The Blyth Festival is suspending its 2020 season until further notice.
In a release this morning, Artistic Director Gill Garratt stated its the first time in 46-years that the Blyth Festival has done this.
“As a community leader, the Festival owes a responsibility to help support and amplify the life-saving message of our Public Health officials and their initiatives of social/physical distancing right now. Our front line healthcare workers, and the volunteers, administrators, and civil servants working to deploy the largest mobilization of care and compassion in Canadian history, need our unequivocal support. We, the festival stand with these workers and our thoughts are with them in this crisis," said Garratt.
"We also know that storytelling and live theatre is a crucial part of community health, and we will be here for this region, and for all Canadian audiences and artists when the time for us to directly help our community heal is at hand. Culture is what brings us together and allows us to understand each other, to laugh together, to remember, and to dream about our common future; that is our responsibility as artists, and we promise we will be here to help us all heal when the clouds of COVID-19 have parted,” added Garratt.
The release goes on to thank sponsors, members, and donors who have offered continued support in an unprecedented time.
Since 1975, the Festival has premiered more than 140 plays, across over 200 productions.
The 2020 season was to start June 10 with a preview of "Airborne".