June 10th, 2020
Dear LAM Families
Thank you all for the valuable feedback on our reopening- we received nearly 100 responses to our survey! After reviewing your feedback along with evaluating our building, budget, and staff capacity we--the LAM Covid Committee--have made the difficult decision not to reopen over the summer for normally scheduled lessons and classes. This was a long process of planning and weighing risk versus reward. We want in person lessons and we want to return to normalcy, but at this time the restrictions we would be required to follow would be more difficult and less comfortable than online instruction. The number of students and teachers who expressed interest in wanting to return at this time is not great enough for us to justify a full reopen.
We hope to know much more about covid and its spread in our area over the next month. We will continue to meet and reevaluate our situation to make the best decisions for our faculty, families, students, and staff moving forward into the start of the school year. In the meantime, we understand that there may be pedagogical reasons for needing an in person lesson and we have given our teachers the ability to make a special request for an in person lesson if necessary and they are comfortable providing in person lessons at this time. All in-person lessons will be conducted after we receive clearance from the state and will continue to be flexible based on recommendations from the city, state, and federal guidelines. All in person lessons (indoor and outdoor) must be approved by the office and take place on LAM premises.
We are prepared to offer remote lessons until there is a vaccine, treatment, and widespread immunity. We are committed to using our time and resources at LAM to improve the online lesson and if you need any technical support please reach out to us or your teacher.
We are also hosting the first ever LAM Summer Symposium. We are so excited to welcome a great lineup of local and national educators and musicians to teach workshops on subjects such as mindfulness and music, improvisation, Baroque practice, score study and more! Please don’t miss out on this amazing opportunity. Workshops are all virtual and free to attend for LAM students and faculty. Enrollment in the special seminars are for students looking for an intensive program in composition or chamber music. We are also in the process of planning a final musical showcase that will celebrate our community and our students’ achievement.
Thank you all for your dedication to music, LAM, and your teacher. This has indeed been a very difficult time, but we keep reminding ourselves how lucky we are to be able to continue learning in a risk free and effective way. Please reach out with any questions or concerns!
Best,
The LAM Covid Committee
Sara Callaway, LAM Executive Director
Erin Palmer, LAM Board Chair and Senior Manager of Programming, Kentucky Performing Arts
Yoko Martin, LAM Board Member, LAM Parent, and Adjunct Lecturer of Japanese at Indiana University Southeast