Creative Arts Workshop is excited to announce the reopening of 80 Audubon Street. We are grateful to all the volunteers, board, staff, students, instructors, community partners and our donors who made this reopening possible when so many local businesses have closed their doors. With your support, CAW has weathered the storm and developed ways to stay connected through creativity. 

When you return to CAW for in-person classes, you will find new protections in place concerning air quality. Here’s what we did:

– Official inspection and repairs for all five air handlers
– Professional cleaning for all ductwork and vents
– Substantially increased fresh air intakes and exhausts
– Installed ionization units to improve filtering performance
– Upgraded air filtration to the highest level (MERV13)
– Four filter changes scheduled per year (twice the recommended level)
– Added direct exhaust venting for all bathrooms.

Following all Connecticut state guidelines, and with careful planning specific to our organization, we have implemented new safety measures throughout the building. We ask that everyone respect these guidelines (and be flexible to any necessary policy changes) to ensure a safe and positive experience for all visitors.

We are thrilled to have you return to your creative home this spring and summer. Thank you for your help, support, and collaboration this year, and as we move forward.

 

Safety Protocols

General requirements

Exposure: If you are exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19, please stay home. If you or anyone in your household has been exposed to COVID-19 and you have been in the building in the last two weeks, please notify CAW immediately.

PPE: Masks must be worn at all times in the building. Masks should cover an individual’s nose, mouth, and chin. For public safety, those not wearing a mask or who refuse to do so will not be permitted to enter or asked to leave. If you cannot wear a mask for medical reasons, please contact us for potential virtual accommodations.

Contact tracing: Everyone must sign-in upon entering the building.

Social distancing: Everyone must maintain six feet of distance from other people at all times. The number of occupants per room or studio will be restricted to accommodate CDC recommendations and are subject to change. 

Shared risk areas: To maintain traffic flow and social distancing, people must move through shared spaces as quickly as possible until they reach their destination. We are excited to see new and familiar faces in the building, but former socializing spaces (e.g. the lobby, hallways, and gallery spaces) have now been converted to walkways. To make phone calls, eat, or rest, please use the patio in front of the building or the Park of the Arts.

One-way: To ensure social distancing, some spaces in the building are now reserved for one-way foot traffic. There is abundant signage throughout the building to help you reach your destination and the exit. Please note the following changes:

– The front door is a one-way entrance
– The Clean Room doors are a one-way exit
– If you are heading upstairs, please use the stairwell in the gallery
– If you are heading downstairs, please use the main stairwell
– The elevator is still available, but limited to single occupancy at this time.

Hygiene: We placed new hand sanitizer stations throughout the building, and installed touchless soap and paper towel dispensers in the restrooms. Please wash your hands often, and use hand sanitizer after engaging with high-touch surfaces (e.g. elevator buttons, doorknobs, etc.).

Vaccination: We highly encourage all who can to take advantage of the opportunity to get fully vaccinated for COVID-19, and we expect that most of our constituents will do that.

Entrance & exit

Lobby & sign-in protocols

Everyone will enter the building through the front door on Audubon Street. The door will be unlocked 15 minutes prior to class start time and otherwise remain locked. 

If a line forms outside the door, please use the bright yellow stickers on the ground to practice social distancing while waiting to enter. Everyone must sign in for contact tracing (name, phone number, date, time, and destination). Once you have signed in, please proceed to your destination in the building immediately to prevent traffic jams and close contact in the lobby.

Entrance protocols

 

1st floor entrance protocol

To reach a 1st floor studio, please proceed down the 1st floor hallway, as normal.

 

2nd and 3rd floor entrance protocol

To reach the 2nd or 3rd floor, please proceed through the 1st floor gallery and use the gallery stairwell to go upstairs. People working on the 2nd floor will proceed through the 2nd floor gallery to reach their studio, while people working on the 3rd floor will proceed through the Young People area to reach their studio. 

Signage will guide people from each stairwell landing to their final destination.

Exit protocols

 

1st floor exit protocol

Everyone working in a 1st floor studio will exit through the studio doors into the Park of the Arts. If you are not working in a studio, please use the Clean Room doors to exit the building. No one will exit through the front door without special permission.

 

2nd and 3rd floor exit protocol

Everyone on the 2nd or 3rd floor will use the main stairwell to proceed to the 1st floor, and exit through the Clean Room. 

Signage will guide people from each studio to the final exit.

Shared risk areas

Front desk protocols

If you would like to get in touch with someone at CAW, please contact the front desk via phone or email. This will help limit the number of people in the lobby at any given time. Although there will be staff members seated at the front desk, forming a line to speak with them will be actively discouraged. We encourage people to move through the lobby as quickly as possible for everyone’s safety. 

Only designated staff are permitted to enter the administrative office or mailbox area.

Hallway protocols

To minimize unnecessary contact, hallways will be used for foot traffic only. To make phone calls, eat, or rest please use the patio in front of the building, the Park of the Arts, or the plaza across the street. Arrows and signage will indicate areas with one-way traffic, and everyone is required to maintain social distancing when moving through the building.

Elevator protocols

While COVID-19 is still an active concern, CAW will generally only allow one person in the elevator at a time, with the exception of family members or roommates, who may ride together. We recommend using the provided hand sanitizer after touching the elevator buttons.

When you are waiting for the elevator, please use the bright yellow stickers on the floor to practice social distancing and allow people to exit the elevator before entering.

Restroom protocols

All bathrooms, even those with multiple stalls, are now single occupancy. All bathroom doors in CAW have been upgraded with occupied/vacant locks, and people must use these locks every time they enter the bathroom. Masks are required throughout the building, including bathrooms. Please follow all hand washing instructions posted at bathroom sinks.

Gallery protocols

The galleries will function as walkways, rather than gathering places, until further notice. People moving through the 1st or 2nd floor galleries to reach their studio must proceed to their destination as quickly as possible and follow the path indicated by arrows on the floor. 

If there is a streetside exhibition on view, please respect the artists and their artwork and do not stop or interact with the work. Work can be viewed from the sidewalk. 

Library protocols

The Library is closed until further notice.

Studio areas

CAW studio monitors and instructors are representatives of Creative Arts Workshop. Students must follow any of their requests or reminders regarding COVID-19 protocols. Instructors and studio monitors will notify the front desk when someone:

– Develops symptoms while on site
– Reports symptoms outside of CAW after spending time in the building
– Refuses to comply with mask or social distancing requirements

To view temporary studio capacity limits and studio-specific policies, please click on the links below:

Book Arts
Drawing + Painting
Fiber Arts
Photography
Pottery
Printmaking
Sculpture
Young People

COVID-19 exposure protocols

Notifying the front desk

If someone that has been on site in the last two weeks develops symptoms of COVID-19, please call (203) 562-4927 immediately. 

If someone develops symptoms of COVID-19 while in the building, the instructor or studio monitor will notify the front desk by calling (203) 562-4927. This number is posted on bright red paper in every classroom.

If the instructor is physically unable to call the front desk, they must designate a student to notify the front desk by phone. For contact tracing purposes, we ask that students don’t notify the front desk in person, unless it’s an emergency and no phones are available.

During business hours, the front desk will direct the call to the COVID coordinator, and contact the Executive Director. The COVID coordinator will execute the contact tracing protocol while the Executive Director informs the board.

If someone develops symptoms outside of business hours, we ask that they:

– Leave a message at extension 11
– Email the COVID coordinator (building@creativeartsworkshop.org)
– Call CAW again during business hours

Exposure communications

The COVID Coordinator begins the contact tracing process by speaking with the individual who tested positive for COVID-19 to identify close contacts. “Close contact” is defined as someone who has been within 6 feet of the person with COVID-19, with or without a mask, for a total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period during the infectious period (the 2 days prior to the positive test or onset of COVID-19 symptoms in the person with COVID-19).

The COVID Coordinator will contact the following parties privately:

– the person who tested positive for COVID-19
– any identified close contacts

Throughout the entire contact tracing process, your privacy is CAW’s utmost concern. The COVID Coordinator will keep your information confidential to the greatest extent possible, and no personal information will be shared with the public at any time. We will alert the CAW community that someone has tested positive, and that all close contacts have already been notified.

We require that all community members who have tested positive for COVID-19 or come into close contact with someone who tests positive quarantine for 2 weeks before returning to CAW with a confirmed negative COVID-19 test. If you were in the building concurrently with a positive COVID-19 case, but not on the same floor or sharing studio space, we do not require you to quarantine for two weeks. We highly recommend that everyone in the building that day gets tested for COVID-19 immediately, and again after 1-2 weeks.

Thank you

We are grateful for your help, support, and collaboration in keeping everyone safe at CAW. See you soon!