Dear Members,
As you can imagine, the Coronavirus crisis has affected every aspect of our business. The Board and managers are in constant communication, as we all continue adapting to the challenges that we face. We hold weekly meetings and are in email and phone contact daily. As we grapple to deal with a situation that we could have never imagined a few short weeks ago, and as we make our way through the constantly changing world of government announcements, we will be keeping the membership informed as best we can. The Board will be sending out weekly communiques and you will also be hearing separately from our managers on specific topics such as sales, the AGM and the Market, as required. If you find that you still have unanswered questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact the Board or any of the managers. You can find our email addresses at the bottom of this letter.
Here, then, is an overview of what we have been doing this past week:
Staff
We’ve previously let you know that we are making every attempt not to lay off or terminate any of our store staff. They are all currently still on the payroll at 75% reduced wages to the end of April. We are thrilled, then, with the recent announcement from the federal government of 75% wage subsidies. This likely means that we will be able to maintain our staff throughout the duration of the store closure, which has always been our goal. The details of the wage subsidies have just been announced this week, so we still need to confirm the viability of the programme for us and will report back to you in the next communique.
Sales
We fully understand that the single most important reason for being part of the Circle Craft Co-op is for the sales opportunities that membership provides. We’ve already announced the closure of our Granville Island store and the closure of the Net Loft. These closures mean that we have lost not only the facility for in-person sales, but we have also lost the means to conduct online sales of work currently in the store.
However, it doesn’t mean that we’re giving up on promoting our members’ work. It just means that we have to be creative and we have to work with partners, both new and old, to increase our reach.
The management team has already sent an email to members last week (‘Net Loft Closure’ on March 25) in which they spell out the first step in this process. Many of you already have your own online stores and/or offer other services online, so let’s use Circle Craft’s extensive social media reach to promote your business. In order to do so, we are collecting data on your business details, as spelled out in the email. If you have plans for an online store but don’t have it ready yet, don’t worry – you can send us your details anytime. And if you missed last week’s email, let us know and we will resend. Please also remember to keep tagging us (@circlecraft) on your own Facebook and Instagram so that we can share your work and send customers your way.
Over the coming days and weeks, we will be working to provide you with more resources to help you to undertake, or accelerate, online digital sales outside of the Circle Craft website, as well as exploring every possible other option we can think of. Please remember that as a co-op, we are a community that should be working together. If any of you have ideas or are doing something new that seems to be working, please let us know so that we can share with everybody.
AGM
We will, of course, be holding this year’s AGM online and the AGM package will be sent out in early April. Because of a delay in receiving the audited statements from Kinder (due to illness in their offices) and the extra effort involved in working out the logistics for an online meeting, the date for the AGM will be pushed back one week. It was originally scheduled for the last week of April but will now be held during the first week of May. We will be informing you of the details just as soon as we can.
Market
Even though the Christmas Market is still seven months away, we need to consider the possibility that it might not happen this year. Given the enormous upheaval that we’ve seen during the past few weeks, we know that it is impossible to even begin to predict what will be happening next fall.
Andrea and Rossanne have chosen to take a cautious, even-handed approach and are proceeding with all Market preparations as planned, but without committing to any expenses.
Other Useful Information
The isolation and uncertainty of the pandemic can be distressing but please know that there is lots of help out there, including:
The Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) will provide $2000/month for up to four months for workers who have lost income, including those who are self-employed:
The BC Provincial Government will be providing a one-time lump sum payment to anybody who has lost income due to the pandemic:
The BC provincial government is also making available a $500/month temporary COVID rent supplement:
The Greater Vancouver Professional Theater Alliance is offering a series of free webinars for artists called ‘Working Through This’. The first webinar, on April 2, is a legal clinic; the second one, on April 3, is about building resilience.
If you’re thinking of setting up a Shopify store, here’s an online tutorial that can help get you started:
And, of course, you’re always welcome to contact your own Circle Craft Board, Market Show Producers Andrea & Rossanne, or Cathy, who has transitioned to managing online sales for you:
604-354-7505 (Kaarina, Board Chair)
604-351-5687
Please let us know if you’ve come across other help for artists and we will include it in future emails.
Hoping that you’re all being able to make use of this time for creative endeavours. Please let’s all keep in touch and support each other.
Warm regards from the
Circle Craft Board
