Dear APAP Members and Colleagues,
I hope that this message finds you safe and well this holiday season.
As this year of unimaginable loss comes to a close and the promise of a new year lies ahead, I can’t help but reflect on what was, and at the same time hold space for what is to become.
The devastating impacts that COVID-19 has had on the live performing arts and on you---the professionals who bring it to life for communities around the world and who are the fabric of this robust industry---are real. That you are still standing---that you have held on and persisted---is enough.
This year has also not been without significant loss of life. As we plan to honor at conference those who we have lost, please let us know of any colleagues who are no longer with us.
As the closure of December makes way for a new beginning in January, it is my wish that the new year bestow upon us a collective strength and resilience to step into and fully inhabit the big pivot before us---fueled by our faith and our imaginations---and that we build back stronger and more brilliant than ever before with our beliefs intact:
- The arts are essential; arts workers are essential.
- Our people will renew, and we are worth it.
- When our endurance is tested, our phoenix will rise.
On behalf of all of us at APAP, I wish you peace, joy and good health in the year ahead, and I thank each and every one of you who has been with us this year and who has been here for one another.
We are stronger together.
Sincerely,
Lisa Richards Toney
President and CEO, APAP
