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Duke Arts Presents

2020/2021 Season Update

July 14, 2020


Dear Friends,

We hope you and your families are well as we collectively weather these difficult times.

As you know, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Duke Performances hasn’t been able to hold in-person performances since early March. In an effort to serve artists and our community, we quickly regrouped to offer a free Livestream series during April and May — and are currently presenting our eight-week Music in Your Gardens online series through August 19, produced by a team of Durham creatives. We hope you’ll join us tomorrow at 7 PM for Shirlette Ammons (visit our blog for interviews with Shirlette and our other participating artists).

Under normal circumstances, we would have already announced and placed on sale our entire 2020/2021 season. Our team is very proud of the season we assembled, which was more than a year in the making, expansive in its breadth and featuring six world premieres commissioned by Duke Performances.

Our primary concern is ensuring the health and safety of our audiences, artists, and staff. After consulting with Duke University over the last several months, we’ve decided to cancel live performances in Fall 2020 and reschedule all Fall 2020 artists to the 2021/2022 season. We’re hopeful that we can safely present in-person performances in Spring 2021, but will wait until mid-Fall to make that determination.

Despite these changes, we’re energized by the challenge of digitally reimagining our Fall season. Next month we’ll follow up with more details about our plans, which include virtual performances, conversations, master classes, and other public engagements with artists. For these presentations, we have chosen to prioritize the artists to whom we made commitments this Fall, and we’re hopeful that these engagements will build lasting relationships and a compelling through-line to the 2021/2022 season, when we’re able to host these artists physically in Durham.

Thank you for your continued support during these extraordinary times. We look forward to being in touch with further updates soon.

Warm regards,

The Duke Performances Team