Wexner Center closed through April 6 due to coronavirus outbreak

Nicholas Youngblood
Sat, 14 Mar 2020 17:48:36 +0000
Arts & Life, Coronavirus, Fine Arts, News, art, arts, Ben Johnson, cancelled, classes, classes cancelled, concert, corona, coronavirus, covid, COVID-19, disease, dorms, exhibition, gallery, Johns Hopkins, la neve, live, live music, live stream, livestream, michael drake, michael v drake, move out, music, ohio state, online, osu [and 13 more]

The Wexner Center for the Arts will be closed through April 6. Credit: Taylor Smith | Former Lantern Reporter

The Wexner Center for the Arts will be closed through April 6 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus outbreak, according to a statement on the center’s website.

The Wexner Center released a statement Friday evening indicating that the galleries, store and Heirloom cafe will be closed and all events will be suspended through April 6. This follows an announcement Thursday that events at the center would be scaled back in accordance with university policy focused on slowing the spread of the virus.

University spokesperson Ben Johnson deferred to President Michael V. Drake’s universitywide email, which said “every step we take as a university is aimed at reducing any potential spread of the virus and ensuring the continuation of our academic mission.”

An addition to the statement announced that a musical performance from visiting artist La Neve that was originally scheduled for Thursday will instead be livestreamed online Saturday via the Wexner Center website and archived on the center’s blog next week.

A universitywide email sent Monday from Drake announced face-to-face classroom settings will be replaced by virtual sessions through the end of the spring semester due to COVID-19. Students living on campus are required to move out of dorms by March 22.

As of publication, there are 153,500 cases of COVID-19 — the official name of the coronavirus, according to the World Health Organization — worldwide, 5,789 deaths and 72,587 recoveries, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The United States has 2,488 confirmed cases, 51 deaths and 12 recoveries, according to Johns Hopkins. There are 14 confirmed cases in Ohio, with one in Central Ohio as of Saturday. At this time of publication, there are no confirmed cases at Ohio State.

Those who have already purchased tickets for Wexner Center events will be contacted about refund options. Questions can be directed to the patron services desk at 614-292-3535.