Making sure Artists Open Studios goes ahead safely and surely is the brief of the recently appointed event co-ordinator, Charlie Meyerhoff.
"I'm very lucky, because the people who did it before me, Kat (Wade, 2020) and Ness (Radich, 2021), did a really good job," she says. "I'm able to just take
a lot of the work they did and follow the circle on. There are some things we've changed up a little bit, and that comes from feedback from previous years."
If Whanganui remains in red under the new traffic light system, Charlie says it still should not be an issue for Artists Open Studios in March.
"We've just come up with a new initiative," she says. "We going to do something similar to the Masters Games, where all the visitors will come to a central point where they will scan their passports [My Vaccine Passes], they will then be given a lanyard from us that says that their passport has been scanned and verified."
This will allow freedom of movement for vaccinated art lovers and reduce the need for studios to scan everyone's Vaccine Pass on entry. Charlie says they are busy enough without the added burden of policing people and passes.
"It's going to take away a lot of the anxiety from the artists. I think it's the safest way to do it, to ensure we are still carrying out good safety [procedures] but minimise stress.
"With that lanyard they can engage with a lot more businesses and get them involved."
Charlie says the whole event is not necessarily only for the double vaccinated.
"Each studio will decide for themselves.
"Normally the trail guide is printed in December, but we're holding off now until February because we are going to need to put some form of communication in the trail guide for our visitors. They are going to need to know what's going on."
Artists can now go on to the AOS website where they will find a link where they can register their vaccination status. Charlie says they will leave it open so they can go in and change it right up until the event, if they need to.
"On the morning of the event we will simply print off that page and we will be able to give that to our visitors to show them which studio is vaccinated and which is not. Under 'red', you are allowed up to 25 people in a space unvaccinated." Most studios could not take that many people at one time, anyway.
At this stage, the opening event and starting point exhibition are going ahead.
Bringing visitors to the central point for vaccine pass verification and lanyard distribution adds a whole new dynamic to the event, says Charlie.
"Even having people wearing lanyards adds a whole new buzz to the city during that week. It's almost like you're a part of a club: if you're walking down the street and see another person wearing a lanyard, it automatically gives you an 'in' to a conversation."
She's hoping this might compensate a little for the lack of Whanganui Walls next year.
"It won't be on par with the awesome walls, but at least it gives an extra something we didn't have."
