said. “Is there a mandate?”

“There sure isn’t.”

“Well then I wouldn’t go,” he responded.

“Everybody has different [levels] of what they feel comfortable with, and I think it is a matter of us testing it out and seeing what [people] feel comfortable with,” she said. “And keeping an eye on what’s happening.”

Later in the discussion, Peterson called on state leaders to dramatically boost grants for small and nonprofit corners of the state's arts community. She said she’d like to see lawmakers on Beacon Hill prioritize small and local arts groups when it comes time to divvy up the nearly $5 billion in additional incoming federal aid.

“There is an opportunity to really make an investment there, and it needs to be substantial,” she said. “It can’t be $21 million, it needs to be $300 million, it needs to be $400 million, it needs to be $500 million.”

A report published in March by the Massachusetts Cultural Council determined that arts organizations in the Commonwealth suffered around $558 million in total pandemic-related losses.