COVID-19 and Our Community : A Letter From Light Work’s Director
Dear Light Work community,
I hope that you and your loved ones are keeping safe and healthy during this challenging time. So much has occurred in the world and here at Light Work since we made the difficult but important decision to close to the public and suspend our exhibitions and residency programs on March 13.
While we have been closed to the public during this time and most our staff have been working from home already, our lab services have remained operational so that artists around the globe could still order prints, scans, and other image work from our facility over the past week. In order to take the next step of extra precautions to protect our employees and the public from the spread of COVID-19, we have decided to only accept service lab orders that can be accomplished remotely by our staff starting today, March 20. While New York State has ordered this change to go into effect on Sunday, we feel it’s best to take action now.
We do not currently know when it will be safe to fully re-open our facility. Until then, while we can provide quotes and accept orders for printing and scanning, the completion of some of these projects requiring certain equipment may only be able to take place once we return to having our facility open. We encourage everyone to stay in touch about projects nonetheless, including planning ahead for Summer and Fall. Find more info about the lab services at www.lightwork.org/services or reach out to the lab team at services@lightwork.org to discuss any printing, scanning, and retouching projects.
Light Work Lab is also offering one-on-one online sessions for those looking to further their photography education during this time. It’s a great opportunity to brush up on your skills or learn something new. Once again, reach out to the lab team directly at the email above to find out more info!
During this period of closure, we are working with each of our staff to develop flexible work-from-home schedules and plan to continue to pay all full and part-time hourly staff their usual wages, to help ease the burden of these unforeseen circumstances. We will continue to closely monitor the situation and COVID-19 guidelines provided by Onondaga County officials, Governor Cuomo, the New York State Department of Health, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, with the safety of our staff and community as our top priority.
With everyone having more time at home, we encourage you to explore our online offerings, including our history of exhibitions, portfolios of past artists-in-residence, our expansive online Collection (featuring over 4,000 works to browse) and Urban Video Project’s Insights, (a great collection of UVP exhibition documentation, mixed with clips of exhibited works and the artists’ own reflections).
Please also take a moment to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to stay in touch. In the coming weeks, we hope to launch an exciting new online project, and we will keep you posted on that!
My very best,
Shane Lavalette
Director, Light Work
