by Scott Roos
pics by Scott and Deanna Roos
When the pandemic gave them lemons, they made lemonade. It may be a cliche statement but in the case of Prince Albert's EA Rawlinson Centre for the Arts it's absolutely true. In spite of, at times, stifling restrictions placed on indoor events, the Rawlinson has been able to survive and thrive by filling their stage with a wealth of local Prince Albert and Saskatchewan talent. When capacity limits were at their most crippling, the Rawlinson kept going by providing their audiences with live streaming options to augment the attendance they had accumulated inside the live space. When it was safer and warmer to host concerts outside, the Rawlinson responded by booking several first rate acts.
The venue, apart from the six or seven month stretch when everything was shut down, has essentially not stopped entertaining and consistently found innovative ways to give audiences a safe concert experience.
"During COVID, creative people had to get creative on how we could share in our love of the arts, and happily our audiences were right there with us," commented Rawlinson Marketing and Events Corodinator Cara Stelmachuk.
That sums up the Rawlinson's M.O. during these tight COVID times and it also paves an impressive way forward in 2022 as there's still plenty of shows left in their current season.
*Indoors, the Rawlinson is a first rate concert venue
*The Rawlinson's drive-in concert series was a highlight for many this past summer