On March 20, Fire Island Artist Residency (FIAR) Director Chris Bogia announced that this coming summer’s residency in Cherry Grove, “for emerging LGBTQ artists,” has been cancelled, in light of the corona virus pandemic.
Chris wrote, in an email, to prospective FIAR residents, and friends and sponsors:
“Due to ongoing concerns and uncertainty regarding the COVID-19 virus, FIAR has made the difficult decision to cancel this summer’s residency. We hope the virus is no longer an issue in the nearest possible future, but we have decided to act conservatively in the interest of caring for the safety of our future residents and staff. We are thinking of ways to stay connected in 2020 without our summer program and, as those ideas become more concrete, we look forward to sharing them.
In the meantime, we wish our entire community of emerging LGBQ artists, writers, and all the wonderful people we work with safety and comfort during this time.”
Major sponsors of FIAR are Callen-Lorde, the Arts Project of Cherry Grove, Sikkema Jenkins & Company, the New York State Council on the Arts, and Between Bridges.